# Who's the Dummy or MUing in Stereo



## cmjdisanto (Jan 6, 2008)

Okay! So I was going thru some things and found an SD45 all boxed up to send back to Aristo for replacement of the PC Board. One had blown out in the late summer of 2006 and well.......One thing led to another (ya know the move and all) and it never got sent back. I had spoken to Lewis about it and he told me to just send it back but................. I never could remember to send it off. 

I had always wanted to set up a Dummy SD so I figured this would be the perfect loco. Now this isn't a bash against Lewis and company but this particular loco has gone through a couple sets of blocks and fried a on-board TE so I had nothing to loose. 

The project was surprisingly easy once I was able to remove the center gearbox. All it took was removing the worm gear from each of the 6 gear drives, removing the motors and reassembling everything. I did pinch one of the power connectors for the batter hook-up so that'll have to be replaced down the line. This made the loco a oneway hookup with the powered one and since the speaker wires for the sound system piggyback (the stereo part of the post) are on only one side of the loco.............. It does sound terrific though. Lound too. I had to reduce the volume a bit. The layout isn't THAT big.........Yet!

Anyhow I did take some shots of them running around the track. The big question is can you tell which one is the powered one?


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## noelw (Jan 2, 2008)

Nice layout and nice pic's. of it....       Ya....... the second unit is powered.. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/whistling.gif


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## Dave F (Jan 2, 2008)

Well it's obvious from the still photos that the second unit is the powered one..../DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/blush.gif

Right??/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/blink.gif

/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/laugh.gif


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## cmjdisanto (Jan 6, 2008)

Well are ya sure it's the second one? I know it's hard to tell but the light is on above the cab on the lead loco./DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/whistling.gif Since it's probably just the right light to tell.....I should be snapping shots right now but we don't have a good enough camera to perform this. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/blush.gif


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## Doug C (Jan 14, 2008)

"...big question is can you tell which one is the powered one.."

I was going to say  we need closer shots of front AND back   also turn up the volume so I can hear 'them'      

But i see the lit  hdlight on the front unit but  can't see {no clear shot}  the rear engine one /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/crying.gif

later, 
doug c


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## cmjdisanto (Jan 6, 2008)

Posted By Doug C on 01/23/2008 3:51 PM
"...big question is can you tell which one is the powered one.."

I was going to say  we need closer shots of front AND back   also turn up the volume so I can hear 'them'      


Before I forget thanks for noticing the layout Noel. Just need to get another couple tons o ballast and........./DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/crazy.gif

Doug, I'd love to provide clearer shots. Unfortunately the camera starts shaking the operator way to much when close to the ground. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/whistling.gifAs far as sound goes? We have been given a video recorder unfortunately it's still of the tape variety so......... When I figger out how to transpose the image to a file that I then I will try and learn how to upload it to a post here./DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/crying.gif/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/crazy.gif


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## noelw (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By cmjdisanto on 01/23/2008 3:29 PM
Well are ya sure it's the second one? I know it's hard to tell but the light is on above the cab on the lead loco./DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/whistling.gif Since it's probably just the right light to tell.....I should be snapping shots right now but we don't have a good enough camera to perform this. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/blush.gif 



*cmjdisanto** .... I notice the couplers had no slack, so the back unit was pushing against the front unit. and  you said  you only pulled out the worm gears and motor so you must of left all of the electrical in being you have the head lights on.   And the back unit  head is out do to in Rev. 
lol  ./DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/tongue.gif
Oh..... Noticed the cab lights are on in both units..  /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/hehe.gif
Now ask me how I know.. "back unit is powered"   hahhahaha.... Pic's still looking good tho./DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/wow.gif

*


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## D-n-H - Kirkville Branch (Jan 14, 2008)

The one in the middle?


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## cmjdisanto (Jan 6, 2008)

Noel,

Well I knew it wouldn't be too hard to figur out anyhow. But in answer to the couplers havong very little slack.... They don't have any regardless of pushing or pulling. I did a mod to then and installed a different kadee than what was called for on the SD45. I wanted to pull the catwalk ramps closer together and reduce the space between them. There are 3 different wires running between the loco's. + and - for the speaker and the MU connecting cable. If I hadn't taken up some of the slack it woulda looked like a spaghetti bowl between them.


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

The new layout is beautiful. Lovely setting.


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Well  I know that it is the front one that is powered.   I know this because the  second unit is running backward and I know for a fact that the engineer  get's car sick if he rides running backward.

Wow that sure is a nice looking layout.


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## cmjdisanto (Jan 6, 2008)

JJ,

When I get the chance to fix the battery cable for the lead loco in the pics, I'm gonna give the poor guy who's been rinding backwards in the second loco (the powered unit too) a break. He'll be able to face forward from then on. The guy in the second loco (the dummy loco so I don't mean the engineer) will be removed fromthe cab. He's not been too good with the controlls anyway and he's scheduled to be demoted for almost putting the whole consist in the drink/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/shocked.gif


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