The Best Laid Plans

Let's see...I went to kitbash a Sperry car out of a Bachmann doodlebug. Well OK, that might have worked. The trouble is you need several of these shells to create a decent representation. Having only one shell available I thought "alright, I'll just paint the shell I have in Sperry colors". Some yellow and silver paint later...

Sperry Rail Service...Sorta

I even tried to letter it with some dry transfers...Sperry Rail Service #129. Didn't like the way it came out. Alrighty then...I'll just work on adding a decoder. That went fairly well. I had a chance to find out if "wire glue" works on decoder installs. It doesn't...

Wire Glue Contacts

So I used the tried and true method, solder. That also went well...

Decoder Leads Soldered to Light Board

I pulled out my DCC and tried to program the decoder. Found that a set of resistors I had installed on the power leads was interrupting the decoder response. At one time there was a reason for those resistors, but I have no clue what it was.

DCC Test Rig

I got that straightened out and programmed the decoder address for the doodlebug. I then checked two other DCC equipped locomotives. I set their speed steps to 128 and ran them forward and backward at a crawl. Everything looks great. So I place the doodlebug on the test track. POOF! What the...Must have hooked it up wrong but no...One of the brush springs popped out of the motor and shorted. So now I'm out a decoder and a motor (spring is just about impossible to replace).

The good news is that I had a chance to make sure my DCC system is working fine. So are the two locomotives I converted to DCC. The decoder I burned was purchased used, but now I also know that batch of decoders probably works.

I'm wiring up the mains and should have trains running tomorrow or so, I just won't be running S.R.S 129

Regards

Frank Musick

Chief Cook and Bottle Washer

Allegheny Eastern Railroad