Two More DCC Projects

I've managed to make some more progress on DCC installs. The first is an Atlas Silver Southern Pacific FM Train Master:

Although these came with 8-pin NMRA DCC sockets, the wiring was otherwise bare-bones. There is a circuit panel at each end of the hood behind the headlights for a number of SMD LEDs that light up the headlight, warning light, and number boards, but they're all wired together, and they all operate only together via F0 forward or reverse. If you want to set up the oscillating warning light to turn on and off separately and shine brighter and less bright, you basically need to get rid of those factory circuit boards, add wiring for new LEDs, and start over with a decoder that has extra lighting functions.

This didn't strike me as worth the extra effort, especially as the SP also had larger number boards to carry the train numbers for the peninsula commutes. The bottom line is that down the road, someone is going to have to issue a next-generation Train Master model, likely not in my lifetime if ever. On this one I simply installed a Digitrax DH126P and called it done. Looking at the photo, I see I need to add an SP 5-chime horn.l

The Train Master inspired me to pull out a couple of Keil Line ex Holgate & Reynolds SP bi levels I built from kits almost 30 years ago. I think they were old stock and out of production even then.

I also installed a Digitrax DH165A0 decoder in an Atlas Classic Tidewater Southern RS-1. I'm not sure if Atlas ever did a run of these with 8-pin sockets. This one didn't have one.

The unfinished scenery in the background is meant to be a start on some Northern California-style landscape that I started maybe a year ago and left to simmer. Now that I've tried using this scene as a photo backdrop, I'm going to resume work on it.