I picked up a SW1500 ata a train show last weekend. Well, the fuel tank has concor stamped on it, but the trucks are Kato, have kato on it,etc. I opened it up and came across a basic board with 37704 marked on it. Has anyone come across this before, or even converted this to DCC?
(My Model Railroad, My Rules)
These are the opinions of an under 35 , from the east end of, and modeling, the same section of the Wheeling and Lake Erie railway. As well as a freelanced road (Austinville and Dynamite City railroad).
I have one but no DCC.
Russell
That's the board inside.
It has been a while, but I believe a TCS A4X adapts pretty well using the existing wiring. Well-made engines but a little on the light side.
Plugging "concor sw1500 decoder install" into Google gives you a couple of options including some videos.
It looks like the Kato lightboard that were in the Stewart engines from the '90's when they used Kato motors. IIRC I did use the TCS 'light board replacement' decoder in a couple of them and it worked well, but any 'light board replacement' board would work, or a regular decoder with a hardwire installation.
Hi Jimmy:
I have converted several S and SW series switchers to DCC including sound although I haven't done your exact locomotive.
My advice is to remove the light board completely, replace the bulbs with 3mm or 0603 LEDs, and hard wire a decent decoder, preferably a Loksound Select, into it.
Space for the speaker is a challenge but you can install a couple of sugar cube speakers in the roof of the cab without them being too noticeable. Here is a picture of an oval speaker in the cab of my SW 9. The oval speaker takes up about the same space as two sugar cubes with their enclosures. The camera flash makes the speaker far more visible than it is under normal circumstances:
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
hon30critter Hi Jimmy: I have converted several S and SW series switchers to DCC including sound although I haven't done your exact locomotive. My advice is to remove the light board completely, replace the bulbs with 3mm or 0603 LEDs, and hard wire a decent decoder, preferably a Loksound Select, into it. Space for the speaker is a challenge but you can install a couple of sugar cube speakers in the roof of the cab without them being too noticeable. Here is a picture of an oval speaker in the cab of my SW 9. The oval speaker takes up about the same space as two sugar cubes with their enclosures. The camera flash makes the speaker far more visible than it is under normal circumstances: Dave
Are you sure that's an SW9? Are you sure that the loco you have pictured isn't an Alco S2? Atlas maybe? Looks like one to me. Just sayin'.
Although they look similar, you probably have a Concor MP15DC. Concor did not make a Sw1500. They did make an SW7 but they don't look like SW1500s.
nw2 Although they look similar, you probably have a Concor MP15DC. Concor did not make a Sw1500. They did make an SW7 but they don't look like SW1500s.
Yeah, I thought they did? About 20 years ago. Concor called it a model DD? and Kato made it for them under contract.
Maybe Jimmy can post a photo of the shell? That would be a big help.
The only Kato switcher I have is the NW2 and the board is not the same.
Good luck, Ed
Yeah, I think it is a MP15. The fuel tank and truck covers look exactly the same as posted above.