I have started work on a couple of MP15s to get the roster for Sweethome Alabama up to a reasonable amount. I envisage having one loco working at a time and estimate a stable of 8 locos should be more than sufficient to give an Alabama feel to the layout. The two locomotives I am using are an Atlas MP15DC, factory painted for Norfolk Southern (ex Southern) The other is an undecorated Athearn MP15AC that I recently painted up in CSX bright future scheme, but forgot to take any photos of the progress. Both locos are soundchipped with factory fitted sound - the NS MP15DC has a chassis borrowed from a BRC unit and the Athearn MP15AC fitted with the MRC chip. Unfortunately the MRC chip stopped working after about 35 minutes and , since I bought the loco at a swapmeet, I don't have a receipt to send it back for repair. Consequently the Athearn unit is now fitted with a Tsunami 645 non-turbo engine. Now to add some details. Jon
Love the MP15 you have there.I have CSX one myself that will be doing alot of work on the N&E.Great photos...
I made a start detailling the CSX MP15 and added details such as a horn, MU cabling and ditch lights. For some reason there wasn't a horn in the otherwise excellent list of parts in the undec kit, so I used a Details West Nathan P5, although one of the 'bells' accidentally fell off during weathering, so it is actually a Nathan P4! at present. I kept the weathering quite light, limiting the effect to an 'in-use' look with some sunbleaching of the blue, as I wanted it to have the look of a recently repainted engine that has seen some service. One compromise I had to make concerned the ditch lights. The decoder only has 2 lighting functions in addition to the forward/reverse headlights, so the front and rear ditchlights are ON, no matter which direction the loco is travelling in. I also programmed them as Type 1 ditchlights - ie they are on all the time and flash when the horn is sounded. Jon
I shot some video last night and put it up on You Tube. Here is the link to it [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1u5KvbiIzY&feature=channel_page"]YouTube - CSX MP15AC[/ame] Jon
