Atlas HH660 - illuminated number boards?

I purchased an Atlas Silver Series HH660 when they first came out. That appears to be March of 2009. Of course I bought it without a decoder because I thought "Oh, no big deal, I can put a decoder in anytime." Here we are 11 years later and is it now being removed from the box! 

I put it on the test track using DC to see how it will run. Of course it ran well, as expected with an Atlas locomotive. Cool. Now it's time to remove the shell and pop in a decoder. Shell removal was quick and easy. 

The factory Atlas board has an 8 pin socket for DCC. Great. I selected a NCE D13SRP decoder and installed it. Gave it another test run and everything worked perfectly. Everything looked like it would fit, so I carefully used Kapton tape to snug the decoder into position. I put on the shell. Nope! Too tall. I went back to the decoder inventory and pulled out a D15SRP. Nope, too tall again. 

Change of plans. I will pull out the factory board. I found a TCS M1 decoder in my box of decoders and opted to use that for the install. Of course I now need to plan on squeezing resistors into the package as well. That shouldn't be an issue. 

Once I pulled the light board and reviewed how I would do the install, I noticed something about the number boards They look as though they were made to be illuminated. Hmmm. I grabbed an LED key chain light and sure enough, they are designed to be illuminated. 

However, that means my two function decoder isn't going to work out well. And more importantly, while the number boards have the capability of being lit, it will require milling of the weight so I can get SMD LEDs installed. Atlas put a notch in the weight, but only enough to accommodate the thickness of the number board plastic.

So now my project has stalled. Waiting for me to determine whether I want lit number boards or not. It may be possible to squeeze a small SMD above the number board and light it from the top. I'll have to think on that one. Given the fact that it will not be operating in a low light situation, I will most likely take the easy way out and not light them. ...of course the easiest would have been to have a plug and play decoder work. 

Another quick and easy project screeching to a halt. If any more issues come up as a result of the installation, I will post an update. 

An Update and Progress

I guess I'm improving as this update is only 4 months since my last one in May...

In this blog update, I'll provide updates on the new railroad. I also have some project updates and a status on the bathroom remodel. I'll address them in separate posts.

Semi political statement: Since the NFL has decided to be divisive and political, I made the personal decision to not watch football this season. This was not an easy decision. I run a football pool, and that meant canceling the pool this year and disappointing 75+ participants. I also truly enjoy playing fantasy football. A lot! I started playing 5 years ago and had a blast. Plus I was successful which certainly helped. However, I cannot support the NFL this year due to their political stances. Thus, and important for the railroads, I now have Monday and Thursday nights free as well as Sunday after church.

SP Los Angeles Division update:
Since my last update, i spent the majority of the summer not working on the railroad. But, working on other projects: kit builds, decoder installs, rolling stock quality control, etc. Now I have resumed progress.

Once of the things that was a pain in the butt, was having to lug the gas cylinder for the welder up and down to the train room. Quite frankly: it is heavy! I mentioned to my wife that I was considering buying another cylinder to keep upstairs to save myself so time, effort, and procrastination. She suggested that I not only do that, but buy another cart as well. The end result is only moving the welder, gloves, and helmet. It's is much nicer!

Construction has resumed. I am building out the main peninsula as that is the key reference point for me to begin to lay track.

After welding the first horizontal section that was placed in the last update, I marked off the locations of the cross members and set them in place. Not attached yet. 

After welding the next section together and bringing it up through the window, it was put into place for alignment and leveling.

I use fiberglass welding blankets to protect the floors and most importantly the lower staging from welding sparks and slag.

And the section is in place. Welded and secure.

Up next will be cutting 27 more cross-members and then attaching them to the peninsula. After that, I'll make the next turn headed toward the helix with more main level benchwork.

I also changed my method for building the helices. I have two locations that will house helices. The end of the main peninsula will be a double track helix down to east staging which is in the pictures above. The other helix is near the stairs which will be double track from the main level down to harbor/valley staging. Above that will be a single track helix from the main to the upper level. 

I'll go into the new helix construction in a further post. However this decision required me to break down and dispose of the existing helices. Since the outside diameter is 7', it cannot be moved easily. The only option was to break them up. 

Lastly, the Blogger tool has been updated. The 'new' features make it a bit more difficult to use. I'll have to do some more research to determine why the features I'd like to use aren't available or I don't know how to use them. 

I hope everyone is safe and healthy.

Rick