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Well, I was almost excited. I got a new GG1 from my girlfriend, a Conrail 4841.
it lasted about an hour before becoming a big black paper weight with CR patches on it.  
I'm also beginning work on a GP40P kitbash, which though a passenger locomotive, was briefly Conrail owned. I may also strip down that blue GP7 and repaint it into a CNJ patch GP7, since I have the decals for it. I'd only need to make minor changes to the model.
Modeling New Jersey Under the Wire 1978-1979.
![[Image: logosmall.png]](http://i543.photobucket.com/albums/gg445/CAB_IV/Model%20Trains%202013/logosmall.png)
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Puddlejumper Wrote: What happened?!
I have no Idea, but I have some suspicions. The model is one of the "new" MTH GG1s. It literally came out just last month. It was working as it was intended to work for about an hour (with all the usual growing pains of a brand new locomotive).
The first problem occured as it was travelling down a long straight section of tunnel. It was consisted with a Broadway Limited Imports GG1, and so they were making plenty of noise. I was waiting for it to come out the other end of the tunnel when I heard sudden silence. I figured maybe the MTH jumped the tracks on a hidden switch down there, but when I found the pair of them, both were still on the rails, and they were just sitting there.
the MTH's headlight was flashing briefly every few seconds, the universal sign that something was up. I pushed the trains out of the tunnel by hand (they were already near the exit), and I lifted them off the track momentarily. The BLI engine started right up again and never had another issue for the rest of the night. The MTH one though, it DID start up after some coaxing, but it traveled maybe 10-15 feet and then seemed to die again. Before I could get to it, it started up again, and so I kept going for about another 8 feet, and then it died again. This time, however, the BLI engine was still going. Since the pair of them were stopped behind a pillar, I decided to just rev up the BLI GG1 and shove the MTH one back to somewhere I could reach it. the MTH unit made some sort of HORRIBLE buzzing sound just as it came into reach. I quickly lifted it off the tracks, checked the engine for blue smoke (the magnetic lid on the BLI GG1 was kept for the MTH model as well), and I didn't smell anything that smelled quite like burnt out electronics.
I set the model on the side for a moment, then brought it back. It wouldn't start. I tried the club's programming track, but it couldn't read the CV (indicating that the programming track might not be powerful enough for the MTH unit, or that it is scrambled). I wanted to avoid the "Recovery programming" on the NCE DCC system since MTH's DCS/DCC decoder doesn't technically fit the NMRA requirements for a decoder, and I didn't want to scramble the brains of the unit any more. Our club doesn't allow programmin on the main, so I took it home and tried programming on my MRC system. Still no response. It won't even respond to DC track power.
I did take off the body shell briefly to see if i could clearly identify a damaged circuit board. Its about this time I noticed a missing numberboard, and that the "rear" drivers were slight higher than the front ones. I couldn't find any visible damage, but then there is about three miles of wiring in the locomotive between the decoder, the headlights, the trucks, the "coupler" motors, the pantograph motors, and all other assortment of electronic devices in there (if you think DCC was bad, don't go for MTH. Atleast DCC equipped engines tend to keep the wiring down to about 8-9 wires).
It looks like my only option is to bring it to an MTH authorized repair dealer, and the only one within a reasonable driving distance is at a nearby flea market, but it has weird hours (thursday-weekend). There is an "MTH National Repair Center" within half an hour, but its also got weird hours, and since I didn't buy the engine from any of them, who knows if they'll do the work. Whats more, it looks like most MTH stuff is O scale, so they might not want to tinker with my HO one.
Its just really making me mad, since I was really excited to have this new GG1 (good GG1 models are hard to come by, and the old IHC/AHM ones don't cut it for me). Hopefully this can all get sorted out.
Modeling New Jersey Under the Wire 1978-1979.
I asume they have a phone number you can call, and they might be able to give you advice, including maybe whether to mail it in. It's a pain in the neck, of course, but the thing is presuably worth some money and worth having it operate, so it ought to be worth pursuing whatever warranty deal they'll make with it.
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jwb Wrote:I asume they have a phone number you can call, and they might be able to give you advice, including maybe whether to mail it in. It's a pain in the neck, of course, but the thing is presuably worth some money and worth having it operate, so it ought to be worth pursuing whatever warranty deal they'll make with it.
This is true, but I strongly suspect this is going to be an ongoing problem. If MTH doesn't really want to put any effort into supporting DCC, then all the warranty work and such that I get won't really do me any good, since the train will continue to be buggy and create head aches.
I might call them for spare parts, but they seem intent on referring you to their "MTH repair centers". I'm going to call a hobby shop thats just over the river in PA and see if they can help me first. I still haven't had a chance to fill in the warranty card!
Modeling New Jersey Under the Wire 1978-1979.
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Are there important "external" differences between the CR SW9 and SW1200? To me it looks like there are more small details depending of the original owner of a specific engine within the SW9s and SW1200s than between the two series.
Reinhard
I've always been a little fuzzy on the difference between an SW9 and SW1200. I think it even comes down to the number of lovers in the small vent behind and below the cab -- not a biggie! You're exactly right, that among the late SW9-1200s, there are bigger spotting differences among orders by the various railroads, like fuel tank size, MU, roller bearings, horns, side handrails, flexicoil trucks, etc etc etc than in the stock details common to all units from the factory.
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faraway Wrote:Are there important "external" differences between the CR SW9 and SW1200? To me it looks like there are more small details depending of the original owner of a specific engine within the SW9s and SW1200s than between the two series.
I too am considering "retyping" my SW1200 to an SW9.
JWB is right. According to the book , the only major spotting differences between the SW7, SW9, and SW1200 are as follows-
A Field Guide to Trains by Gerald L. Foster Wrote:These Three are indistinguishable but for some louver placements. Hood louvers vary, but SW7 originally had full height louvers with a horizontal strip left out for lettering. The SW9 and SW1200 had louvers only belt high. Some determined spotters will count battery box louvers; the SW1200 went to 5 after SW9's six, but this is unreliable especially after 40 years.
In our case, these units were built at least 20 years before the start of Conrail. Even so, many of these units were rebuilt. In this case, I think sticking to a prototype unit is worth it. As we've established, these locomotives were nearly identical to eachother and there were alot of them. Picking a particular locomotive and doing its specific details will help set it apart from the other clones.
Modeling New Jersey Under the Wire 1978-1979.
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Another topic are the MP15DC CR inherited from Reading. Those engines had been leased by Reading and CR returned them when the lease contract expired. It looks like CR did use those engines only on the former Reading lines and possible some few immediate neighbor lines. Is that interpretation correct? e.g. they never made it to New England, the great lakes etc. Even NY and NJC were off limits.
Reinhard
[earlier comment deleted; I was mixed up, and the Alaska MP15s came from short lines.]
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jwb Wrote:A number of lease deals seem to have expired with the beginning of Conrail, including, I'm pretty sure, the Reading MP15s, which went to the Alaska Railroad and ran in GATX blue there for some time before being repainted for ARR. However, they're now off the ARR, too. I think whatever happened with these after Conrail, they were in GATX blue. I did find some photos of them in CR blue and letters but the location of the photos was the same it has been when Reading still existed. I believe CR did use them some time but did not assign them to new jobs.
Reinhard
OK, I checked the Withers Conrail roster book, which says "Acquired by the Reading for service in the lower anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania, the units spent their entire Conrail careers operating out of West Cressona and Gilberton, Pa, with occasional trips to Enola for inspection." Their Conrail retirement date was 1989. They weren't leased, but GATX acted as the equipment broker when they were sold. So they were on Conrail for 13 years and painted for Conrail.
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This
"In 1974, the Reading Company began leasing 10 MP-15DC's (CR 9621-30) from EMD. Though the locos were reliable, Conrail returned them to EMD at the end of the lease."
is what I found at <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://crcyc.railfan.net/locos/emd/swindex.html">http://crcyc.railfan.net/locos/emd/swindex.html</a><!-- m -->
This list of photos <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/modelthumbs.aspx?id=CR&mid=33">http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/modelt ... =CR&mid=33</a><!-- m --> is the base for my question/assumption that CR did not assign the inherited units to other jobs than they had already at Reading time.
I did read some discussions about the end of the MP15DC at CR but none of them concluded with facts. Most started with the start with the leasing at Reading and added the "usual" lease period to get the end date at CR.
Reinhard
The exact financial arrangements aren't important for a model, of course. Purchase in 1974 and sale (or release) in 1989 would be a 15 year life, which could correspond with a lease, though other things like tax considerations might have applied, too. But it does appear that they were on Conrail for 15 years, just not in the most railfan-popular areas.
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After Conrail returned the MP15 DC to EMD, they were then sold to GATX. GATX kept them in Conrail blue but painted over the CR lettering and logos and added the GATX logo on the hood and a small GATX under the original CR number on the cab sides.
Bruce
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