Week 492

 Sun, Dec 31, 2023 thru Sat, Jan 6, 2024

Sun, Dec 31, 2023

I scratched trying to use JMRI to change the decoder in the Metra F40PH #138.

Instead, I used the command station - 

figured it out 

- and now have completed the renaming of the decoder.

I've completed my work on the Metra locomotives...
except one more...

This is the final locomotive that's getting a N scale
sound decoder without using a decoder harness.

I've wired up the motor and the tracks.
Now it's time to work on the lights.

Maybe I'll finish this puppy up tomorrow...

Mon, Jan 1, 2024

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Inside the shell working on the
LED lighting. With FLASH.

Same picture without FLASH.

And finally, here we have both front and rear lights
in place. Next step: wire them up and test them out.

One more picture before
calling it a night.

I found out the directions are wrong.

Tomorrow I will switch the motor wires around so the lights will be correct.

Tue, Jan 2, 2024

It looks like a pencil, but it's not.
It's the chamber I made for the fiber optics back lights.

This picture shows the common (+) block.

Here's all the connections from the decoder to
the rest of the locomotive. They are used for the motor,
track power, and lights.

I am just about ready to place the shell back on
and give it a test run.

Oops! After the test run I found one of the lights
was not illuminating. Back to the workbench to 
fix the fiber optic which broke (which I didn't know)
 when I was installing it. 

Later that day...

Becca wanted to go to the basement to the see the trains...

When we got there she just wanted to work on crafts.

Using what we had, this is what she made:

Wed, Jan 3, 2024

Special Guests arrive from Vietnam to visit the RR...

I'm showing them the Google Maps
picture of downtown Melrose Park.

Becca continues craft project.

More pictures around the layout.

Lots of family gathering around the layout.

My brother, Neal, is one of my biggest fans.

Neal's brother-in-law, his daughters, and mother-in-law.

Neal's mother-in-law and Neal's wife, Geena.

Geena's dad.

Geena's brother, his wife, and twin daughters.

Special assistant to Geena who also made the trip
to the USA. 

Thu, Jan 4, 2024

Fixing the last of the Metra Fleet.

F40PH 130 DC analog to DCC sound.

Fixing the fiber optic cable that broke off both back lights...

I had to redrill the hole that I will use for the new
fiber optic tube.

I used a pin vise and very small
drill bit to puncture the shell

I had to do the same on each side.

Good shot of the pin vise and drill going through
the front of the locomotive shell.

This picture shows the fiber optic tube in stalled.

And where the fiber optic is installed in the light tube.

The fixed back lights using fiber optic tubes
on the new & improved Metra F40PH 130 locomotive.

Fri, Jan 5, 2024

Not a lot of activity today...

I did run the Unit Coal Train - finished lap 2.

Sat, Jan 6, 2024

Up early to play with trains...

Field Trip to Elburn IL

Tom Stover's basement HO Scale Model Train Layout

Post WW2 era Steam and early diesel F7s

Very nice layout - very meticulous

Tom loves operations - he uses a card system where
each car has an assignment that takes about 4 cards
to complete.

Time for the first episode of the New Year

Season2024Blog492 (S2024B492)

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