Everyone, It's been a while since I had the time to do any serious modeling projects and seeing as I just received a Piko 0-6-0T Steam Locomotive, I now have a dedicated switcher. At first I thought I'm gonna have to insulate some tracks to run it around the yard, but I remembered I recently purchased an Aristocraft 75Mhz onboard TE with its own 10 channel transmitter and thought this allows me to run or let someone else run the yard while the main is running (even more fun right?) or run trains out from the yard out to the middle siding to drop and drag cars to and from the yard. Anyway the little switcher started its life out as U.P. 2904 And we will be installing the 75Mhz 10 Channel Aristocraft onboard TE system To Disassemble the locomotive you must first remove the front and rear pilots as this allows access to the one screw that holds the front of the boiler off of the frame, and the rear pilot removal allows for the cab and coal bunker to slide off of the firebox. Next the steps going into the cab are each held on by one screw each, this allows for access to the two rear screws that hold the cab and coal bunker on, then remove the two front screws this allows the cab to be removed off of the firebox, (be careful of the two seats in the cab as they are mounted on posts on the floor and can be easily snapped off, I have the fireman's seat setting up now) after the Cab is off there are two screws in front of the firebox that hold the rear of the boiler to the frame floor and then you remove this little cover in front of the drivers by removing two screws this allows access to the one screw that hold the front of the boiler to the frame. Once those three screws are out you can lift the boiler from the frame. Once the Cab and Boiler is off you can see the wiring and lead weight used in the boiler. Next I drilled a hole in the floor in the cab for the link button to mount, good thing is there are little "tool boxes" mounted under the cab and I tucked away the button there Next Up Wiring the TE....
Pt. 2 The TE is designed to plug directly into Aristo's Locomotives but it also comes with two adapters to allow the installation in non-Aristo equipment, One is a straight wired and labeled and the other (The One I used) is also hard wired but is also fused. I Also salvaged 90% of the locomotives original wiring, seeing it was equipped with pin plugs or whatever the tech term is, And wired them into the fused adapter. The Locomotives wiring is really simple: The Right hand side (Engineers side) outer post is power pick-up (+) The Right Hand Side Inner Post is Motor (+) The Left Hand Side Outer Post is Power Pick-up (-) The Left Hand Inner Post is Motor (-) Two Yellow wires are front and rear LED (+) Two Black Wires are Front and rear LED (-) (Note: All the main wiring is black as seen in the above pic) The TE's wiring is color coded and labeled: Red Wire is Right Hand Power Pick-up (+) Orange Wire is RH Motor (+) White Wire is Front Headlight (+) Light Blue Wire is Light Common (-) Yellow Wire is Rear Light (+) Gray Wire is Left Hand Motor (-) Black Wire is LH Power Pick-up (-) The Link Button is a White and Black wire plug that plugs into the receiver. The Receiver will then plug right into the wiring adapter, I also put a wrap of electrical tape over the pins on the other side of the receiver just in case. Note: Seeing that both lights share the same Common wire I re-used the split pigtail from the factory. The TE will mount inside the firebox, Its a tight fit but does work, you will have to trim back the plastic thats on top of the lead as the TE will need to be angled back in order to fit. Next I taped the Antenna and the wires to the front headlight to the plastic on top of the lead weight at the top of the boiler. I Also installed some extra plugs to power future sound, smoke (the locomotive didnt come equipped with a smoker) and the possibility of a future battery install for those Battery-only layouts out there that I might visit. After all that we can finish tucking away the wiring and reinstalling the boiler. Up Next Kadee Installation....
Kadee and Lighting.... Once done installing the boiler, power up the locomotive and press and hold the link button under the cab for 3 seconds after that the headlight will start to flash, after flashing begins press and release the "A" button on the transmitter the flashing will slow down and then the light will light solid, confirming the linking of the TE and Receiver. You can Control the headlight On/Off by pressing "F" on the TE. I have the Back-up light constantly on to act as a power indicator. ... And a good light pic... Kadee Installation.. I am an Avid fan of Kadee 830 couplers and install them on everything, I like the size and the slack action in them. This locomotive was easy to convert over all I needed was my dremel and a 3/32 drill bit. under each pilot there is this little square box thing that when you trim the pilot down to it level is the perfect height for the 830's and lines up perfect with KD's height gauge, though you do have to remove the factory coupler mounting post to allow for the 830's to fit but if you use something other than the 830's you might not have to remove them. After cutting the pilots you then reinstall them thus finishing the last step of reassembly of the whole locomotive. Up Next Finishing Up...
Cosmetic Stuff.... Pt. 4 Now those of you that know me, know that I model the N&W and Virginian Railways, but I also have roads that interchanged with them as well Virginian = New York Central N&W = Clinchfield and of Course the interchange between the N&W and Virginian. Anyway we Started with U.P. 2904 And After some Q-Tips and nail polish remover, a little flat black touch-up and some of my Custom Vinyl Lettering I have on hand for kitbash projects we now have...... N&W 0-6-0 Class "P" No. 90 I need to get some proper yellow 90's for the cab but for now the white will do This project took me about 2 1/2 hrs to complete but was a great way to kill a rainy day I hope you all enjoyed and can use this info in the future, As I add Smoke and Sound I will Update this thread.
