Continued Progress on the 1109 & Coal Dump (and even the 0967! Conversion Part 1)

As I hinted in last week's Wordless Wednesday post, I've been making progress on many different fronts lately and I'm in that rare state of "flow" where everywhere I look I see opportunities for progress rather than feeling overwhelmed. And it's a wonderful - although often fleeting - place to be: where any obstacle you meet you either figure out a way around it, or you pivot to something else. This way, you usually get to do whatever you happen to be in the mood to do at a given time, and if you're enjoying what you're doing, you're likely to do it more.

And you make more progress.

Here's what I've been up to since my last update:

I starting converting a NOS P2k S-1 into NHRR DEY-3 #0967. First step is to make it "truly" DCC ready by isolating the motor. This involved removing the motor and soldering a new orange wire to the lower motor brush tab/washer (which had previously gotten its power through the frame). I also had to remove the old orange wire between the PCB and the top of the frame.

I plan to install a Loksound v5 decoder and Power Pack. In the photo above, you can see where I think I'm going to put the PP.

In addition to the decoder and capacitor, I'm also installing a custom-fit Scale Sound Systems speaker. The install requires removal of the top weight, but that's only a loss of 1.5oz - a small price to pay for the resulting free space. I plan to do some more-detailed posts on this conversion a bit later.

My bench time tends to be during weeknights so I can reserve larger weekend blocks of time for the basement. Segueing from DCC installation, I got back down to Essex a little over the weekend to make some more progress on the Dickinson coal dump. Part of that process required removal of the fascia so that I could trim it to match the terrain and open up the area where the dump will be.

As for the dump itself, I painted a base coat of my "concrete" color on the walls and bulkheads/piers and "pavement" on the ground/floor. The black will be covered in dirt, cinders, and - of course - coal. I'm now trying to figure out how best to weather the concrete. I plan to do all that before installing it on the layout and gluing the track to it.

Pivoting from painting back to the bench, I got some critical decals from David Hutchinson to get me over the finish line with B&M SW1 #1109. Here, I've cut out all the necessary decals - including numbers for the headlight number boards, which I had to cobble together. Those four tiny bits are the four #9s I need - and they're only 1/32" wide(!)

I then spent the rest of the evening with the stove going, listening to 1940s Christmas music, and doing all the decaling on one side of the loco. Notice the reference photos, also courtesy Mr. Hutchinson.

As you may have guessed, as is often the case, when one is busy making progress, posting to a blog takes a back seat. But as much as I enjoy sharing my progress with you here, there's something I enjoy a bit more - and that is making even more progress to share :^)

Here's hoping you're enjoying this holiday season and that you're able to make some progress on your projects too!

Rosie says: "Get back to your bench!"