Good evening all!
I have a few things to mention about N-Scale Kit-bashing.
So as on my other post on the MP55CACW-T4 I bought an HO-Scale Athearn Genesis 2.0 EMD SD90MAC-H in primer paint and I was wondering how to reprogram the speaker, replacing the original LED lights and adding more details to the unit like the cab interior - I’m new to kit-bashing this is why I’m asking
But I also want to know if I can add extra lights like in the MP55CACW-T4 drawing on my other thread there’s 2 sets of headlights and ditch lights and 2 sets of marker/class lights and the auxiliary lights that I want to work like actual auxiliary lights
I just want to know so when it arrives I have an idea of what I need to do
I might buy a new Tsunami2 sound decoder and a new DCC system for the unit
I also am looking if anyone is willing to do this for me as well I looked into it over Google and there was a couple of options but never went through with them since I might try doing it myself
Keep in mind that there is a reason railroads like SP that used to run all sorts of auxiliary lights and strobes stopped doing so.
The FRA mandates as part of the 92-day ‘blue card’ inspection that any light on a locomotive, whether or not it is critical to safe operation, be fully operational. It is no fun to have a $6.5M locomotive out of service for what may be days because of a jammed shaft in a Mars or Gyralite, or a failure in one of the four bulbs in a “rotary” beacon. And the cost and to an extent the ‘power draw’ can be measured, and do add up over time.
Class lights as seen on older Alcos, including the Canadian-style equipment on some MLW engines, came ‘not to be used’ in most American practice; Don Oltmann can probably give you a range of dates that Conrail stopped using two red lights for the ‘rear’ of a locomotive consist. No modern railroad will likely ‘pay’ for fancy light options that are not mandated or clearly required for particular operation.
@Woke_Hoagland I’ll keep that in mind I know railroads won’t use the Auxiliary/Gyralite and the marker lights those are options the only reason why the IACR uses them is because of the dense fog and heavy snow and storms that roll through the Midwest making trains hard to see in most cases it’s an extra safety feature basically I’ll get working on the Nose and Rear renders of the unit in a bit I’m currently working on finishing the demo unit on MS Paint and I’ll work on the NS and UP variants for reference