The Carolina Sandhills Lines in HO Scale

[Missaberoad]

2021....F'N F UNITZ!

And purple passenger trains!
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/misc-a/acwr0271y26e.jpg

[davefoxx]

All right!  I’ve had this Southern Ry. GP38-2 for a couple of years and even converted it to a LokSound decoder.  But, I never upgraded the poor Athearn incandescent bulbs to LEDs.  Of course, one bulb burned out right after I completed the decoder swap, which was expected.  The Athearn bulbs are known to burn out.

BEFORE: Popeye!



So, I installed LEDs this morning.  Here’s a shot under the hood.  On the left end (rear on a Southern hood unit), I glued in a piece of tubing to house the LED right behind the headlight lenses.  I had to weave the LED through a channel through the cab that keeps everything out of sight.  On the other end (front), there was no room for the tubing, so I just taped the LED to the top of the speaker, which is right behind the headlight housing.  You may notice some red electrical tape inside the shell.  That’s to keep light from leaking through the radiator fans.  I’m out of black electrical tape, and the red tape will be replaced later.  Oh, I also installed some custom headlight lens purchased from eBay, because the Athearn bulbs are also the lenses on the outside.  Removing the bulbs leaves gaping holes in the headlight housing.



AFTER:





The LEDs are nice and bright.  In fact, in the photos, I dimmed the lights, so they wouldn’t blow out the images.  I just need to reinstall the couplers and fix one detail part (a cab step) that fell off.

DFF

EDIT: Couplers installed and the step glued back on.  Done.  Yay!  Off to the pool with the family.

[LIRR]

good looking geep….now go forth and weather....

[k27463]

Oh, I also installed some custom headlight lens purchased from eBay, because the Athearn bulbs are also the lenses on the outside.

Details West 341s are a -very- nice drop in for Athearn headlights.  I stick 0402 LEDs to the rear of mine, but they should be fine with your setup as well.

[davefoxx]

For when I run an alternative era of 1987 1990, just ever so slightly into the early CSX years:





DFF

[glakedylan]

Dave, those F units look amazing! the whole layout captures reality so well.
kudos on your work and accomplishments!


sincerely
Gary

[davefoxx]

CSXT once owned an ABBA set of F units: one F7A, two F7Bs, and an FP7A.  All were former Clinchfield cab units.  In my world, CSXT FP7 No. 118 has been temporarily repainted into a predecessor scheme.  Oh, and we'll just say that the missing F7B No. 119 is still in the shop getting its matching temporary ACL scheme.



DFF

[davefoxx]

While I have been working on motive power projects lately, I really haven’t worked on the layout for three months or so.  So, this evening, I decided to pick up and work on something that I generally procrastinate.  I chose ballasting.  It takes a while, but I knocked out several feet, including a turnout:



DFF

[davefoxx]

A wee bit more of ballast, finishing this area.



Happy Father’s Day!
DFF

[LIRR]

Ballasting not my favorite thing to do either, but I’d rather ballast than solder....

[davefoxx]

JFRCSXTM!



DFF

[Vince P]

Looking real good there Dave

[davefoxx]

Welcoming the new railroad to town: the Aberdeen, Carolina & Western Ry. was incorporated in 1987.  Here, the ACWR meets the Aberdeen & Rockfish RR:



Admittedly, ACWR No. 9624, especially in this paint scheme, is a bit of an anachronism, but I don’t mind.  It’s purty!

DFF

[davefoxx]

DFF

[davefoxx]

Outstanding!  Two of the former NS F-units are now owned by the Aberdeen, Carolina & Western Ry., and the ACWR ran them on an excursion recently.  I would have enjoyed the trip in the “umbrella” car.  They turned the train on the wye in Aberdeen at the 5:00 mark in the video.  Very cool to see these Fs run past the old SAL station.

DFF