Unpowered Locomotive Lights

[Anonymous]

Hi, I'm new here and would like to know if anybody have any ideas in installing lights in a umpowered GP38-2 locomotive ho scale. Thanks

[Anonymous]

You did not mention the brand name of the engine, so my suggestion ise for Athearn models since they are one of the few that used to be available non powered.

It may be difficult, but try and locate a pair of trucks from a similar powered engine. Remove the operating gears and use the power pick up points to connect to the lights. I did the same thing some years ago to put a Modeltronics sound unit in a dummy Athearn GP-9. These older sound units had a circuit board that half filled the body, and I still had to place the speaker somewhere. The biggest problem is as I noted, finding a pair of power trucks these days, as I don't think the Athearn parts pipeline is that effective as it was when Walthers sold their line.

Bob Boudreau

[Anonymous]

Hey thanks for the information. Oh yes I forgot to tell you they are some cheap LifeLike loco's I got off e-bay but I just want to put them in to make it look like more than one engine pulling the freight. As for the cheap loco's even if I screw up drilling holes in them, it won't be as bad as making mistkaes in a more expensive one right?

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by AlphaQuad

Hey thanks for the information. Oh yes I forgot to tell you they are some cheap LifeLike loco's I got off e-bay but I just want to put them in to make it look like more than one engine pulling the freight. As for the cheap loco's even if I screw up drilling holes in them, it won't be as bad as making mistkaes in a more expensive one right?

Well this does make a difference, as I don't have any idea if these cheap engines have power trucks available.

It actually shouldn't make a difference, as when there are mulitple engines together only the lead engine would have its lights on. You may not need to wire them unless you want them to be in the lead.

Bob Boudreau