Input on proposed HO switching layout

[FCIN]

I'm wondering if the first run of the 45 tonners were straight dc? One of the guys in the modular club bought a couple of undecorated 45 tonners from Micro Mark (great price!), and had to remove one of the weights to install a decoder. That weight that he removed was designed to come out without any cutting.

Russ; I purchased 3 of the GE 45 tonners from Micro-Mark and they all have simple DCC decoders on board. I run straight DC and have no plans to go to DCC, so will probably remove the decoders per the instructions that came with the models. That weight is designed to come out in order to install a speaker for sound. These are great running models on regular DC even without pulse power.