The Next Big Step

Having inventoried the vast majority of my HO lcomotive collection and made up a tentative to-do list for more DCC conversions, I'm beginning to realize I need to do the same for my N collection. I did most of my N modeling between about 1975 and 1985, when I was single, poor, and living in an apartment, and N suited my budget and available space, which was a walk-in closet. I collected almost no N between about 1985 and 2015, when I began experimenting with T-TRAK. Nevertheless, I do have some N equipment from the 70s and 80s stashed away.

Toward the end of that period, I was getting to be well enough off to get some N scale brass. This was before the day of quality N plastic locos, and even Kato's range at the time was limited and somewhat primitive. I've had the idea at the back of my mind for a while that I really ought to convert the better-quality N locos in my collection to DCC, including the brass ones. Below is a good first step:

ATSF 8702 is a U33/36C from (I think) Hallmark. It represents brass technology of the time, with an open frame 5-pole motor, no flywheels, and pickup from one rail on each truck. A quick test on DC shows it's a quiet runner. It came unpainted but with Santa Fe details of the 1970s and 1980s, air conditioner on the cab roof, radio ground plane behind the cab, a solid brass gumball flasher, and horn. The rear radiator screens were see-through, and the drive to the rear truck was lowered to provide a clear view through the screens. I did the painting with Floquil paint and Micro Scale decals. I am no longer able to do paint work like this as I age.

I never reassembled the body to the frame after I painted it -- I was unsatisfied with the paint job I'd done for whatever reason, and I pretty much gave up on the model. However, coming back to it now, I don't see what the problem was, and since I don't have to disassemble it now to install DCC, it looks like this will be my easiest start on doing this with one of my N brass locos.

The decoder is a Digitraz DZ126D, which is small enough that it should fit in the long hood shell to the rear of the motor. Wiring should be no problem, and at least for now, I won't bother with headlights, and trying to light the flasher is more than I want to do. How the one-rail-per-truck pickup will work out is something I'll have to deal with, but if it results in a loco that runs acceptably, I'll turn to the rest of my N brass locos. At least adjusting CVs for momentum and starting voltage on DCC should get the best out of what it can do.