CP Scarborough Harbor Branch Line - HO Scale

[tetters]

Hello Gents and Gals!

This is where I will post progress of my layout and other adventures in RR modeling on Big Blue. As indicated by the title my new layout when construction begins will be named the Scarborough Harbor Branch Line. As far as I know no such rail road has ever existed. So it is entirely fictional/freelanced.

The track plan...


The track plan is 16' x 15' x 1' 11" deep, HO scale switching layout. Based loosely in the mid 50's to mid 60's The RR will use a P2K GP7 and SW9/1200 to switch and move rolling stock to and from industries. The GP7 will act as the road switcher to deliver consists of cars to three customers; Obay Pharmaceuticals, Gern Ind. Food Grade Flux Division, and The Morgue Ales & Brews. One stub will be a team track that I can use to products and materials like coal, machinery (e.g. farm tractors) and other items to local industries. The layouts main feature will be a dock side scene that will include a Walther's Car Float, a RR Tug, and small dock which will act as an extension of the small yard along the harbor front. This is where the SW9 will find its home, switching cars on and off the float docked in the harbor, which will act as an interchange point for the RR. I'm still hashing out a car card system to move the rolling stock however I'm done with the track planning. I look at it and see opportunities for a four person session, two people per crew. Possibly a fifth as a yard master. Trains will mostly consist of 30-40 ft rolling stock with the occasional 50 footer thrown in for good measure. I should be able to make trains 8 cars in length, which is essentially what I was shooting for. The industry stubs are also long enough to make it look like customers who actually need to use rail service for delivery and shipment of products.

Anywho...no real progress to speak of. Except I spent the last couple of nights converting the SW9 I picked up on e-Bay from DC to DCC. The first real challenge I spoke of was removing the cab from the shell. I wanted to do this so I could replace the 1.5 volt light with an LED. You can purchase a decoder from NCE called the SW9-SR. This decoder will allow you to use the existing 1.5 bulb for the rear light. However, I wanted to use LEDs in both the front and rear lights.

First off the essentials to any meaningful decoder installation. Of course beer, wine, tea or coffee would suffice. However, its the holidays and my liquor cabinet fills up this time of the year with gifts of colourful bottles from guests and family. So allow me to indulge.


I understand for the experts and the seasoned folks here, this is old hat. However, there are a number of us still wet behind the ears kids who might find this mildly entertaining. For what its worth, I could not find much of any help on line to show me how to do this. So, if you have nothing important to do like watch your finger nails grow enjoy!

The first thing you need to do is remove the couplers. Then by gently squeezing the sides of the shell near the front and towards the back close to the front of the cab you can remove the shell from the frame. Actually, if you never put these together as it come in the box you can avoid this step all together. I put them together because I wanted to see it that way and had it do a few laps around the x-mas tree for fun and kicks.


So with the shell off, turn it over and gently pry off the copper contacts off the plastic stubs inside using a # 11 X-acto blade. The contacts are attached to the 1.5 volt bulb and I never did end up re-using them.


First you need to trim the hand rails to the cab door off the back. To do this I used a brand new #11 X-acto blade for a nice clean and flush cut. The hand rails are affixed to the cab and the battery box behind it. So you need to cut the hand rails off one of the pieces. The beauty of this is if you cut them flush when you place the cab back on, it looks like you never touched them. I did not re-glue mine either just in case I decided to remove the cab again for some reason or another.


Then squeeze the shell towards the back where the front of the cab is. This will allow you to lift the cab off slightly.


With some careful coaxing the cab will eventually pop off. It really binds in there and at first I thought maybe it was bonded in place. It's not.


So remove the guts to get at the housing for the light. The cab interior and window parts come out easy as pie.


Because I'm cheap I used a small decoder I had on hand from another loco. Pictured is NCE's D13SR. Also pictured are the LED's and resistors used for the conversion. I picked them up as a set at a Train Show a couple years ago. I do not know who makes them, however the amber glow they give off is something that has grown on me. Doc Wayne commented awhile back the amber LED's look more realistic in the locos, I have come to agree with him.


Intially I was going to use double sided tape to stick the decoder to the motor. However, the shell fits incredibly tight to the frame, so there is no room. So as seen, I placed a couple of strips of electrical tape on the back of the decoder and ended up just taping the decoder to the motor. Which works just fine. What I didn't take a picture of was the Plasti Dip I use to cover up my wire connections. It's like liquid electrical tape and cures in 30 minutes, 24 hours to harden completely. Just brush it on, go mix another drink and leave it.



So...I don't think I need to go over the basics of decoder installation. Deano and others have provided some excellent tutorials on how to hard wire one up. Here it is all wired up for motor testing sans lights.

Fast forward and here is 7403 with her shell on and all wired ready for action in the yard.


So I hope this wasn't too much. Just felt the need to get going on this. Hopefully this start will keep me honest and motivated.