Big Boy's headlight...

Model Railroader Electronics and DCC
1

Two weeks ago,the local club held its annual public show,to wich I participated as a guest.None of the members run any steamers so I ran mine on a constant basis,including my most uncertain Athearn N scale Big Boy.Fearing a smoke job,I only ran it lightly not exceeding 50% throttle and only seven light cars in tow.Guess what!It ran for more than four hours during the weekend without a single failure.

However,I still will replace the MRC decoder,failure or not,as I don’t like the sound too much.After I heard a friend’s Precision Models Loksound equipped E7,my BB doesn’t make it.The E7’s sound is stronger and crisper,well…much nicer.

I also noticed how weak the headlamp is.The BB was in service in the latter part of the steam era so it is my understanding that their headlamps were electrical,thus just as bright as diesel’s.Is it true or were they more like position lamps than actual headlamps.This I want to correct during the decoder replacement with a LED,unless prototypical BB headlamps were dim in the real life.

Other than the less than optimum sound and dim headlamp,I’m very happy with my BB’s performance.The motor is smooth,strong and silent and the whole engine is a delight to operate.

2

Early diesels didn;t have the super bright headlights of today’s modern units, either. Most palces sell essential two kinds of white LEDs for model railroad use - one called a ‘sunny white’ and one called a ‘golden white’. The sunny white kind are bright, veyr white light, most like a modern diesel. The golden whites have a slight yellow component to the light and look mor elike odler diesels and late steam with an incandescent appearance. There are a few web sites aroudn that show some prototype headlights, the older ones all use an actual bulb, a rather large, rugged type that generated a softer light than a modern halogen lamp. Since I model strictly first generation diesels, I use the golden white LEDs in all my locos, and I have been pleased with the way they look.

–Randy