It is easy to open up the 2-6-6-6s. To convert to DCC is as easy as plugging in a decoder, it has a socket. If you want to do sound it will be no more difficult than any other locomotive as there is a large tender for speakers. Below is how to open one up and do an install. There is a series of posts on my club blog starting on page 11. There are also videos of the locomotives pulling and pushing a train of over 100 cars that are weighted from one to two oz over the NMRA standard, on both my you tube channel and the posts that follow the one on locomotive prep.
I was at home helping my wife who had sprained her ankle on Friday and Saturday morning and missed Saturday's meeting but got to the club for the last regularly scheduled hour of the Saturday morning session. Now the guys were taking out some of the junk from the demolition efforts and had removed quite a bit. There is still more to go and Bob A. was working on some plumbing but was unsuccessful so it will be continued later. I only did a small amount of construction work and volunteered to get a pair of channel locks and free the improperly soldered joint before the joint cooled and was asked if I was referring to the real tools or those gripers on the end of my wrists. The rest of the guys thought that was quite funny.
With no construction work going on I thought it would be nice to go over a couple of locomotives that I have been wanting to run on the layout. Some of this was due to some comments by other posters wanting to see one of my coal trains with a steam locomotive on the front and a pusher on the rear. So I thought I would do some testing and get a couple of DCC ready locomotives decoder equipped and prepared to run. A lot of things say ready to run right on the box, I don't believe it.
Now in the photo above you will see one AG class 2-6-6-6 masquerading as a C&O Allegheny type in a box. From left to right there is some Kapton Tape, a Digitrax 2 function decoder rated for I believe 1.5 amps continuous and 2 amp peak. Four of my contact cleaners and lubes although only 2 were used in this case, Neverstall, Labelle oil, Labelle grease with pft, and Atlas Conductalube contact cleaner and lube. Just the last two were used on this locomotive. There is also my coupler box, tweezers, Trip pin pliers, coupler spring tool , dental pick, scissors, assorted screw divers, some labels but I went another way, and a pair of cradles for holding the locomotive.
Not pictured nearby is a computer with decoder pro on it and some tracks connected to it. In addition a small numbered drill bit was used to clean out the holes for some piping on the scale length cab. And a Dymo label maker was used with some yellow post it notes for my redneck renumbering operation. The locomotive numbers will need to be displayed on the cab so operators can determine what address to enter, and at this time I will need something of a temporary nature as decals will be used to rename and number the locomotives in the future.
Keep in mind these locomotives have only had the boxes opened to see if they were inside and in one case run on dc for a distance of about 8 feet to see if the loco worked and that was many years ago.
In the photo above you will see I am starting on the tender and swapping out the proto coupler for a Kadee whisker coupler, I have already given the coupler a slight bend with the pliers and it turns out it was just fine. I used the screw and coupler box lid that came with the locomotive and after installing had a nice strong coupler that functioned freely and was at a good height and did not sag or have lots of vertical play.
In this picture you can see the coupler awaiting the installation of the cover and screw, the scale length cab, the apron that fits between the cab and the tender, the left hand seat for the cab and the discarded centering spring and plastic coupler. Also you can observe the bottom of the tender and the trucks and we will go there next. I wish to state at this point I only remove and adjust one part at a time where the trucks are concerned and with the drivers so as should anything odd happen the polarity does not get compromised.
In this photo you can see the wipers that pick up current from the wheels, and that they are making good but light contact with the respective axles. There is only a mild amount of tarnish on the wiper and I have already wiped the excess lubricant out of the area with a tissue. The next step was to lightly relube the contact points with conductalube and put a tiny amount in the area that the axles go through plastic on the trucks. Key to this is tiny amount, using the needle applicator the desired amount is the least you can get to transfer from the needle to the axle, if you find you have applied too much the corner of a tissue or paper towel will pick it up. After you have lubed the truck contact points and wipers you can reinstall the lower portion of the truck and replace the screws and move to the next truck.
Now to apply an overly used phrase from years gone by, "What is wrong with this picture?" This is how this locomotive was when disassembled as you can see the wiper on the leading axle of the tender was not installed properly at the factory but is easily fixed when doing the inspection, cleaning and lubricating operation. To correct this the front wheel set just needs to be picked up and then replaced with the wiper in the correct orientation as can be seen in the case of the rear axle. The same procedure was used as on the rear truck and then the cover was reinstalled.
Now we will move to the locomotive itself and continue with our cleaning and lubricating, install a decoder, this one is one that is so easy Bruce P. won't have to tell us how. There will be some photos that will be shared among more than one operation. First we will begin by removing the boiler shell, then the cab, then install the decoder, then we will route the three wires under the seats in the locomotive that go to the tender, replace the seats, the new full length cab will be replaced then with the boiler shell off we will begin going through the drivers and lubing the contacts and last we will use a tiny amount of conductalube on the shafts at the ends of the motor before we install the boiler cover. There was one little issue with this operation and the hole for some piping was not large enough to accept the piping and needed to be cleaned out with a small drill.
Here we have the locomotive with the shell removed and the cab removed. Starting from the front of the locomotive and going to the rear we have the screw that holds the shell to the weight, the cover which represents the feed water heater, the apron that goes between the locomotive and tender, and one of the locomotive seats, the apron pins go under the seats in a little slot. Looking at the bell on the shell the open end points to the box that accepts the cover (feed water heater) and contains the screw that secures the boiler cover to the threaded boss that can be seen at the very front of the boiler weight. Inside the cut out portion of the boiler weight we have the front engine and the drive shafts connecting it to the motor and flywheel followed by the drive shaft connecting to the rear engine. Behind that is the circuit board that contains a jumper in the eight pin socket that will be removed when we plug in a new decoder and then the back head and the lights that simulate a fire in the fire box.
On the left is a photo of the model cab interior and on the right a shot of the prototype cab for comparison. The photo on the right I took while I was at the B&O museum in Baltimore MD. The photo on the left also shows the decoder that has replaced the jumper plug and it really was easy to do. If you can plug in a lamp you likely have the skill to install this decoder in this engine. The wires also have a bit of memory so once the decoder is fitted into the cavity in the boiler weight it tends to stay put rather well. The large screw that can be seen under the cab is the one that holds the cab in position on the locomotive.
Now here we have a couple of photos of the top and bottom of the rear section of the locomotive. The photo on the left shows the seats installed as well as the apron and the wires run under the seat so they can later connect to the tender as unobtrusively as possible. The large looking screw in front of the seats will secure the cab. The photo on the right shows the very tiny amount of grease applied to the large black gear and the drivers axles that will be given a touch of conductalube where they make contact with the frame. To the right of the photo can be seen the draw bar screw and spring as well as the hole underneath the spring that contains the screw that holds the cab to the chassis. It is easy to remove and replace the draw bar screw and spring to facilitate adjusting the cab screw with out damaging the spring. The tender truck is just above the foam cradle and will be reattached when the cover plate is replaced on the rear engine. This particular locomotive has been one of the easiest to clean and inspect I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with.
In the two photos above you can see the rear truck and the points that will be recipients of conductalube as well as the front engine and the coupler pocket that easily accepts a kadee whisker coupler. The front engine is lubricated the same as was the rear and the front truck had the wipers touched with conductalube as well.
All back together and nearly ready for a visit to decoder pro to be followed by some testing on the layout with about 100 coal cars. Before that can take place a hole in the cab that accepts some piping needs to be enlarged a bit so the pipe will fit in the opening. You can see the pipe next to the cab in the photo above that is at an unnatural angle and bent. Once the hole was enlarged a wee bit it fit inside just fine and easily straightened to the proper shape. Oh and did I mention there are two of these renumbered 900 and 903 that will be run with one on each end of a coal train of around 100 loaded cars going up a curving 2.5% uncompensated grade? This will be filmed on Tuesday night. In order to get the locomotives to pull as I felt they should I tested them with about 6.9 oz of lead on the outside of the boiler and found it did not seem to be benefiting to the amount desired. I may still add a bit of weight. Next a test was made with Bullfrog snot and it was found to be very helpful in eliminating slipping and dramatically increased pulling power. The Bullfrog treatment was applied to the wheels with the large gear on the axle on both the front and rear engine all others were left untreated. A single locomotive will take 90 cars up the grade with out any major slipping but will lose traction with 94.
The second locomotive is drying now. Initial tests today confirmed the feasibility of running a long heavy train with a steam engine on the point and another on the rear. Worked so well that it now has a video test scheduled for Tuesday and I should get the video ready to add to my YouTube channel and our club website as well as putting it on here for everyone to see if they desire to. Hope you guys enjoy the latest entry be back with more soon.
