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Quick Look: Athearn HO scale rotary snowplow and B unit
Join the discussion on the following article:
Quick Look: Athearn HO scale rotary snowplow and B unit
The B unit is an F9B, not an FB.
Unless this unit has been upgraded the rotary plow is DC and not DCC.
I converted the plow unit to DCC with a TCS 1479 decoder. The P/C board was removed. The track pickups were wired to the red & black wires on the decoder, and the motor outputs (gray & orange) were wired to the plow motor.
I also added LED’s for headlights and a rear strobe (functions supported by the decoder).
The F9B unit was also converted to DCC.
A while back, I converted a Walthers Leslie Rotary Plow to DCC using a TSU750 Light Logging sound decoder. By using a DCC decoder the operator can make the rotary throw snow in either direction and can move the plow without the blade turning (which is a plus feature when moving about the yard or going to the shop).
Athearn’s original rotary was a steam operated unit requiring a separate tender. I believe that at sometime this particular unit was converted to either diesel or electric drive necessitating the addition of a B unit to supply power to the plow. The B units had their traction motors removed.