As a Pennsy fan, I’ve grown fond of the PRR L-1 2-8-2. An unassuming loco, the L-1 was quickly demoted from mainline duty, but survived to the end of steam laboring away on way-freights. I have the MTH RK PS3 version and it is one of my favorite locos – super smooth slow-speed running, easily navigates O-42 switches and curves, great sounds, and MTH signature smoke. Still, when a premier version of the L-1 became available on the last MTH auction I couldn’t resist. Pictured below is what came out of the box.
The engine came complete with motor. The pilot truck hardware was in the box, but not attached. The platform on the pilot air tank was loose in the box and is simply resting on the tank in the photo. I did not know MTH had a PS2 version with the wireless drawbar, but this loco is so equipped. The tender is a shell only with no chassis or trucks. All this came as expected. The tender also does not have the end sill, that was a detail I missed in the auction photos.
My intent is to make this engine fully operational. I knew I needed a tender chassis with trucks so I also picked up a non-operational MTH Premiere USRA light Mike hoping the USRA tender chassis could be easily modified to mate with the L-1 shell. The photos below compare the two tender shells. Dimension wise, they are a very close match. The USRA shell also came with the rear tender sill which with a few swipes of a small file will mate easily with the PRR shell. The corner steps will be different than the original Pennsy model, but good enough for me.
The pictures below show the USRA chassis which came with PS2 wiring harnesses and speaker, but no board. I removed the harnesses and speaker to test fit the chassis and trucks to the Pennsy tender, also pictured below. Turned out to be a good match indeed! The mounting posts inside the Pennsy shell are set in deeper than the USRA shell. I will need to fashion some spacers so the Pennsy shell sits at the right height on the chassis, but that is a project I can handle. (The shell is resting on top of the mounting screws in the photo.)
To this point, I think making a functioning model looks entirely doable from a cosmetic / mechanical perspective, but I want PS2 or PS3 functionality! More than a year ago I picked up the MTH RK PS3 M1a preproduction sample model from an MTH auction pictured below. My intent is to transplant the M1a PS3 electronics into the L-1. The other day I powered up the M1a for the first time and was relieved when it fired up and operated in command mode with all features working! The one oddity is the engine loaded with “no engine name” displayed and the sound file seems to be generic – it is definitely not specific to the M1a.
Pictured below is the M1a tender with the shell removed. I did notice the small sticky note as pictured on top of the board. I have no idea what the symbols are or what the wording means...
Admittedly electronics are not my thing. I can do basic soldering and follow instructions, but I am in no way an expert, and definitely not a DCS expert. With that in mind, my first question is the concept of transplanting the PS3 electronics into the L-1 feasible? Are there any "gotchas" I need to watch out for? Should I be concerned that the loco loaded into my DCS phone app with “no engine name” listed? I’m thinking my next step in the feasibility checking process is to load the L-1 soundfile into the PS3 board and make sure it takes ok. Would I also have to load the L-1 chain file? I’m definitely getting into unfamiliar territory if so…
Any and all advice on this project appreciated. I’ll post updates and photos as the project moves along. I have a busy summer ahead so progress will be slow, but I hope to have a fully functional scale L-1 before Thanksgiving!
Scott
