Adding Steam to the Middleton & South Haven Short Line
Introduction & Selecting the Locomotive
The following information is mostly presented in chronological order. The information is based on the notes that I made while converting an old IHC 2-8-0 Consolidation Steam Engine to Dead Rail operation. The information that is not exactly in chronological order is noted as such.
When I first started using LocoFi™, steam sounds were not available. Once they were, in November of 2023, I immediately began looking for a HO steam locomotive that would work on my layout with 18" radius curves.
Note: As of June 2024 the FREE LocoFi™ App is at version 2.39.
I figured that it could handle the curves and that there would be enough room in the tender for the LocoFi™ module, with its attached speaker, and a 3S cylindrical 10440 (AAA) size Lithium-ion battery pack.
Unfortunately, it was not originally going to be available until the end of March, 2024, but the estimated delivery date, at the time of publishing this, June of 2024, was advanced to June 30, 2024!
While searching for other possible locomotives, I found the old International Hobby Corporation (IHC) 2-8-0 Consolidation. A new, in the box version was available on Ebay. IHC closed in 2009.
On December 19, 2023 I placed an Ebay order for an International Hobby Corp. (IHC) 2-8-0 Consolidation. No URL is provided here as it was one of a kind from the seller, russelld83. A check, at the beginning of May 2024, showed that many more of these units were available in various road names.
From Amazon - Kapton tape ordered 12/21/23:
(For possible and future use)
ELEGOO High Temp Tape, 4 Pack Polyimide High Temperature Resistant Tape Multi-Sized Value Bundle 1/8", 1/4", 1/2", 1" with Silicone Adhesive for Masking, Soldering etc.
Price: $9.99
Tax: $0.60
Arrived: 2:30 p.m. 12/22/23
DO NOT PURCHASE THIS TAPE. IT IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO START ON ROLL AND IT IS NOT STICKY AT ALL!!!
From Amazon - Hxchen 3 x 1.5V AAA Series Connection Plastic Black Cylinder Battery Storage Holder Case Adapter Black ordered 12/22/23:
Before ordering the battery boz, I checked out the sizes of circular 3 AAA battery holders on Amazon and found them to be 54/55mm x 20/21mm or 2.16" x 0.79". I guessed that it would fit.
Price: $5.29 (5 pieces)
Tax: $0.32
Arrived: 12/24/2024
Battery Holder Case Size: 54 x 21mm / 2.13" x 0.83" (L*D)
THIS BATTERY HOLDER PHYSICALLY FIT, BUT IT DID NOT WORK AND HAD TO BE RETURNED TO AMAZON!
On 12/25/24, a 1-star review was written for Amazon regarding the unusable battery boxes and posted to the Amazon Website, and a return was created. They never posted the review.
Vapcell 10440 Vapcell INR10440 320mAh 3A High Discharge Button Top ordered 12/31/23:
Price: $3.50 ea. (3 pieces)
Arrived: 01/08/2024
These worked as expected
More info is presented in this article
Blue painters' tape was added to each battery as a pull-tab.
Each battery was numbered for future reference.
A Bit of Research While Waiting for the Loco to Arrive
I used the following videos for tender reference. While the locomotive is not the same, the tender appeared to be similar to the Consolidation, and it was.
IHC 2-8-2 DCC CONVERSION PART 1.mpg
IHC 2-8-2 DCC CONVERSION PART 2.mpg
The IHC 2-8-0 Consolidation Arrived
The IHC 2-8-0 Consolidation arrived on December 22, 2023.
The original IHC purple box arrived in a modified USPS shipping box with a slight crush/crease on the top side and a piece of white filler paper to secure the original IHC box inside.
When removed from the USPS shipping box, the locomotive was in its original IHC purple box packaging. It had only been opened, according to the seller, to test the locomotive.
Digging Deeper - December 23, 2023
Once removed from the original purple package, a cursory visual inspection was performed on the locomotive and tender. I was pleasantly pleased with its condition and surprised to note that the locomotive's front coupler was also a working horn-hook type.
The locomotive and tender were connected, both electrically and physically, and placed on the original loop of track that came with the Fast Flyer train set. The tender also has electrical pickups and a working light.
The original train set transformer was used to run the locomotive using DC. It appeared to run fine in both forward and reverse and did not appear to have an overly high top speed. That indicated that the gearing was decent for this model.
The following photos are actually links to two short videos, on my Facebook page. The videos show the original DC testing of the loco. If you do not have a Facebook account, they can still be viewed. A Join Facebook "nag" will appear. Click on the X in the "nag" box to close it and then view the video. To hear the sound in the video, slide up the sound slider on the Facebook screen.
Photos of the packaging and other items were taken, as well as short video clips of the loco running, at 1/2 speed, in forward in reverse, using the transformer and track from the original Walthers Fast Flyer train set.
Complete information about what was on and in the locomotive box can be found here. This includes all the text on the box as well as the data sheet and exploded view of the parts.
While setting up for the DC test video, I noted that it was hard to get the loco and tender on the track. I next put them on the layout track, as I was worried about the wheel flange depth with the Code 83 Atlas track I used for the layout. It was still difficult to get all of the wheels of the loco and tender on the track, but by pushing a truck that had been removed from the tender, independently, along straight track and through switches, it appeared that the wheels would work okay, and they did.
The LocoFi™ 3 Decoder Module measures 1.98" x 0.64" x 0.25" or 50.34mm x 16.25mm x 6.35mm. The tender base frame, not including the sides and ends, measured 102mm x 31mm. Therefore, the module should have "fit" inside the tender, and it did.
The Locomotive's Details & The Installation of the LocoFi™ Module, Speaker and Battery in the Tender
Weight as delivered:
Loco: 312.8g or 11.033695 oz.
Tender: 104.8g or 3.6967112 oz.
I studied the exploded view of the tender to figure out how to remove the tender shell. I removed the drawbar that goes between the loco and tender and the coupler housing at the rear of the tender. That didn't really help. Because of the electrical connector at the front of the tender, the rear of the body shell needs to come out first. Gentle prying did not do it! I went online and found the following comment, "I found the screw between the rear tender truck and the coupler." I didn't see it there because it is hidden by the wiper on the axle. I knew it would be easy----just had to know where to look."
That was the solution. Once unscrewed, the shell came off easily. The drawbar and coupler pocket did NOT need to be removed.
The screw appears to be the one noted as #68 on the exploded diagram, but was much longer than drawn.
There was a lot of weight in the tender!
The trucks were held on with nuts and bolts. The truck axles have wipers that are not needed for Dead Rail. The nuts appeared to be "Locktited" onto the bolts. I got one off and removed the pickup from that wheel set and its connection in the tender and put it back on. I could not loosen the second nut, so the wires were just "broken off" the spade inside the tender and the pick-up removed from the axles. That one just fell off.
Since the coupler pocket and horn-hook coupler were already off, a Kadee #148 coupler was installed in the original draft box of the tender and screwed on. The height of the coupler was close to correct, but it didn't work well and sagged. A Kadee draft box and a Kadee Medium CENTERSET shank from a #148 set, replaced the original draft box and everything checked out well with the Kadee height gauge. The original screw was used to attach the Kadee draft box to the tender. The tender was set aside.
The locomotive exploded diagram was studied to see how to access the motor. After removing the front pilot wheels, The very long screw, #26, was removed and the boiler and cab were somewhat free. The wires were short and there was very little play.
The wires were cut from the pick-ups to the motor and to the front headlight bulb. That freed up everything.
The wheel pick-ups were removed.
To change the front light bulb to a LED, the cylindrical weight in the shell's boiler needed to be removed to do the wiring. The weight wouldn't come out without further disassembly, but, it was moved far enough towards the cab to get the LED in from the front.
The LED lights were from a LocoFi™ accessory pack, as they had not been needed when converting the two Walthers EMD GP15-1s, as those models already had LEDs in them.
Two of those clear LEDs were tinted orangish yellow with a wash of acrylic paint.
A Harbor Freight Pittsburg 6" Digital Caliper was used to measure the diameter of a drive wheel. The diameter was found to be 17.79mm or 0.7003937". In HO scale, the drive wheel would be 0.7003937" * 87 = 60.93425". That measurement was necessary for setting up the chug rate in the LocoFi™ App.
The horn-hook coupler was replaced with a Kadee Medium UNDERSET shank from a #147 set. First, the original horn-hook coupler and all of the plastic making up the gearbox was removed with a Dremel and cutting tool. The area was filed. A screw was found in my massive collection of modeling screws, to fit the Kadee gearbox. The original hole was reamed out using a 1/16" drill bit in a pin vice. A Kadee #148 Medium CENTERSET shank was tried first. It was too low on the Kadee height gauge, so a Medium UNDERSET shank was used. The #147 lined up perfectly with the Kadee height gauge.
Note:A IFIXIT Mako Driver Kit - (64 Precision Bits - $39.99 May 2024), was used along with a Dremel with a cutting bit. Wire nippers and needle nose pliers were also used during the work on the tender and locomotive.
On December 24, 2023, the Hxchen 3 AAA battery boxes arrived from Amazon. As previously noted, those boxes did not work at all.
Front is white positive
Yellow is rear positive
Blue is common negative
A side-view CAD drawing of the tender was created to see if the new style 3 AAA circular battery box would fit in the tender along with the LocoFi™ module and attached speaker. The first try didn't work - dang!
The locomotive shell was double checked to see if the module would fit in it. It wouldn't fit. At this time, I thought a trailing battery car would be required, but it wasn't.
The available colors, in the five rolls pack, are; yellow, orangish-red, light blue, greenish and black.
The orangish-red wire and blue wire, while still attached to their rolls, were fed through the hole for the headlight and then underneath the boiler. The frame was attached to the body shell. This was the way I ran the LED wires to the back of the loco. The wires' silicone covering was painted black so as not to "stick out" too much.
A piece of 1/4" thick balsa was cut to 2" long by 11/16" wide to represent the LocoFi™ Module. The block was placed under the boiler and inside the cab to the weight. The module would not fit in either position. Again, I still thought that a trailing battery/boxcar would have to be used.
The LocoFi™ box came in the mail on December 26.
The LocoFi™ package was opened and the module taken out of its bag.
At this time, the CAD drawing, of the tender, was discovered to be inaccurate! A revision CAD drawing was started, but nothing could really show whether the module and battery could fit in the tender.
The Micro-SD card was removed from the LocoFi™ module. The previously downloaded Steam Sounds 2 files, from the Resources page on the LocoFi™ Website were transferred from my computer to the Micro-SD card and the Micro-SD card reinstalled into the module.
The LEDs were soldered to the module leads.
The recently ordered bnafes battery boxes had arrived from Amazon on December 27, 2023.
At first, the new battery box did not seem to work with my flat top Efest IMR 10440 3.7V 350mAh batteries. I tried my button top Soshine IFR 10440 3.2V 280mAh batteries and they worked. Solder "buttons" were very carefully added to the Efest flat tops, and then they worked.
(Note: Efest Lithium Manganese Oxide (IMR) 10440 (AAA) cylindrical batteries and Soshine Lithium Iron Phosphate (IFR) 10440 cylindrical batteries are no longer available in North America. See my Battery Availability page for alternate battery recommendations.)
A long time was spent trying to fit the module, with its attached speaker and the battery box into the tender. I hadn't quite figured out how to do it yet, but I was close.
The module was carefully breadboarded to the top of the workbench. The batteries were placed in the battery box and the WiFi, in the module, was selected as the current WiFi connection in the phone. The LocoFi™ App was started on the phone. Once the phone and module were connected, all of the functions were tried. All worked well.
The following photo is actually a link to the video, on my Facebook page. The video shows the original LocoFi™ module being bench tested. If you do not have a Facebook account, the video can still be viewed. A Join Facebook "nag" will appear. Click on the X in the "nag" box to close it and then view the video. If you do not hear the sounds, slide up the volume slider on the Facebook screen.
Bench Testing the module to see if the selected sounds were suitable for this loco.
Two of the three original tender weights were removed and the remaining plate was epoxied to the floor of the tender.
I was able to get the battery box, module and its attached speaker onto the tender frame and the tender shell to slip on, but they were not attached to anything during that attempt.
The following day, I tried to Velcro® the speaker, module and battery box to the floor of the tender and well over an hour later, I could not get the shell back onto the frame. Frustration set in.
A balsa block was created to represent the speaker and the block indicated that the speaker had to be moved forward onto the weight plate to clear the rear screw hole of the tender.
Careful measurements were made for the placement of the module and battery box.
Once the speaker was placed a little bit forward and the module and battery box in the "correct" position, the tender shell went on correctly.
A balsa block was made and glued in for the forward part of the battery box to rest on.
The orange and gray wires, the motor wires from the LocoFi™ module, were hooked to the black wires of the original connector.
The tender LED had the yellow wire soldered to it. A scrap of blue wire was also soldered to it.
Moving to the locomotive, 8.5" wires were connected to the front LED. With the shrink wrap on the LED and wires, the headlight hole needed to be drilled out to the next larger size bit.
The front LED wires were run back through the cab and the chassis and shell joined with the front screw.
The remaining wires were soldered together and covered with shrink wrap.
To allow the tender body to slip on and off the frame, the area above the supplied connector was removed from the tender shell.
Velcro® was used to attach the module and battery box to the tender frame and hold them in place.
The unit was tried on the bench and found to be working.
The pilot truck was put back on.
The locomotive was run on the outside loop of my layout and then demonstrated for my wife. If anything can go wrong, it is always when demonstrating to someone else.
It was a bit fiddly to set up with the batteries, but it worked, looked and sounded great.
At this time, it had not been run through turnouts yet, nor pulled any cars, although Kadees had been added to the front of the loco and rear of the tender.
The front "J" hook, on the coupler, was catching on the magnets.
A Kadee height gauge was used to adjust the couplers.
At first, it did not appear to pull a lot of cars and didn't negotiate the east end of the inner loop well. Later it was found to be able to pull all ten cars that I had at that time.
The loco was set up on the App, including adding it to my home WiFi router. A speed table set created using 3 Only Batteries brand LiFe batteries. The speed table created was created with only one step.
Problems, Fixes, New Batteries Ordered and More!
I ran it for my wife and brother-in-law. I found that it stopped on the east side of the inner loop and the front "J" hook fouled on the magnets.
On December 29, 2023, the orange-ish paint was touched up on the front and rear LEDs.
A spot of hot glue was put on the tender LED holder to keep the LED in place.
To help with the Kadee coupler problem, a Kadee video was watched.
How To Shim A Kadee Gearbox To Fix Coupler Droop
The gearbox and coupler were removed from the front of the loco and disassembled.
A thin piece of white plastic, cut from a rolling stock holder, was cut to the right size to fit in the gearbox bottom, at the front, as shown in the video. It was just a bit over 0.010" in thickness, but not 0.020" thick. The plastic piece was painted black.
After the paint dried, the gearbox and coupler were assemble and screwed back into place on the loco.
The black wires, from the front LED, were hanging down. Medium CA was applied to the wires and boiler with a toothpick to hold them up and in place.
A new Speed Table was set up using 3 Efest IMR 10440 350mAh batteries.
(Note: Efest Lithium Manganese Oxide (IMR) 10440 (AAA) cylindrical batteries are no longer available in North America. See my Battery Availability page for alternate battery recommendations.)
I'm not sure why there was so much wheel slip on the east end of the inner loop yesterday, as there was really none today.
The loco spotted cars using all of the South Haven moves and switches. There was no problem.
It now pulled all ten of my pieces of rolling stock easily.
After lunch, a set of full charged Efest 350mAh batteries was hooked up for a 30 minute prototypical run.
The locomotive switched one boxcar at South Haven. It didn't make it through the west reverse loop. It stopped near the north switch. Something seemed bound. I continued to try and run it. It ran way better in reverse. There were all kinds of problems with it not moving! I stopped at one half hour of prototypical run time.
The LocoFi™ module indicated that the voltage was going up by changing the chug rate, but the loco would not move. :-( Frustration, as it ran so good when I set up the Speed Table and did some running previously.
I let the "problem" rest for a couple of hours.
I returned to the work bench and checked the wheel gauge on the drive wheels and pilot. They were correct, but the flanges seemed deep.
I put the batteries in the battery box and turned on the LocoFi™ App.
I ran the loco upside down on the work bench while inspecting the drive gear.
Everything seemed fine.
The loco was placed on the track and run for quite awhile, including several runs where it would stop before. A few cars were added to and it continued to run fine. This was now an official conundrum!
A short video, of the train running, was made and posted to my Facebook account.
The following photo is actually a link to the video, on my Facebook page. The video shows a short segment of the loco running with a short consist of rolling stock. If you do not have a Facebook account, the video can still be viewed. A Join Facebook "nag" will appear. Click on the X in the "nag" box to close it and then view the video. To hear the sound in the video, slide up the sound slider on the Facebook screen.
The video was also posted to LocoFi's and Dead Rail Society's Facebook pages. The admin, of the Dead Rail Society, never let it be posted to that Facebook page!
After posting and then taking a short break, the same batteries were reinserted into the battery box and the locomotive, with a 5 car consist, was run for awhile to look for any trackwork problems on the north side of the layout.
A problem was found at the west end turnout between the inner most passing siding and the inner loop. The problem was observed for quite awhile, with no solution discovered at that time.
Once again, the locomotive would "bog down" with the sound "running faster" than the slowed or stopped locomotive. The Start speed step, in the LocoFi™ App, was raised to the point were the loco just started to move with the 5 cars attached.
On December 31, 2023, I noted that for the past couple of days, and again today, I had trouble getting the Efest batteries to make a connection to the module to start it. It could have been the homemade button tops, made from solder blobs, that were causing the problem. Also one of the recesses for the button top was filled with solder before realizing that button top batteries are really REQUIRED and flat tops will not work in this type of battery box.
(Note: Efest Lithium Manganese Oxide (IMR) 10440 (AAA) cylindrical batteries are no longer available in North America. See my Battery Availability page for alternate battery recommendations.)
The battery box was switched out for a new one. It worked much better.
The loco, with 5 cars, was run prototypically for 30 minutes with lots of shunting to various spurs and through many of the turnouts. No problems showed up.
On New Years Day, 2024, I reset the Start speed step, in the LocoFi™ App, to a much lower value to see if that would help the "slow down" problem.
A video was created to check that the chuff sound was synced to the drive wheels.
The following photo is actually a link to the video, on my Facebook page. The video shows that the sync rate was set up perfectly. If you do not have a Facebook account, the video can still be viewed. A Join Facebook "nag" will appear. Click on the X in the "nag" box to close it and then view the video. If you do not hear the sounds, slide up the volume slider on the Facebook screen.
The video was posted to Facebook and noted on the LocoFi chat for the LocoFi Team to review.
The Efest IMR 10440 350mAh batteries were topped off and a 30 minute prototypical run was completed. There were a few problems with cars uncoupling while being pulled, but there were no turnout problems.
(Note: Efest Lithium Manganese Oxide (IMR) 10440 (AAA) cylindrical batteries are no longer available in North America. See my Battery Availability page for alternate battery recommendations.)
The maximum returned mAh from the charge, after the 30 minute run was 0.1Ah. 0.1Ah / 0.5 hr. = 0.2 A as the average amp draw. Using 3.7V the average watts would be 3.7V * 0.2 A = 0.74 average watts.
An amp draw test, using 3 of the Only Batteries brand LiFePO4 (IFR) 10440 300mAh batteries, which had been charged today, as they had been charged sometime last week, was performed. At best they were found to have only a usable capacity of 150mAh based on this and previous tests. (Later, these batteries, after testing, proved to be totally unacceptable. Info on these batteries is found here.)
The loco had problems with both of the south side crossovers.
The module started acting up at the 30 minute point of the run due to low voltage.
After an hours rest time the 3 batteries were recharged.
Maximum mAh returned 0.115Ah. 0.115Ah / 0.5 hr = 0.23 A as the average amp draw. Using 3.2V the average watts would be 3.2V * 0.23 A = 0.736 watts
This demonstrated, that for this specific locomotive, either 3 Efest IMR 10440 350mAh (no longer available) or 3 Soshine IFR 10440 280mAh (difficult to obtain) could be used without making a noticeable performance or run time difference. (Later, 3 INR Vapcell 320mAh (NMC) batteries were also found acceptable.)
A Professional Review By HKJ noted his conclusion, "There are not many 10440 LiIon cells on the market, this is a good and rather high power one."
Measured Weight: Each individual battery weighed exactly 9.4g and all three weighed 28.2g.
Volts as received: Batt. #1 - 3.841V, Batt. #2 - 3.850V, and Batt. #3 - 3.830V
The batteries were charged on my MC3000 multi-chemistry charger at 0.16A (160 milliamps/mA) to a termination voltage of 4.2V with a termination amp cut off of 0.02A or 20mA.
The milliamp hours (mAh) returned, on initial charge, was Batt. #1 - 107mAh, Batt. #2 - 107mAh, and Batt. #3 - 115mAh
Complete testing and evaluation of these batteries is found here.
What Happens If You Run the LocoFi™ module below 7 Volts?
The LocoFi™ module is rated for an input voltage of 7V to 24V pure DC, which is noted in the "Technical Specifications" for it.
When using the very poor performing Only Batteries brand LiFePO4 batteries, I accidentally ran the 3 battery battery-pack down below 7 volts and the module started acting strangely.
That concerned me because I thought that I might damage the module doing this. I contacted LocoFi™ on January 8, 2024.
The following is the text of the exchange between myself and LocoFi™.
Me - Does it hurt/damage the components in the module to reach a point, when running on battery power, where the sound starts acting up and the motor gets weird or acting odd. I've accidentally done that twice now.
LocoFi™ - Hello Ken, This should happen only if the voltage happens to fall below 7V. Can you verify if that is not the case?
And it won't hurt the module. Only an over-voltage is the one to look out for or accidentally feeding power to any of the other wires like motor, lights, etc.
Ken - I am pretty sure that the voltage most likely dropped below 7V under load, but have no way to verify that while the loco is running. I was using 3 LiFePO4 3.2V batteries as the pack, so that's not a lot of overhead when it gets near empty.
I'm relieved to hear that it's not really hurting anything to go "under voltage".
On January 9, 2024, the Vapcell batteries had been rested over night after charging.
They were very easy to install in the 3 battery battery pack in the tender of the 2-8-0 and the locomotive was prototypically run for 45 minutes. I had not changed the Speed Table track voltage in the App from when I had it set for 9.6V for running 3 LiFe batteries, but it seemed to run fine and the scale mph seemed right.
The Vapcell batteries were rested for 20 minutes and then charged on the SkyRC MC3000 at 0.16A to a termination of 4.2V with a termination amp cut off of 0.02A. All of the cell voltages, when placed in the charger, before charging, read 3.72V.
mAh returned on this charge: #1 - 144mAh, #2 - 148mAh, #3 - 147mAh
0.148A / 0.75 hr. = 0.20A for the average amp draw
A photo of the underside of the table was taken to demonstrate that this is truly a Dead Rail layout.
Success!!!
A video was made of all three locomotives running at the same time. The Conrail used 3 Efest IMR 10440 350mAh batteries. The CSX used 4 Soshine IFR 280mAh batteries. The 2-8-0 used the 3 Vapcell INR 320mAh batteries.
The following photo is actually a link to the video, on my Facebook page. The video shows all three of my Dead Rail locomotives running at the same time. If you do not have a Facebook account, the video can still be viewed. A Join Facebook "nag" will appear. Click on the X in the "nag" box to close it and then view the video. To hear the sound in the video, slide up the sound slider on the Facebook screen.
After the 3 trains running video was made and all of the batteries were left at storage charge.
Battery Testing Continues with Rolling Stock and Track Issues Fixed
On January 18, 2024, the Vapcell INR 3.6V 320mAh batteries were charged for another average amp draw test. The resting voltages, before the charge were; #1 3.85V, #2 3.85V and #3 3.86V. They were charged at 0.16A to a termination voltage of 4.2V per battery using the MC3000 charger.
The loco voltage was changed from 9.6V to 11.1V before the run. It was run prototypically for 30 minutes.
The batteries were rested for 30 minutes before they were recharged. After 30 minutes resting, all of the voltages read 3.87V.
The batteries were charged with the MC3000 using the same settings as before. The mAh returned was; #1 99mAh, #2 102mAh and #3 101mAh. 102mAh / 0.5 hr. = 0.204A as the average amp draw. A definite pattern was emerging.
The following day, the battery voltages, after resting overnight were Batt. #1 - 4.165V, Batt. - #2 4.168V and Batt. #3 - 4.169V.
The locomotive was run for 30 minutes to put Vapcell batteries at a storage charge.
On January 26,2024, three Soshine LiFePO4 10440 (AAA size) cylindrical batteries were charged and used for a 30 minute prototypical run. (Note: Soshine Lithium Iron Phosphate (IFR) 10440 cylindrical batteries are no longer available in North America. See my Battery Availability page for alternate battery recommendations.)
After the 30 minute prototypical run, they were recharged on the MC3000 charger to 3.65V @ 0.14A. Milliamps returned; Batt. #1 - 112mAh, Batt. #2 - 114mAh and Batt. #3 - 113mAh. 0.114Ah / 0.5 hr. = 0.228A for the average amp draw.
I worked on why some of the cars were coming uncoupled at the South Haven magnet. I tried bending the coupler "J" pins up some and placing some 1/32" balsa under the track. Neither seemed to help a lot. I moved the magnet further west. Maybe that helped, but I was not sure. As it turned out, it did not help.
The following day, the track magnet area was shimmed with a piece of cardstock and moved. The track magnet was returned to its original position. It seemed better. The cardstock was painted with two coats of brown and repositioned.
On January 28, the 3 charged Soshine LiFe batteries had not been run since the charge on 01/26/24.
The train was run prototypically for 45 minutes. It did appear to be slower near the end of the time. The batteries were rested and then recharged.
The mAh returned was; Batt. #1 -177mAh, Batt. #2 -n180mAh and Batt. #3 - 180mAh.
The average amp draw; 0.18Ah divided by 0.75 hr. equals an average amp draw of 0.24A
I began wondering if the Loco Speed Step in the App should be done with the rolling stock connected?
I redid the single speed step in the App and used all 10 of my available rolling stock.
The 3 Soshine LiFe 10440 batteries had been recharged yesterday to get the mAh returned.
I saved the new profile with the name 9.7 and kept the original 9.6 as a different Speed Table.
There was very little change in the maximum speed recorded at 47.5ish compared to when the 9.6V Speed Table was made.
The rolling stock disconnections were still occurring in South Haven and Northville areas. Bummer.
To test why the disconnections were occurring, 4 Soshine LiFe batteries were charged and the EMD GP15-1 CSX diesel locomotive was run through the South Haven and Northville areas where the unwanted uncoupling was taking place. The same cars were used as yesterday. The train was run over the magnets at the low speed step 2 and step 3, mostly 2. The train was run for over 10 minutes and many laps. Only the last car, the Lionel black tank car, came uncoupled once.
Something was going on with the 2-8-0 that seemed to create slack. Rats.
I used 3 of the Soshine batteries, not recharged, in the 2-8-0 and ran the engine tender first. The unwanted uncouplings continued. I tried flipping the cars that came uncoupled and that did not help.
This was a real conundrum. I did turn the engine back around with tender trailing it, but it still did not help.
Early on I had a problem with the Conrail caboose coming uncoupled and "fixed it" using method #5 as shown in the video "Couplers - 7 Secrets to RELIABLE Kadee Remote Magnetic Uncoupling on your HO Scale Model Railroad!". Method #5 is at 21:03 into the video.
I didn't have any 0.012" wire, but I found some 0.019" piano wire in my wire box. (Later, this method was changed a bit and 26 gauge jewelry wire was used successfully.)
While the batteries were charging, I used the method describe in the video on the tank car and SP boxcar that kept coming uncoupled and needed the "fix".
I ran the train for 20+ minutes and found the CSX caboose, GT Boxcar, UP boxcar and Conrail Boxcar also needed the "fix".
They had the drag wire added to them.
The only rolling stock, without the drag wire, were now the C&O boxcar, covered hopper and the CSX coal car.
The 2-8-0 was run at 35 mph through all of the tracks with magnets in them. There was no problem with them. I had to run a couple of 5 car trains as the loco wouldn't pull all 10 now. Oops, that was too much resistance. I broke the cars up that were running behind the diesels to see if that made a difference.
The Conrail was run with 3 Vapcell 10440 3.7V 320mAh batteries. I did a timing test for mph on the outside loop and got 28.18 seconds for a complete loop. That calculated to 58.4 mph but the speedometer was at 65mph. I then remembered that I'd never done a Speed Table for the Vapcell batteries.
The Conrail was run for 33 minutes but with a few issues like the South Haven sidings didn't have cars on them at the start. I paused the loco without shutting down the LocoFi™ App and placed some rolling stock on the spurs to do some shunting. I noted that the loco derailed when returning through Middleton and the tank car derailed coming in from the outside loop at South Haven's east end.
Battery Testing With Various Loads
The Vapcell batteries were recharged.
mAh returned; Batt. #1 -124mAh, Batt. #2 - 129mAh, and Batt. #3 -126mAh.
0.129Ah / 0.5 hr = 0.258A or 0.129Ah / 0.55 hr = 0.235A
All of that seems somewhat normal.
A new speed step table was set up for the Conrail, using Vapcell batteries and it was named 11.1V while the Efest 10440 batteries name was not changed. The Efest Speed Table is named 11.7V (don't know why).
A second speed test was completed using the new Speed Table. The outside loop took 25.02 seconds and the LocoFi™ App noted the speed as 65.79 mph. That totally agrees with the spreadsheet that I created to help me with the calculations.
To see if setting up the Speed Table while pulling some rolling stock made a difference, six cars were pulled by engine/battery car combo. The time at full speed, with just under 65 mph showing on the speedometer in the App, took 29.5 seconds which is 55.6 mph, so the "drag wires" were really adding a lot of drag.
The tank car seemed to be missing its drag bar and derailed once again backing through a switch.
All of the previously installed "drag bars" were loosened, as best as possible.
To see if I could lessen the drag even more, I used 26 gauge beading wire on the blue boxcar and CSX hopper. 26 ga. is 0.0159" diameter. 28 ga. is 0.0126". That type of wire is much easier to use and I don't believe it was applying as much drag.
I ran the Conrail/battery car on the same charge. The outer loop lap time, with speedometer reading just below 65 mph was 25.97 seconds. That was a measured 59.8 mph. With 6 cars with "drag wires", run right after the first one, the time was 28.27 seconds. That was 58.2 mph. That was much better, but not anywhere near the 65 mph that the speed step is set at and what was showing on the Dashboard speedometer, which was 65 mph.
On February 2, 2024, 3 of the previously charge Soshine LiFe batteries were checked and found to be fully charged. The 3 Vapcell batteries had only been used briefly in the Conrail but the were charged.
The 3 Soshine batteries were run prototypically in the 2-8-0 for 30 minutes while I looked for unwanted uncouplings. There were none.
The train had left Northville with the SP boxcar, black tank car, C&O boxcar, Conrail boxcar, UP boxcar and Conrail caboose behind it. It arrived in South Haven and then switched out the SP boxcar, tank car, C&O boxcar, and the Conrail boxcar for the covered hopper, coal car, GT boxcar and C&O caboose.
At the end of 30 minutes the train was ready to go through the reverse loop to return to Northville.
On its first outer loop, on the way to South Haven, it was timed. The loop took 40.88 seconds, which is 40.3 mph, while 45 mph was displayed on the LocoFi™ Dashboard speedometer. That was better!
The Soshine batteries were charged later.
mAh returned: Batt. #1 - 100mAh, and batteries #2 & 3 were both 112mAh
112mAh 0.12Ah / 0.5 hr. = 0.224A
The 3 charged Vapcell batteries were installed. The loco's Speed Table was changed to 11.1V and then the train was run back to Northville with the covered hopper, coal car, GT boxcar, C&O caboose, SP boxcar, and Conrail caboose.
A 30 minute run was made. The SP boxcar, covered hopper and C&O boxcar were switched out after reaching Northville and the train was turned and run through to the loop on the outer track.
The first outer loop was timed at 44.4 seconds, which is 40.23 mph while showing 44 mph on the LocoFi™ App Dashboard.
The Vapcell batteries were charged later.
mAh returned: Batt. #1 - 116mAh, and batteries #2 and #3 were both 119mAh
19mAh 0.119Ah / 0.5 hr. = 0.238A
I observed that the long 4 wheel drivers are slowing down the loco on the tight 18" radius curves. I thought that I could remove some of the drag by changing the "drag bar", on the rolling stock, and running it between the bolster frame and one axle and not putting drag on both of the axles.
I ran the 2-8-0 for 30 minutes with the Soshine batteries to check for unwanted uncouplings. There were none.
The leading truck of the locomotive derailed going through the west end switch through Middleton. I added a temporary shim to that area and that fixed the leading truck derailing problem.
The following day, the 3 Vapcell batteries, that were charged yesterday, were drained to a storage charge by running in the 2-8-0 for 30 minutes.
The shimmed Middleton west end turnout was tested at 35 mph and seemed to be fine with the shim under the west side of the turnout.
The GT boxcar was having issues and "falling off" the track. That had happened a lot in the last couple of running sessions. The wheel gauge was checked and it seemed okay. I also noticed that I'd not added a "drag wire" to the wheel set on this car, so I did add one. I was never quite sure what its issue was with the track, but it seemed okay now.
FINALLY EVERYTHING SEEMED TO BE OKAY AND WORKING AS IT SHOULD!
The IHC 2-8-0 Consolidation has prototypically run for many months, with various combinations of rolling stock, with no problems at all. Finally, a total success with this Dead Rail Conversion.
What the HECK Happened!!!
The Dead Rail IHC 2-8-0 Consolidation ran perfectly during all of February, March and the first half of April. It was run quite a bit. It was used in the making of several YouTube videos. Because my layout is an island type, I also used it as a means to "make me walk" on rainy days as I recovered from sciatic pain and was doing PT.
A friend of mine invited me to go with him to a The NMRA North Central Region (NCR) Division 6 Meeting on Friday, April 19. The topic for the Show & Tell for the month was "ALCOs".
Not being sure whether the 2-8-0 was an ALCO or not, I decided to take it for the Show & Tell and demonstrate Dead Rail.
The Vapcell batteries were charged. They had been stored at a storage charge.
While it is not absolutely necessary, the WiFi from the loco is connected to my home router. When I connect the phone, it goes through my router to the WiFi in the loco.
The freshly charged batteries were installed in the battery box of the loco and used to release the WiFi in the loco from my home system. Next, the WiFi in the LocoFi™ decoder was connected to my phone.
The system was run on the bench and everything checked out fine. With one battery removed from the battery box, I carefully boxed up everything.
When it was time for Show & Tell at the NMRA Division 6 meeting, the last battery was inserted. When I saw what I perceived as smoke appear in the area over the speaker, the battery was immediately pulled.
After being absolutely positive that nothing was "burning", I put the unit away without participating in the Show & Tell.
Once I arrived at home, the battery voltages were checked and found to be what I expected. They did not appear to have experienced an excessive current draw.
A magnifying glass was used to inspect all of the wiring. I could not spot any areas where there might be a short and didn't see any actual real signs of a short.
The batteries were briefly installed and the LocoFi™ module came on in a normal manner. Even so, the battery was quickly pulled until a very good check could be made in the morning.
The following morning, the battery voltages were checked. The voltages were found to be at what was expected to be, almost full, and the values recorded on my battery spreadsheet.
A visual inspection, using a magnifying glass, was performed. Again, nothing suspicious was found.
I thought that maybe the rear LED had burned out. I wanted to check its continuity but could find no place for the probes to touch on the LED wires.
The final battery was put into the battery box and the module came on, including the rear LED.
One battery was removed to shut off the module.
The phone was started and then the LocoFi™ App. The battery was reinserted into the battery box, which started the LocoFi™ module.
The LocoFi™ decoder was once again connected to my home network with no problem.
The loco was run, with the tender shell off, in a prototypical manner for 30 minutes with no problem.
My Theory About What Happened
I'd gotten lazy and not put the tender shell back onto the frame to keep dust from falling onto the speaker. I believe that dust, knocked down by my granddaughter doing cartwheels in the living room, which is directly over the layout, had fallen onto the speaker and when the module started it rattled the speaker, which it always does with kind of a click, and dust rose above the speaker. I believe that I perceived the dust to be smoke.
The 2-8-0 has run for several hours since then. There have been no problems with it at all. Whew!!!
