Maintaining the Fleet

As I've mentioned in other posts, I have been collecting my trains since I was a student at Purdue starting in 1988. At the same time, the real railroads have continued to change. A few examples based on my current locomotive fleet:

• CP has changed its name from CP Rail to CP Rail System to Canadian Pacific Railway. Currently, I have six different paint schemes in my fleet.
• British Columbia Railway merged into Canadian National.
• Soo Line was always part of CPR but finally retired its own paint scheme.
• Burlington Northern purchased Santa Fe and was then purchased by Berkshire Hathaway. I own four different paint schemes and there are three newer paint schemes involving orange paint that I really, really don't like.
• Some of the locomotive models I own have been retired in real life. The venerable Amtrak F40PH has been retired in the US, but Canada has rebuilt them and they're still in use. 
• CP had two ultra-modern "green goat" locomotives that they decided not to keep. I think the engines are very nice and am keeping them anyway.
• In the most annoying case, Amtrak has five paint schemes but due to a stupid licensing scheme, you cannot get car decals for the current scheme. Locomotives, yes, but not the cars.
• I have many freight cars that are road names that no longer exist -- Western Pacific, Cotton Belt, etc.

The next decision is what to do with the items in the fleet. The easiest thing is to simply ignore the changes in real life. You can almost do this since you can find current examples of every paint scheme still on the rails. It's likely how I will start out, after getting the cars and engines ready to run on the railroad. Some cars and locomotives might not be worth putting much effort into, based on the value of the item.

Basic Maintenance

Every car and engine will need to have basic maintenance and simple "upgrades" done in order to keep them rolling reliably. These are the tasks I'm planning to perform for the entire fleet:

• Kadee couplers - some of my engines and cars have non-Kadee couplers installed. My personal experience has been that non-Kadee couplers do not work nearly as smoothly and as a result, I won't keep using them. Kadee also offers a kit with the entire line of couplers so that you can pick the right coupler for each car to get the height correct without having to rebuild the car, scrape down the engine mounting piece, etc. 
• Standards verification - this involves checking the weight on cars, making sure coupler heights are correct, etc. 
• Engine maintenance - this involves cleaning the wheels on a regular basis, lubricating the motor with the appropriate compounds, and so on. 
• Metal wheels (cars) - metal wheels eliminate many of the issues that people have with rolling stock. As time and funds allow, all plastic wheels will be swapped out for metal wheels of the correct diameter. 
• Resistor wheels (cars) - as I discussed in a previous article, I am planning for detection and eventual signaling on the railroad. In order to do that, I need to know that the track is occupied. While the engine will be detected, cars are not unless you install resistor wheelsets. This causes a small amount of current to be passed through a resistor on the wheel, which tells the detection system that a car is in the block. I'm planning to add one resistor axle to each car as time and funds allow. 

The rest of this article covers the more extensive maintenance I would like to do to keep the fleet current with the practices being followed in real life. 

Freight Cars

For freight cars, one of the common approaches taken by the real railroads is to patch over the old reporting marks with the new ones, as shown in this photo.

Because taking a car out of service to be painted means that it's not making money, railroads are unlikely to do this until the car has to be completely overhauled or if it's damaged. The patching can be done by either airbrushing a patch area, or decals are available to act as the patch. You then get decals with the new numbers to put onto the patch to match the new railroad owner's reporting marks. 

Another thing that you can do is to add visibility striping to freight cars. This regulation was passed in 2005 to make freight cars stand out more because people were driving into them in the middle of the night through unprotected crossings. Here's an example of the striping and a number patch together:

Tank cars are striped vertically, but other cars may be striped horizontally or vertically. The best approach is to go take photos of real trains to get ideas on how to detail the cars. If you don't have a good selection of railroads near you, you can go to YouTube and check out these two channels:

• Big Trains TV
• Virtual Railfan
• RailStream

The stripes are not always perfectly even, they just have to be on the cars at a regular interval. This is something you can do to quickly bring the car into the modern era.

A final bit of reality is the amount of graffiti on railroad cars. I fully understand that it's a part of the real world. The taggers have no respect for private property and are trespassing when they tag these cars. The paint they put on frequently covers the reporting marks, making it difficult for the train crews to see the information. While it happens in the real world, this is one thing that I refuse to "promote" by adding it to my railroad. If you do choose to add graffiti, there are lots of ways to do it, whether by buying decals of the graffiti or by doing your own with paint markers. 

Locomotives

Engines are patched, as well, as shown in this photo. You can see the old Burlington Northern logo on the nose, but a new BNSF logo is under the cab window. 

As I said, if I go through the effort to repaint a locomotive, I will probably add some key details to the locomotive at the same time. The locomotive is really the "star" of the train, so I want them to look good. The cars are making the money for the railroad, but they just don't get the love that the engines do. 

Another thing I want to keep in mind is to make sure I'm focusing on the primary railroads on the layout, which are CP and BNSF. However, that doesn't mean I can't have cars and engines from other railroads. Engines frequently interchange onto other railroads and the railroads simply settle up with each other for the time the power was in use. In addition, railroads have trackage rights on each other's railroads. On my favorite railfanning spot in Chesterton, Indiana, it is very common to see every locomotives from every class 1 railroad on these tracks owned by Norfolk Southern. While I focus on CP and BNSF, I'll still have a handful of engines from the rest of the railroads that are interchanging with my railroad. 

Detailing an engine can also help bring it into the modern era. While ditch lights were common on Canadian engines, they were not required in the US until later. The 4-axle BN GP40 and GP50 locomotives I have all predate the ditch light requirement. There are also extra details, like GPS domes, safety markings, etc. that may be missing. Air conditioning units are also frequently added to locomotive cabs that are normally left off of models. 

Some of the older engines, such as the SD40-2 that was so popular, are now being rebuilt. Canadian Pacific is rebuilding these locomotives into SD30C-ECO engines. You can see the differences below:

And the new:

While I may build (or eventually buy) one of these models, I don't want to put the money and effort into this type of conversion of my old Athearn blue box locomotives. I would prefer to put a new coat of paint on them, a few key details, and simply lean on the fact that CP continues to run these locomotives today, as they actually do as of 2017. 

Conclusion

As with everything, everything takes time and money. Patching a railroad car is much faster than stripping down an engine, detailing it and then repainting it. These patch projects can be done in a short period of time, in between doing benchwork, wiring, scenery, and all the other things that need to be done for a layout. The best idea is to have a toolbox of options for your fleet and to choose the right tool based on the situation. 

Locomotive Electronic Upgrades

As I start building my layout, getting the locomotive and rolling stock fleet up to standards is an important step. In terms of motive power, I have a total of 41 locomotives. Most of them are Athearn blue box engines that I've been moving with me for the past 30 years. In recent years, I have been buying higher end brands like Kato, Intermountain, MTH, and Athearn Genesis.

In order to use the fleet on the layout, several things need to be done to each engine:

• Properly gauging the couplers, replacing the existing ones if necessary
• Installing a DCC decoder in each locomotive
• Adding lighting - basic headlights vs. more elaborate lighting
• Considering extra features like sound and keep-alive capability

As with everything in model railroading, you can spend a little or spend a lot. In my case, I need to look at the original cost of the engine and the likelihood that it gets replaced in the future. My prioritization is covered in the rest of the article and your wallet may make you choose differently than I did. 

DCC Decoder

In order to run a locomotive on a DCC layout, you need to put in a DCC decoder. While you can run an engine on some DCC layouts (Digitrax supports it) without a decoder, there are some drawbacks:

• The engine will emit a high-pitched hum when the engine is idle on the track. The hum decreases as the throttle is turned up. 
• Any analog locomotive on the layout will respond at the same time when you have locomotive 0000 selected in DCC. 

I have enough decoders available for most of the fleet, but I've got a few additional engines that I don't have decoders for yet. Because I've had good luck with them and they have a great warranty service department, I plan to stick with Digitrax for my non-sound decoders. 

When choosing a decoder, you need to determine the form factor (overall size) and how many function outputs you need. You can also look at the power output, which will vary between 1-1.5 amps for HO and N scale decoders. Large scale decoders push out more power, of course.

Each function output is used to control a function on the locomotive, which for conversions like I'm doing is lighting. Based on my plan for installing lights, I will need these function outputs:

• Headlight (forward and reverse) - uses one output, since the decoder handles the forward and reverse on its own. This is normally labeled as F0F (function zero - forward). 
• Marker lights - these essentially are just additional headlights that turn on when the engine is going in reverse. They will get wired into the F0R (function zero - reverse) circuit.  
• Ditch lights - These can be installed as additional headlights on F0, or you can separate them into a separate function if you want to control them independently. Since I have the available function output, I will put them on F1. 

Digitrax offers these decoders:

• DH126D (1.5 amp output with 2 function outputs)
• DH166D (1.5 amp output with 4 function outputs)

The DH166D supports Back EMF, which helps stabilize the locomotive's speed. For more details, read this article. For the two switch engines I have, the DN136 (3 function outputs) is a smaller decoder to fit into cramped spaces. I'll explain the need for function outputs in the next section covering lighting. 

Lighting

Lights on a locomotive are the next priority. Lights can quickly tell you if you have successfully acquired the locomotive on your throttle. If directional lighting is set up, you can easily tell which way the engine is going to go when you turn up the throttle. There are four types of lights that can be added to a locomotive. 

For starters, locomotives have headlights in both the front and the rear. The decoder can automatically switch between the front and rear lights based on the direction of the locomotive.

Ditch lights are the lower lights in the front (and maybe in the rear) down at approximately car level. They were added to make the train more visible at crossings. In some locomotives, the ditch lights alternate when the horn is sounded or when the bell is ringing, adding to their visibility. Some of these ditch lights are mounted above the front walkway, others are mounted below. If you want to be accurate, use a site like RailPictures.net to research the railroad or the engine type you are modeling.

Marker lights are colored lights on the front of the locomotive. The most common use of these lights today is on passenger trains when the engine is running at the end of the train, the red lights are used to indicate the engine is the end of the train. In the past, marker lights were used for describing what type of train was coming. Older Canadian locomotives had three marker lights over each number board, as shown in this picture:

However, the most recent builds of Canadian locomotives omit these lights. 

For my fleet, these are the rules I'm going to follow:

• Headlights in all locomotives
• Taillights will be reserved for higher quality locomotives (Kato, Genesis)
• Ditch lights will be added to the Canadian locomotives (BC Rail, CP, CN) and the higher quality locomotives
• Red marker lights will be installed in Amtrak/VIA Rail P42 to support push/pull operations

Based on research, the best place to get headlight upgrades is the MONSTER LED package on eBay, which includes 9 headlight-sized LEDs and 6 ditch light surface-mount LEDs for $32.25 including shipping. Here's the math:

• 2 headlights, 2 taillights, 2 ditchlights: $13.50
• 2 headlights only: $4.50
• 2 headlights and 2 ditch lights: $9.00
• Red marker lights: $1.25 each

The majority of locomotives I own cost  between $30-$50 to purchase and may get replaced in the future. For my better quality Athearn Genesis and Kato locomotives, I am more willing to put some money into them.

Certain locomotives, such as switch engines, might have rotating beacons on the top. Older engines had Mars lights, which created a figure eight pattern in front of the locomotive. Some decoders will support this blinking or strobing effect. Canadian Pacific and BNSF do not use these any longer, although some newer SD40-3 rebuilds from Canadian Pacific do have them for remote control warning purposes.  

Sound

Until I got my first sound-equipped locomotive, I never saw the point of putting sound into a locomotive. However, with the major improvements in sound quality and the ease of installation, I've changed my mind. That said, adding sound to a locomotive, either as part of the initial purchase or as an add-on, is still a non-trivial purchase if you're on a budget. As an example, the newest Rapido F40PH-2D rebuild costs $199.99 without sound and $279.99 with sound. (ModelTrainStuff prices)

Since I'm a Digitrax user, I included their products along with ESU LokSound and Soundtraxx, which were recommended by people who do lots of these installations.

ESU offers the LokSound Select product in three form factors for about 87.99. You need to add a speaker (available for 7.99) and can add the optional PowerPack capacitor (available for 7.99) to keep the sound going between track power dead spots. They have a higher end product called LokSound 4.0, but from my research, it's got way more sounds than I could ever use. ESU also has the LokSound Programmer product (143.99), which is used to change the sounds and features of its decoders. This is not something I would buy unless I got to the point of adding lots of sound decoders. Most basic settings can be changed using configuration variables. One other note: a number of manufacturers (including Rapido and Intermountain) are using LokSound decoders in their sound-equipped locomotives.  

Soundtraxx has two product lines: Econami and Tsunami 2. The Econami line, as the name suggests, is the lower priced brand. There are three products in this line:

• ECO-100: 1 watt amplifier, 4 decoder functions
• ECO-200: 2 watt amplifier, 6 decoder functions
• ECO-PNP: 2 watt amplifier, 6 decoder functions - plug-and-play board replacement

The pricing I found on eBay was odd. The ECO-100 was 71.96, the ECO-200 was 67.96, and the ECO-PNP was 63.96. Given that the ECO-200 is a better product, the pricing seems out of whack to me. The Tsunami products range in price from 87.96 to 103.96 and include a better processor than the Econami line. 

Digitrax has an 8 bit sound decoder (SDH166D, 44.49) and a 16 bit sound decoder (SDXH166D, 62.95). In watching YouTube videos of these installed in locomotives, the sound quality had a very "tinny" quality to it, but it's entirely possible that the quality of the sound was based on the recording and not the device itself.  For $62.95, it might be worth experimenting with to hear the quality first hand. 

There are also products available from TCS in the WOWSound line, but I did not find many people using these products, besides the TCS Keep-Alive product. The pricing on these decoders is also at the high level, around $100 per decoder.

For my fleet, I will not be installing sound in any Athearn blue box locomotive. It's simply not worth the money. The only one I might add sound to is a GP38-2 that was my first detailing project. In general, the sound will be restricted to the better quality locomotives. In addition, I typically buy locomotives in pairs with the eventual goal of having all mainline trains pulled by two locomotives faced back-to-back to remove the need to turn the locomotives. When I do this, I will add sound to one of the locomotives in the pair.

When I get further along in the upgrade process, I will probably purchase one of each of the Digitrax, Econami, and LokSound Select decoders to be able to give them an apples-to-apples comparison, which I have not really found in my research so far. 

Keep-Alive Capability

One of the newer features that you can put into a locomotive, especially one with sound, is a keep alive enhancement. They all consist of a capacitor that automatically charges while the locomotive is on the track. If the power drops out, the capacitor's power is used to keep the sound, lights, and even the engine moving. If you have particularly dirty or bad track, these are helpful devices to add. One of the main reasons to keep the power to the decoder is to avoid the engine going through its "startup sound" that happens as soon as the engine gets power (or gets acquired through DCC).

The keep alive components I found were:

• Digitrax Power Extender - only works with Digitrax sound decoders - around $20-$23
• ESU Power Pack - $7.99 for two capacitors
• TCS Keep Alive - works with all decoders - around $25-$31

Given the low relative cost of the keep alive function to the sound board itself, this seems like an easy choice to smooth out locomotive operation.