Atlas SD45's shipping

[jagged ben]

Or they decided that cramming 2 LEDs in that area was just too much hassle.  OTOH, I'm impressed with how Scale Trains handled the nose lighting package in their Standard Turbines (although in those locos they had more room to work).

No you're misunderstanding, and it's worse than that.  They did put in both LEDs, then hard wired them to the same physical output when they should have been on separate decoder functions.  Like I said above, they could have hard-wired them together on the DC plug without doing so on the impossible-to-do-surgery-on main light board.

To be clear, I'm not talking about the red emergency gryalight in the nose that Wolf mentioned.  (That was rarely used on the prototype.  I've never seen video of it.  It would be a lovely detail but TBH I personally could hardly care less about it.)  I'm talking about how SP had the headlight in the nose and the gryalight above the cab as seen here.  One of many film examples that can be found, standard SP equipment in the 70s even though it wasn't always turned on.  And once you know, a solid headlight above the cab on an SP engine looks wrong.

Well, I'm fixing the f#$*!$.  Here is before and after on the lightboard that goes in the top of the cab.

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The actual fix is as simple as unsoldering the headlight wire, and moving the interior Cab light LED wire over to the headlight pad.  They even labeled them for you!  I should add that the soldering was a total piece of cake compared to getting the light board installed back into the cab properly.  That was a royal f#!$^ pain the !#$%.  But mission accomplished.  I plugged it back and checked and the lights look good.

Still gotta fully reassemble and program and stuff.  But we're almost there.

They wired the nose light and cab light together?? Good Lord, who makes these decisions??? Meanwhile, I bet the (completely unecessary and useless) cab interior light can be set up with a gyralite effect. 🙄

I think you understood, being an SP modeler, but just to be crystal clear... There is an interior cab lighting function.  That is not hardwired to the headlight, it comes on a separate decoder function.  It's the wire I raided to do the above fix, so I won't have interior cab lighting any more.  (Oh boo hoo.)   The two lights that they wired together on the main board are the headlights in the nose and above the cab. 

[peteski]

Got it! 
So each lens of that dual-beam enclosure in the cab is illuminated by a separate LED?

Or is there only a single (FL-) LED for the dual-lens headligth enclosure in  the cab, and  by moving the wires, you disconnected it from the nose headlight and connected  it to the CAB function output.  This way you can have an independent Gyralight effect for the cab light, even though it will shine through both lenses (not just the upper one like the prototype)?

[mu26aeh]

I really wish manufacturers would stop with the cab lights.  99% of modelers will never use it, and in case of BLI units, the crews in those cabs should probably be checked for radiation poisoning

[jagged ben]

Got it! 
So each lens of that dual-beam enclosure in the cab is illuminated by a separate LED?

Or is there only a single (FL-) LED for the dual-lens headligth enclosure in  the cab, and  by moving the wires, you disconnected it from the nose headlight and connected  it to the CAB function output.  This way you can have an independent Gyralight effect for the cab light, even though it will shine through both lenses (not just the upper one like the prototype)?

The second one.  Except I'm pretty sure the SP gyralight was a dual beam so it's really perfect.

I really wish manufacturers would stop with the cab lights.  99% of modelers will never use it, and in case of BLI units, the crews in those cabs should probably be checked for radiation poisoning

Seriously.  Such misplaced effort. At least on this one it doesn't turn on by itself with no way to turn it off.

[peteski]

I really wish manufacturers would stop with the cab lights.  99% of modelers will never use it, and in case of BLI units, the crews in those cabs should probably be checked for radiation poisoning

We actually have excellent Canadian modeler on TRW who loves for the cab of all his diesels to be brightly illuminated.  While the models are excellent, but the glowing cab remind me of the old Bachmann diesels where the un-shielded lightbulb was just glowing inside the cab with only small amount of light passed to the actual headlight. To each his own . . .

[GM50 4164]

Here is my NW 1776 unit with a ESU 58928 Nano board installed. I also wired in a TCS KA-N1 to the decoder after uploading the sound project. I then managed to squeeze a little additional weight into the unit because, why not!

[peteski]

The second one.  Except I'm pretty sure the SP gyralight was a dual beam so it's really perfect.

While it is hard to see in that video, I thought that only the top lens had the gyrating light, while the bottom one was glowing steady.

I did some  research, but it's not conclusive. Maybe other videos of SP trains would give better view as to whether both lenses, or only the upper one gyrated.

I looked in http://www.trainweb.org/gyra/gyra.htm and there I read:
This type of Gyralite uses 2 sealed beam bulbs. The 17340 Gyralite has 2 plates to which each bulb is mounted. One plate is stationary and the other is oscillatable. The 17350 Gyralite has the stationary sealed beam bulb mounted in the unit's door. The other bulb is mounted on an oscillatable plate. Both these light units were marketed as "combination back-up types", apparently for use at the rear of railcars. (There was also a 17385 Gyralite marketed for this application.)

Trans-Lite produces the FG-5031-1 light which incorporates the physical and mechanical aspects of the 17340/17350/17385 lights. This unit is used on Bessemer & Lake Erie locomotives where it is mounted vertically between the number boards with the top bulb being capable of oscillation.

But since the dual lens units could  have white and red lenses, it is also mentioned there that both could gyrate.

[jagged ben]

Or you can just search YouTube. 

[peteski]

Cool! Interesting layout room decoration.    Well, that confirms how they look like.  I guess not having the upper and lower lights rotating out of sync is not a big problem for N scale. 

[lock4244]

Or you can just search YouTube. 

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Didgeridoo.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ok, I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought it looked a little wide...although I know photo angles can be misleading...

I thought so too, but luckily...

Who CARES?!? It's an SD45!  You can't see the hood width from hardly any angle!!

Sorry, had to tease you.

It's .453".  Same as a Atlas China GP40 I had handy, and .022" narrower than a Kato SD40.  (all +/- ~.002")

I know that will make you happy even though you can't actually see it.   

Whew. Thank goodness. I didn't THINK they'd screw that up in 2024, but I was holding my breath a little.

Guess one will likely be coming home from Altoona with me now. Thanks for checking!

[CBQ Fan]

I broke down and ordered a Southern Pacific one to see how they compare to the Kato. One thing I really like about the SP is they seem to run about any loco with any loco!  Should be here by the end of next week.

[pastoolio]

Talking about the plow on the front and back of the SP units, yes, its not very good looking, but have any of you taken the plow off yet? Hidden behind them are the MU hoses and an Air hose, all separately applied! With a little finagling, you can bend them out and slide the plow back on with them in a visible postion.
I'd upload a pic, but I guess I'm not permitted to.

-Mike

[mu26aeh]

Talking about the plow on the front and back of the SP units, yes, its not very good looking, but have any of you taken the plow off yet? Hidden behind them are the MU hoses and an Air hose, all separately applied! With a little finagling, you can bend them out and slide the plow back on with them in a visible postion.
I'd upload a pic, but I guess I'm not permitted to.

-Mike

Can post photos after 25 posts on the forum

[jagged ben]

Talking about the plow on the front and back of the SP units, yes, its not very good looking, but have any of you taken the plow off yet? Hidden behind them are the MU hoses and an Air hose, all separately applied! With a little finagling, you can bend them out and slide the plow back on with them in a visible postion.
I'd upload a pic, but I guess I'm not permitted to.

-Mike

Mike, where have you been?   Post more often.