Bachmann's Geep

[faraway]

...grade crossing no bell !!!! no horn !!!! ...

You got me hock: That is the place where I would like to have sound. I did have a look last week after fixed installed sound modules for bell and horn at the crossing operated with two buttons at the fascia. This looks like a possible solution I will try:
Innovative Train Tech (ITTC) 349 20091 Diesel Horn #1
Innovative Train Tech (ITTC) 349 21091 Diesel Bell

Got the two small PCBs in the mail today and installed them under the layout. They are so light the robust wires of the push buttons are good enough to hold them. The speakers can not be shared but I had anyhow two simple stereo speakers from an old computer unused idle.

[jwb]

You could control flashers and crossing bell with a simple SPST switch. I believe the ITTC sounds recycle under those circumstances. In crossing situations like that, the controls are often activated and deactivated by the train crew, especially if they're going to keep crossing and recrossing the streets on switching moves. (This is covered in employee timetable special instructions, more reason to add this sort of "documentary scenery" to a layout.) The downside is that the bells can get old pretty quickly.

[faraway]

You could control flashers and crossing bell with a simple SPST switch....

I thought about that but I want to stay with a dark and silent layout.
The two sounds are the bell and the horn at the engine as I do not have sound decoders in the (diesel) engines. I like it to operate the bell and horn as an engineer.

[jwb]

Based on Reinhard's recommendation, I went looking for a good price on the Bachmann GP50, and I found one off Amazon for roughly US$30 including shipping, which is probably slightly better than the price he got in Stuttgart:     So I figured it was worth a try! (Interesting how you can start to trust some of the guys you meet on BigBlue, apparently here with some reason, though naturally on line caution is important.)

I kinda think Reinhard is onto something here, especially if you shop for price, but naturally remembering that you get what you pay for -- but this is still something of a bargain. I haven't popped the body off -- I have various things I need to do from now through the weekend, and may not have the time for several days -- but the instruction sheet doesn't show a flywheel. This doesn't affect the speed curve in a major way. It starts at pretty low voltage on ordinary DC, sooner than an Athearn RTR, but it moves about as soon as an Atlas starts, and it doesn't seem to complain too badly with an Atlas at low speed, anyhow:    
Here it is standing still with an Atlas B23-7:     As I said above, just for starters you would need to remove the factory lettering to get anything close to the style and number of a Southern GP50, but it looks like you can keep the tuxedo paint otherwise. Having done that, you should renumber it, reletter it, put the safety striping where it belongs, and add plows. Beyond that, it's an individual call how much farther you want to go with details -- the radiator fans could be replaced at miniumum. I have at least one Athearn GP50 body that could donate details, especially considering what it cost me 30 years ago, but the question again is how far you want to go in making a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

But Reinhard is certainly onto something -- thanks for the tip!

[faraway]

... for roughly US$30 including shipping....

I am glad you found that great bargain

ps. Mine has two small flywheels. The usual setup on both sides of the motor.

[Russ Bellinis]

Did the Southern have high hood Gp50's. It was somewhere near the time that EMD came out with the Gp50 that they announced that they would discontinue building diesels with high low hoods, I thought.

[jwb]

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A pretty big group of them, as a matter of fact. I think they were the last high-short hoods.

[jwb]

Here's a shot of the chassis of the latest-version Bachmann GP50:     Reinhard says his last-but-one (presumably) has two small flywheels -- I certainly wish they'd stayed with what they had!

I got as far as removing the lettering and number from my body with some kind of paint remover for plastics, don't remember what was exactly in the jar. This wasn't simple, and it took off some layers of paint as well, so I masked off the light gray tuxedo and resprayed the rest.     Not a perfect job, but I'll fix it with weathering later.

OK, there are lots of problems with the Bachmann model, leaving aside the lack of flywheels on the current run: engineers side (long hood forward) dynamic brake not correct. Fans not correct, the radiator fans should be Q-fans. If the LHS had had those in stock, I would have replaced them, but no luck there. Trucks should be the late dash-2 Blombergs, but these are the older Blomberg-B. Fuel tank too big for SOU GP50. This is a 3-foot, layout quality model. If Athearn RTR had brought out a high hood GP50 in the $100 range, there would be no contest, but they haven't, and we can probably kiss $100 models good-bye for now anyhow. So a $30 SOU high-hood GP50 with some work needed -- I dunno, you decide.

[FCIN]

Did the Southern have high hood Gp50's. It was somewhere near the time that EMD came out with the Gp50 that they announced that they would discontinue building diesels with high low hoods, I thought.

All of the Southern's GP-50's were high-hood, long hood forward. The Southern engineers called them "Cadillac's" because they rode so smooth and were quite powerful. Should note that the number series for the GP-50's were 7003-7091 with the three GP-40X units (predecessor's to the GP-50) holding the 7000-7002 spots on the roster. Look's like Bachmann missed on the number for their model.

[faraway]

I had a second look at my GP50. Sorry, my fault. The engine has no flywheels.

[torikoos]

Hello Koos,
the Bachmann decoder might be used as a lamp controller only It has been replaced with a MX630 from Zimo, my favorite decoder brand with excellent BMF capabilities. May be they are available in UK ( http://www.zimo.at/web2010/ ).

My layout thread is Freelance 2012. There is also an older one named Freelance 2011. Both in the layout section. You should read them backward as I am doing constantly changes. Or you may access the photos only
2011: http://s966.photobucket.com/albums/ae149...52/FL2011/
2012: http://s966.photobucket.com/albums/ae149...52/FL2012/

Vielen dank Reinhard! :-) I have to say the GP7's do look pretty decent. I can understand why you got them, especially at the prices they are going for. I must resist buying some myself. I already have too many (expensive) loco's on pre-order and need to save up money for those. ( one Athearn Genesis GP15-1 in CFNR, and two GP38-2 Southern Pacific) That little fleet expansion is probably more expensive than all your Bachmann geeps added together... And still have to add the expense of DCC decoders to that as I bought DCC ready, not equiped, so I can add my own in time. I plan to run the GP38-2 in a consist, so one will get sound, the other a good motor control decoder. Looking at one ESU loksound select, and perhaps a lokpilot for the other, or a Zimo or Lenz Gold...

Koos

[faraway]

I got another GP50 this time it is a NS shell. It came with a DCC decoder integrated into the main PCB. I replaced the PCB with a plain board and added my standard Zimo MX630 DCC decoder. The engine ran awfully :o
Be warned, the DCC version of the GP50 has hidden under the motor massive RFI suppression components (2 * R and 2 C) forming a bridge with connection to the motor housing. That made my DCC decoder run havoc at low speed.
You need to remove they RC element to run with standard DCC decoders!

ps. the engine has NO flywheels

[torikoos]

I got another GP50 this time it is a NS shell. It came with a DCC decoder integrated into the main PCB. I replaced the PCB with a plain board and added my standard Zimo MX630 DCC decoder. The engine ran awfully :o
Be warned, the DCC version of the GP50 has hidden under the motor massive RFI suppression components (2 * R and 2 C) forming a bridge with connection to the motor housing. That made my DCC decoder run havoc at low speed.
You need to remove they RC element to run with standard DCC decoders!

ps. the engine has NO flywheels

That's a good observation, I have an Athearn RTR SW1500, that despite trying two different decoder doesn't want to behave, and I'm pretty sure the drive train is okay, and it has the genesis (Roco supplied) motor...
However I have used the normal athearn PCB and 'quick plugged' the DCC decoder into it. I have to have a look if there are any RC components (Besides those for lights) still left on it. It runs fine at speed, but low speed performance is poor...

Koos

[faraway]

Oops, I slipped east again..... but I could not resist 48 hours delivery to Germany and the special price at Trainworld

SOU decals are on order but that will take some time. In the meantime I borrowed some NYC numbers for the number boards and some CSX YN3 numbers for the cab sides. I am not optimistic if I will try to remove the large "southern" letters from the long hood. The damage might exceed the advantage.
However, all four engines are smooth runners.
The horns (both sides) and bells (long hood) are on most but not all photos black as the engine itself. I think I should follow the majority and paint them black too.
I did not do the white stripes at the ends because that would have delayed the installation of snow plow and the MU cables until the decls arrive.

ps. Don't be confused, I am working on a SoCal layout and have no intention to change that!
pps. The price is so low that the German customs at Leipzig airport (port of arrival for DHL express) used to Maerklin prices put the parcel on hold and requested a proof of payment on Saturday morning. They considered the invoice a fake :o




Another remark about the Bachmann NS DCC GP50 I got from a LHS.
Those models are not the same as the SOU DC models. They differ in more than the RFI components and the main PCB (plain or decoder integrated). The DCC motor runs even after removal of the RFI components not as smooth as the DC one. The motors look very similar but the are not the same. I did also swap the tanks. It did not work. The DCC tank is a tiny bit larger and the DC engine with a DCC tank lacks some clearance over the rails at critical locations. That means also the chassis are likely to be a little bit different.
I would recommend to stay with the DC version. Looks like it has the more smooth running motor and the Bachmann installed DCC decoder is anyhow at she verity low end (I call it useless for model railroading but might be a nice goody for toys).

Some time later....

Ok, southern lady, no more pose. Get the job done

[faraway]

...I have an Athearn RTR SW1500,...

Koos, I have a bunch of the current Athearn RTR SW1500 (not the old blue box units). They are great runners without any modifications with ZIMO (preferred) and ESU (some hum) decoders. I did never do any modifications to the PCB etc. other than cutting off the 9-pin decoder cable and plugging my decoder into the 8-pin plug.