I have two (probably dumb) questions to ask. First off, as you all know, I'm a big fan of the L&N. My layout is based in coal country, so obviously I'd love to have some of those big Alco C628's the L&N had. Fortunately, Atlas does make them in L&N and in N scale. My problem/question is this: I can occasionally find some of these C628s at train shows and such, but they're DCC. My layout is DC, and since it's door-sized, I don't really see a point in converting everything I have to DCC especially if the layout isn't huge and complex. Is it possible to remove decoders from locomotives and have them run on DC with no issues? Second question is related to decals. I've recently been playing around with a few old freight cars and Pine Sol, and I've learned how to remove decals. Now I want to make the jump to renumbering locomotives and expanding my roster in that fashion. My thinking right now is that I can hopefully use a small amount of Pine Sol to remove a number decal or two and replace it with a different number without removing the paint. I've never done any decal work before so I have no idea how simple or complex it really is. Any ideas or suggestions on this?
If the decoders are at all recent then they should be dual-mode, which means that they can run on DC or DCC. I wouldn't monkey with it if I were you, but if you are determined you could try order some PC boards from Atlas and just swap the decoder board out for the PC board. For the second one, I have used a pencil eraser on some Atlas decals but I wouldn't say with unqualified success in every way. Someone else here may have a better idea.
The C628 were released in 2003 by Atlas, at least according to their site: Atlas N C-628 Locomotive Is that recent enough?
Are they "decoder equiped" or "DCC ready"? Big difference. If its equiped then the board can easily be replaced with a standard board, as SteamDonkey mentioned. If it's "ready" then it has the standard board, not a decoder. The only drawback of the dual-mode decoders I've seen is the start voltage is pretty high so a unit with a std board will try and start moving boefre the dual-mode say 50% vice 35% throttle, on my Atlas train set pack. I've used EXTREMELY fine sandpaper to remove numbers but rubbing alchohol on a q-tip worked a little better. It took a little longer but the underlying paint wasn't effected.
I'll give the pencil eraser a shot, I've got a few non L&N/CSX locomotives I can test it out on. As far as the C628s go, I'll buy one the next time I see it and try it out. I kinda enjoy collecting the L&N units as it is, so if it doesn't work out, I have something new for my collection.
