I finished the digital conversion of a Maerklin 3065 V60 class switcher. Not only was this my first attempt of using a motor kit from sb modellbau, but also I'm very happy that I managed to find a way to replace the light bulbs with LEDs, and still have all lights operational without having to resort to dealing with SMD LEDs. As you can see in the photo above, the arrangement of the lights is a bit tricky.
Light package in long hood
I started the lights on the long-hood side of the locomotive to get some experience working inside this very narrow and somewhat shallow hood. Since I'm mounting the LEDs in the shell, I needed a way to disconnect the shell from the chassis, so I built a low-tech connector from header pins.
A 5mm warm-white LED feeds the ditch lights, and a dedicated 3mm warm-white LED feeds the headlight at the cab.
The long hood also houses the decoder
The white, yellow, and blue cable were left just long enough that I can take off the shell and pull the connectors from the header pins.
Short hood light package
The short hood houses the motor, and in particular the flywheel, so space is at a premium here. I decided to route the wires along the insider corners of the shell, as well as mount the 3mm LED into the exhaust block. That required some gentle drilling to make room for the LED. I also had to reposition the 5mm LED in a sub-optimal way to avoid the LED touching the flywheel, which now spins only a few millimeters away from the LED contacts.
LEDs and wiring inside the shell
And that completes the digital conversion of this loco. Things left to do are some paint touch-ups on the shell, and tuning the decoder programming.
This loco comes with a TELEX coupler on each end, which are wired serially to function output 1 of the ESU Lokpilot 3.0 decoder.
Finally, here's a short video that shows the completed locomotive in Talheim. The motor is so quiet now, that the locomotive is almost begging to be equipped with sound.
[ Three Tunnels and Winter ] Kandersteg station has the control tower right on the platform at track 1. However, it appears the big control table is no longer in use. Instead, everything's controlled via computers in a back room. Here's the line diagram schedule. This photo was taken through two windows and blinds, so unfortunately it's hard to make out train indications. However, I believe the rather tight column of red lines in the middle of the screen represents the auto transport trains traversing through the Loetschberg tunnel. As soon as the sun disappears behind the mountains, it gets cold. I didn't want to stand here for another 30 minutes until the RegioExpress to Bern was due, so I decided to take the RE 4275 through the Loetschberg tunnel to Goppenstein, where I'd have about 5 minutes to get to the other platform for the return trip and on to Bern. While waiting for the RegioExpress, this KLV train with double-header DB class 185 barrels through the stat...
In case you were wondering what I have been doing lately, here's part of the answer. Not only was there a lot of reading material on a recent transatlantic flight , but also this puzzle (Ravensburger No 16 726 5, "Danzig"). Didn't look too hard, so I started it on the living room table last week. The house fronts were fairly easy once I zeroed in on colors and window styles. Filling in the roofs and surroundings was an exercise in occasional frustration. However, with persistence and patience I eventually finished it. It was a slow-going slog for most of the time, except today. The last 100 pieces almost placed themselves.
Comments
Post a Comment