The Carolina Sandhills Lines in HO Scale

[davefoxx]

Darn, that means I've got to buy a copy.
Seriously, Congrats.

Don

Thanks, Don!

DFF

[CSXfan]

Hey Dave,

I broke down and bought both of the BLI ACWR F UNITS dc only. I like you want to add the ESU decoders, can you tell me which one you used and if it had the power pack?

Jeff

[garethashenden]

Congratulations Dave on getting your layout into Model Railroader April 2026.  Page 58.  Hail the kudzu

Slight correction, it is Page 58 of the May 2026 issue. Which of course arrived at the end of March because reasons...

[davefoxx]

Hey Dave,

I broke down and bought both of the BLI ACWR F UNITS dc only. I like you want to add the ESU decoders, can you tell me which one you used and if it had the power pack?

Jeff

Jeff,

If memory serves me correctly, I just dropped in an ESU #58429 21-pin decoder.  Already came with a speaker, but I replaced that with a Scale Sound Systems speaker.  No power pack or keep-alive.  I did have to fight with the programming a little to get the ditch lights right.  Go back several pages where I detailed the fix in the programming.

Hope this helps,
DFF

[davefoxx]

Hot damn!  The prototype A&R has donated its GP7 No. 205 to the North Carolina Transportation Museum.  This means that it will be preserved and will be in good hands when it arrives in Spencer.  Word has it that the ACWR hauled No. 205 from Aberdeen to Charlotte, and NS will deliver it to the museum.  Last I heard, it was already in Charlotte. Too cool.

One reason why this is significant is because this Geep was purchased new by the A&R in 1951, so it may be one of the longest serving GP7s for its original owner.  That’s right, No. 205 is 75 years old.

I might even run my model of No. 205 up the old NS Ry. line out of Aberdeen on my layout to honor this good news.

DFF

[davefoxx]

. . . aaaaaaand, it’s gone.  This scene is to commemorate the event of the ACWR transporting A&R No. 205 to Charlotte, en route to the North Carolina Transportation Museum in April 2026.



At least in my world, No. 205 hasn’t really left Aberdeen and home rails for the final time.  It’s going to a good home, but it’s bittersweet that it won’t be seen in the A&R’s employ any further.

DFF

[Philip H]

Slight correction, it is Page 58 of the May 2026 issue. Which of course arrived at the end of March because reasons...

Finally got around to reading this issue last night. Well done sir!

[davefoxx]

Finally got around to reading this issue last night. Well done sir!

Thanks, Philip!  I appreciate that.

DFF

[dnhouston]

Just got my issue today, mail is slow around here.  I recognized your work before I even read the caption.  Congrats!

[davefoxx]

Just got my issue today, mail is slow around here.  I recognized your work before I even read the caption.  Congrats!

Thanks, David!

DFF

[davefoxx]

More fun with AI:

Uh oh!  Sh!t’s about to get real in Moore County, N.C.!



I like this one much better.



DFF

[davefoxx]

I finally found a pair of SCL F7s after an extensive search for a long time.  A random post by a gentleman in North Carolina on one of the SCL Facebook pages helped land these cab units into my fleet.  These fit perfectly into my 1968-70 era, and the early 1970s is really growing on me.  If I were to limit the layout to just one era, I was born in 1970, so . . . hmm.



SCL F7A No. 405: Built for the ACL in October 1951 as No. 405 and survived post-merger until retirement in February 1971.

SCL F7B No. 399-B: Built for the ACL in October 1951 as No. 399-B and survived post-merger until retirement in June 1971.

They’re Athearn Genesis units produced in 2015 with Tsunami DCC and sound, but I’ll gut the locomotives and upgrade them to LokSound V5.0 decoders and, if necessary, LED lighting.  I haven’t opened them up yet, so I need to do that to take inventory on the proper method of attack, i.e., Decoder Buddy Mini with 21-pin decoder or an 8-pin decoder.

DFF

[davefoxx]

It’s cab unit Sunday! 🙂. Seaboard Coast Line (SCL) E8A No. 593 with a southbound mail and express train meets SCL F7A No. 405 on the point of a local northbound out of Hamlet yard.



The F7A and F7B that I received this week will need ESU decoders installed.  I’ve got two LokSound #58821 decoders and Scale Sound System speakers on order after tearing the units apart yesterday to see what was needed and what will fit.  They’ve temporarily been put back together and received Sergent Engineering couplers, because I was able to “Program on the Main” some basic CVs on these ten-year-old Tsunami decoders, to get them running reasonably on the ProtoThrottle.  Boy, am I spoiled by the LokProgrammer!  Programming by CVs is no fun, and I still haven’t found the Independent Brake on these decoders.  But, that’s okay; they’ll be replaced within a week or so.  These F7s will also need LED lights, which I’m not looking forward to doing, because it will take some extra special care to get them to look good.  I’ve got ideas, but more on that as the installation occurs.

DFF

[davefoxx]

I gutted F7B No. 399-B this evening.  Oops!



Actually, I had to tear it down this far, because both motor leads broke from the motor tabs.  Better those fragile connections give me trouble now, rather than after the rebuild.  I re-soldered the leads to the tabs, and they’re solid now.  This gave me the opportunity to clean ten-year-old oil and grease from the mechanism and relube it.  It does run a little quieter now, so that’s good.

I installed an ESU LokSound 58821 decoder, which is supposed to be a “V5.0 DCC” (U.S. specs) version.  Unfortunately, it will only accept a new sound file in the standard V5.0 (Euro specs) version, which means I can’t set a three-point speed curve to match the rest of my fleet. The momentum settings are not a match, either.  For now, I’ve set the max and minimum speeds, set the reverse trim (to get forward and reverse speeds to match), and maxed out the momentum to try to match fleet standards.  It’s close, because I nailed the maximum speed at 70 smph and got lucky to get a mid-speed (which I can’t set on this decoder) within 1 smph of fleet standards.

I started with the F7B, because I didn’t have to fuss with the lighting.  I’ll eventually install the small hostler’s lamps on each end, but I didn’t have the time tonight to swap in LEDs and figure out new lenses for the lamp fixtures.  I’ll do the F7A in the next few days, but it will have to be a trailing unit until I deal with its lighting.  It’s got dual beam headlights, dual beam Gyra Lighting, and a small hostler’s reverse light.  So, that locomotive will take a minimum of five LEDs.  For me, that’s at least a night’s worth of work on its own and probably more likely a weekend job.

I’ve got the F7B paired with GP9 No. 1025 this evening, and they’re playing nice together.



DFF

[davefoxx]

Slight correction, it is Page 58 of the May 2026 issue. Which of course arrived at the end of March because reasons...

Oh, geez, I never posted my photo in MR’s Trackside Photos in this thread, so everyone knows what we’re talking about.





DFF