The Carolina Sandhills Lines in HO Scale

[davefoxx]

I received a few speakers from Scale Sound Systems this week, and installed a pair in my new-to-me F7s and a third into a GP18.  Here’s the last one going in the F7B.  That’s a monster speaker enclosure.  In the F7B, you could get away with a matching enclosure at the other end of the frame and blow the roof off of your layout room!



I can’t wait to hear these F7s, but, unfortunately, I had to send both brand-new LokSound 58821 decoders back to ESU for warranty repair.  One would not accept a sound file, and the other lacked American specs, e.g., a three-point speed curve.  Not sure how long it will take to get back, but they were received by ESU in Colorado today, according to the USPS tracking.  In the meantime, the Fs will wait to join the fleet

DFF

[davefoxx]

I’m running the original Norfolk Southern Ry. this evening.  The gray NS open hopper was a purchase at Nicholas Smith Trains today. It’s a Bowser triple-bay hopper and certainly not the most detailed car that I own.  But, at the whopping price of $21.59 plus PA tax, I’m not complaining.  🙂  I’m building a coal load out of a scrap of foam, and the black art sand “coal” load is drying as I type this.



I also bought an Athearn 40’ UPS “red-stripe” parcel trailer and a Seaboard Coast Line wood chip hopper.  Funny thing, that SCL car did not show in Nicholas Smith’s inventory online.  I often check stores’ inventories with a search for “Seaboard.”  But, there it was on the shelf this afternoon.  Now, it’s on the layout in my wood chip hopper fleet, also waiting for its sawdust “wood chip” load to dry.

DFF

[davefoxx]

With my growing interest in early-1970s railroading, I have committed to relettering another locomotive in my fleet from the Seaboard Air Line to the 1967 successor road, Seaboard Coast Line.  This is SAL GP35 No. 535, which like the prototype, will become SCL No. 1406.  Since this will still be wearing the former SAL paint, this scheme is referred to as the Split Image Scheme.  I checked my stock and don’t have enough SCL decals left, so a decal order has been placed with Microscale.

Here’s the before shot for posterity:



DFF

[CSXfan]

Hello Dave, Can you confirm if you used a plug and play decoder in your BLI F unit? JT at Scale Sound Systems says there is no plug and play option for these. Thanks,

Jeff

[davefoxx]

Jeff,

Yes, it’s a 21-pin decoder that I installed.  ESU 58429 LokSound 5 DCC decoder.  Plug and play.  I popped the shell off and peeled back the factory tape to show the decoder installation for you.  You can see the BLI motherboard.  All I had to do was replace the DC thingie with the decoder.



As shown, I did install a Scale Sound Systems speaker, but there was a factory BLI speaker installed even in the DCC Ready unit.

Hope this helps,
DFF

[CSXfan]

Thanks Dave, I ordered a esu and Nix trains keep alive fir mine today. I will have ti go back and read your post about making the ditch lights operate properly.

Jeffw

[davefoxx]

Well, I’m committed to relettering this GP35 from SAL to SCL now!  I used MicroSol on toilet paper scraps, and, after about 20-30 minutes, the “Seaboard” lettering on the long hood and the “535” on the cab practically wiped right off.  Nice.  Underlying paint is not damaged at all.  With the tissue, I was able to target only the lettering and kept the MicroSol off of the stripes that are immediately adjacent to the lettering on the long hood.



Microscale SCL Split Image scheme decals are in transit and are scheduled to arrive via USPS on Monday.  I’m low on MicroSet and MicroSol, but new bottles will arrive tomorrow.  So, I won’t finish this project this weekend, but stripping the lettering is always the scary part.  So far, so good.  I still have to strip the lettering from other side and the numberboards, which I do hope to complete this weekend.

DFF

[davefoxx]

The lettering has been removed from the engineer’s side.  There was also a small, white “Fire Extinguisher Inside” placard printed on the long hood on this side that would interfere with the new SCL lettering and put up a pretty good fight for survival.  On the SCL units, that placard should be printed in black and moved down into the wide yellow stripe.  Hopefully, the Microscale decals include this small lettering.



DFF

[davefoxx]

Deconstruction is complete with the numberboards stripped on both ends of the locomotive.





Using what decals I have, I was able to add the SCL herald to the low nose and start the numberboards with a white background.  That herald is tricky, because the decal wants to crack when flexing over that pointed nose.  There’s some air bubbles to deal with in the numberboards, but they’ll see more MicroSol when the numbers go on.  If necessary. I’ll pin prick the decals.  For now, they’re fragile, so I’m walking away tonight.



DFF

[davefoxx]

I installed the white background for the rear numberboards this afternoon.  I’ll deal with the air bubbles when the MicroSol is thoroughly dry.  I used the tip of a brand new #5 blade to prick the bubbles in the front numberboards, and those decals are nice and flat now after another application of MicroSol.



DFF

[davefoxx]

This worked out pretty good.  I came across an Atlas SD35 shell decorated for the SCL on eBay about a week ago. Starting price was $33.00 + $8.00 shipping.  A little higher than I’d like, but, if I could find a decently priced frame to put it on, then it could be reasonable.  Of importance, the shell was missing its end handrails, which wouldn’t be a problem, if the frame I needed came with a black-painted shell with yellow handrails at the corner.  So, I put in a bid for $33.00 and ended up winning the auction as the only bidder.

A separate search on eBay found Atlas Southern Ry. and Penn Central SD35s.  I was concerned that the high nose SOU models might differ with how the front headlight is lit, so I looked at the PC models.  Within a day, one seller, who advertised the PC locomotive at a Buy It Now price of $139.95 + free shipping, offered me a 15% discount (or $118.96 shipped).  That’s a really good deal and easily offsets paying more than I wanted for the shell.

Total is $159.96 shipped for both items.  Not bad to find a long out-of-production SCL SD35.  The PC unit was produced by Atlas in September 2017, and the SCL shell is from March 2003!



DFF

[davefoxx]

A decal every night.  The conversion from SAL 535 to SCL 1406 continues:



DFF

[davefoxx]

Yesterday, I gutted the electronics from this nine-year-old Atlas SD35 to add a LokSound V5.0 decoder and LED lights.  Before disposing of the Atlas motherboard, I used it as a template to make an 0.060” styrene mount over the motor for the Decoder Buddy Mini and ESU 58429 decoder, securing that mount with the motherboard’s four screws.



I found both the complete Penn Central (PC) SD35 locomotive (produced by Atlas in 2017) and the Seaboard Coast Line (SCL) SD35 shell (produced by Atlas in 2003!) on eBay within the last week and received both pieces yesterday.  The SCL shell lacked front and rear handrails that I purloined from the PC shell.  I bought the complete PC locomotive with the intent to steal those pre-painted parts, figuring that the black and yellow handrail paint should be real close or possibly a perfect match for the SCL paint.  I also got the cab sunshades with the PC unit, but I think I need to keep them off of this ex-Atlantic Coast Line SD.  I’ll look back through my books to double-check what the SCL did post-merger.



The light over the cab (between the numberboards) is supposed to be a Gyra Light, and the low lights in the nose are supposed to be the front headlights.  However, I’ve reversed this temporarily, because it’s quite the job to take the shell completely apart to pull the cab and get to that clear light tube that is the headlight and numberboards.  The numberboards will need to be cut off and painted on the backside to block the light.  Until then, if I made the upper headlights the Gyralight, the numberboards would also flash.  That’s bad.  I’d rather just put the Gyra Light in the low headlights in the nose for now, which is incorrect for the SCL SD35s, but not unusual on the U-boats, for example.  So, this will suffice until I can get to this project.  I successfully accomplished this lighting package on my SAL SDP35, so I know I’m capable.  It just takes a lot of time.

DFF

[davefoxx]

After A LOT of time last night fitting this SCL SD35 shell to the PC frame, I got 1910 on the rails, programmed it, and speed matched it to fleet standards.  I don’t know why it put up such a fight, because the PC and SCL shells are almost identical.



I bought and built this SD35, because it’s added a little variety to the fleet.  Although the SCL mixed four- and six-axle power from time-to-time, I wanted something with six-axles to run with my U30C.  Now, I could have just purchased another Atlas U30C that are currently available, but, as stated, I wanted something different.  I’ve already got quite a few U-boats, so I like the uniqueness of the stubby SD35.  Besides, the SCL really ran some motley consists in the early 1970s, and this avoids just running another matched pair of locomotives.

Interestingly, I found a picture on rrpicturearchive.net of U30C 2123 and SD35 1910 lashed together on the prototype.  Hey, I can do that!



DFF

[davefoxx]

QUANDARY: The early 1970s-era (or at least the 1970s in two distinct eras on the SCL) has just grown in fascination for me over the past several months.  I’ve even recently relettered two of my 1960s-era SAL locomotives for the 1970s SCL.  They can no longer plausibly run in the pre-1967 merger era.  Oh, and I also backdated my two SCL SD45s several months ago by removing the Seaboard System (SBD) patches and restoring the “Pulling For You” logos on the cab subbase, so they could run in the 1970s again.

I’m really tempted to begin selling off pieces of my 1980s (Seaboard System) and especially my circa-1990 CSX fleet.  I could certainly use the cash, but I’ve made the mistake of selling things before and later regretting it.  At this point, however, I just feel like the 1970s provides enough variety in two distinct eras that the layout will remain entertaining.  This is the dilemma.  I certainly wouldn’t sell off every piece, e.g., I would probably keep two of my SBD B36-7s and my CSX mother and slug.  I really like those locomotives.  I also don’t know that I can part with any of my ACWR fleet yet.  But, I get to keep both of my original NS Ry. and Southern Ry. fleets (SOU merged the NS in 1974).

Things that make the 1970s appealing to me:

1) The mix of first- and second-generation locomotives.  There were still a lot of SCL GP7s, GP9s, and GP18s out there, plus quite a few F-units survived into the early 1970s.  With the discovery and purchase of my Athearn SCL F7s recently (and my SAL F3s that I wouldn’t consider parting with yet), I don’t really need my CSX A-B-A set of F7s anymore, and, perhaps thankfully, the Seaboard System F-units announced by Athearn a couple of years ago apparently never saw the light of day.

2) An interesting mix of rolling stock.  Modernization of freight cars was really taking off in the late-1960s, so I can mix what are reasonably modern cars with older style cars.  Think about it: a twenty-year-old boxcar in 1970 was built in 1950.  That’s way back in the steam-to-diesel transition years!  Some boxcars have running boards; some do not.  Those that do not may still have ladders going to the roof and high brake wheels.

3) By running earlier freight cars, they’re also generally smaller than freight cars built in the 1980s and later, which works better on a smaller layout like mine.

4) Cabooses!

5) Some may be surprised that I would even consider selling my Seaboard System fleet.  But, the things that drew me to the Seaboard System decades ago are not necessarily achievable on my layout:

     A) Long intermodal trains: While I can run an intermodal train with two five-unit articulated Impack spine car sets and a few 89’ flats in my fleet, they can only do the roundy-round on the layout.  There’s no where for this train to go.  Is it possible that I tear down this layout and build one that would allow intermodal trains?  No.  I love my layout, because I prototypically get to run three railroads in Aberdeen, N.C.  It doesn’t get much better than that, considering the size of my layout.  Also, I know that if I ever replace this layout, I’m probably going to model a short line, not Class 1 railroading.

      B) The Juice Train: Those orange reefers behind SBD B30-7s and B36-7s is still hawt.  But, I model the S-Line, not the A-Line where the SBD ran this train.  That said, the SCL started the Juice Train, so the white reefers behind U-boats is just as cool and would scratch that itch, if I really had to have a Juice Train that needed to detour up the S-Line.  But, like an intermodal train on my layout, I don’t really have anywhere for a Juice Train to go besides the roundy-round, which jams up the layout.

5) I can run a SCL passenger train (pre-5/1/1971) or Amtrak trains in the rainbow-era, Phase I, or Phase II schemes throughout the rest of the 1970s

6) Early- to mid-1970s SCL paint schemes are the split image scheme (former SAL scheme but relettered for SCL) and the black and yellow (former ACL) scheme.  Late-1970s paint scheme is the gray Family Lines scheme, which is similar to the Seaboard System scheme that would come on in 1983, if I need a change from the black and yellow scheme.

7) I was born in 1970, and many of us end up modeling what we saw in our youth.  So, no surprises here.

If anyone has any suggestions, I’d love to hear them.

DFF