How to add speed control to 2001 Atlas Dash 8-40B diesel engine

Frank,

Please provide some guidance on what you did to pull the shell and remove the trucks. I'm staring at a pair of Atlas Susquehanna Dash8s with the same problem. I know they did run in the past, as I'm the original owner.

Thank you!

Chris

LVHR

I have two of these engines as well, CSX and NS.  Honestly, I love them without cruise control.  On my mainline, I often run one of them as their realistic operation is great, and run a cruise controlled engine on the other mainline track.  Good to mix it up.

Enjoy,

John

I would look at it from a different perspective. If you paid $82 for that beautiful engine, $300 is a bargain.  I do think the sound board you now have will need to be replaced.  If you do it yourself your talking about 275 for both the cruise commander and sound board.  The installation is pretty straight forward.

Marty

Maybe if you can find a Lionel mother board, you can reuse the sound boards you have. Then you can buy a Cruise Commander "M" and be all set.

@lehighline posted:

Frank,

Please provide some guidance on what you did to pull the shell and remove the trucks. I'm staring at a pair of Atlas Susquehanna Dash8s with the same problem. I know they did run in the past, as I'm the original owner.

Thank you!

Chris

LVHR

6 screws release the shell. 2 front, 2 back, 2 more in front of the fuel tank.
Remove handrail ends from cab.
The battery boxes do not come off with the shell, but the cab is tabbed into the top of them so you need to pop it loose.

Trucks release from the frame with 4 screws, don’t lose the plastic washers under the screw heads. You’ll need to unscrew the pickup roller   wire and the big screw on the bottom of the truck to release the motor and clean out the truck block.  4 screws release each axle plate as well, as those also should be cleaned. Note the flat side of the bearings on the axles and the worm gear shaft, and orient it correctly to reassemble.

Part it out for the now highly sought after and "obsoleted by Lionel" modular R2LC, Railsounds, and power boards.

The value alone is greater than you paid for the engine. Then buy an engine with cruise or buy the ERR upgrade.

I have Lionel motherboards and I also sell the Cruise Commander M.

Frank,

Thank you! With the other comments on this thread, now I'll have to look at the electronics packages in these 2 as well. As I recall, I had to shut the curise control down in order to get all 3 Dash 8s to play nicely together. So it occurs to me that the 3rd Dash 8 may not have cruise at all. Time to open all 3.

Chris

LVHR

https://ogrforum.com/...c/170922644658835444

@Mark V. Spadaro posted:

https://ogrforum.com/...c/170922644658835444

That set of boards does not have cruise, it's the standard DCDR.  I have a drawer full of those...

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

That set of boards does not have cruise, it's the standard DCDR.  I have a drawer full of those...

But Cruise Commander M could then be added, no?

@Mark V. Spadaro posted:

But Cruise Commander M could then be added, no?

The locomotives under discussion already have all the other boards, so that board set is moot, just buy the CC-M and install it!

Reviving this discussion: I have 3 Atlas Dash8-40Bs. 2 are from 2003, that my notes say do not have cruise. With monentum set to Low, these things are jack rabbits, so I'd say my notes are correct. The third unit is from 2008, and does have cruise. I suspect the board is TAS, but have not confirmed. The goal is to have all 3 engines play nicely together. If I install CC-Ms in the 2 non-cruise units, will all 3 work well together, or do I need to get 3 CC-Ms and junk the TAS?

Also, how do I get the ditch lights and headlights to work? All 3 units are dark. The 2008 unit had the ditch lights flashing on startup with my CAB1, but not with my Legacy CAB2. Bad batteries in the CAB1?

Chris

LVHR

The CC-M will not have the same speed profile as the TAS, so clearly they won't play together in an MU.  As for ditch lights, the CC-M has optional LED ditch lights from the J4 10-pin connector, so you can use those.

I have an Atlas Southern SD35 from the same time frame (before they added TAS cruise) and you are right about the horn.  To my taste, it is the most realistic horn that Lionel has ever offered.

I run mine with a Legacy SD40 set at medium momentum and use the Atlas a the lead engine.  The legacy is forgiving enough that they actually work very well together and that way I get the sound I like and  speed control.  Currently, this is the only non cruise engine I still have on my roster.

About the horn:  I was in Charlotte getting gasoline in an area close to an older residential area.  As I was pumping gss, I heard a train horn behind the station.  Evidently, there were tracks running through the neighborhood and the engine sounded crossing signal at each block.  I drove into the neighborhood to see the engine and it appeared to be a GP7 or 9 and I thought the horn sounded just like my Atlas engine at home.  When I got home, I ran the engine and was amazed that the horn sounded so correct.

Happy railroading,

Don

The problem with converting an old TAS SAW to ERR Cruise is that the whole SAW board needs to go. TAS used standard Lionel daughter boards (R2LC, audio, audio power supply) but used their own motherboard that hosted the motor driver.

If you want to use the original RS4 audio board with an ERR Cruise Commander you’d need to find a powered motherboard for it. I wish ERR still offered them.

I still have some powered motherboards in stock...

This is what is inside the Dash 8 with cruise. The smoke unit is clearly marked TAS. The board on the left is the R2LC-C, and the center board has the sound chip. The only thing left is the board on the right for the cruise function. It's not well marked. Underneath the mother boar is a heavy aluminum mounting frame which apparently doubles as a heat sink. There is a substantial bridge rectifier mounted to the bottom of it. I presume the units w/o cruise would be similar, although I guess I should really open one and check.

If I go with the CC-M option, how much of what I have do I need to change out? And based on GRJ's comment above, it looks like I'll need to do all 3 units.

Chris

LVHR

The board on the right is the RailSounds generic Power Supply, it has nothing to do with cruise.  The "cruise" components are all on that motherboard.  The older SAW board (non-cruise) looks similar, and has the same three Lionel boards added.

For this one, I'd yank all the stuff and use the full Cruise Commander.  I have a few RS powered motherboards, so you could use one of those and the existing RS4 board for the sounds.  That would make it compatible with the other two that will get the Cruise Commander M boards.