MTH SW1

AFAIK, the MTH SW1 will run fine in conventional, but double heading with a Williams NW-2 probably wont go well.  The NW2 is a great runner, and one of my fav's  It has a lot of get up and go, cause it doesnt have a lot of electronics to run.

The MTH DCS engines, however, have a ton of elecrtonics that have to power up to get the engine running, whether running conventional, or DCS.  The MTH may have engine sound functional too, even in conventional mode.  Not sure.  I know TMCC engines have sound in conv mode.

The Williams NW2 will start moving with minimum voltage...maybe 8 volts.  The MTH SW-1 probably wont start moving till 12-14 volts.  I think the MTH SW-1 might also have horizontal drive..which means its geared to run a a slower speed, even at 18 volts.

beth

pdt

Awesome, this is the feedback I was looking for. Thanks Beth. I have 6 willians nw2s all wired in series to slow them down a bit. I lov them. I had 2 repainted. Anyways thanks for the info!

chris

Ok next question, if I were to get one of these and turn it into a dummy to let the nw2 push around, are the guts worth anything? Protosound 2. Says DCS is operational. Thoughts?

What I'd do....take the pinion gears and worm wheel out of the trucks, so it can function as a non-powered unit.  U will still have headlights, and hopefully, sound and the bell and horn.  And if u decided u want to power it down the line, u can put the gears back in.   A P2.0 working board is worth something, but generally only to someone who knows how to install it, or replace an bad board in an engine.  Above my pay grade, lol.  Also the board may be engine specific, as far as how it mounts, and it will have EMD switcher sounds....i dont think anyone will want to put it their C-628.

FWIW...

beth

Haha boy am I silly! So I just received my donor SW1 to get repainted. It’s currently in NS paint. Turn this into a dummy, what was I thinking! Even in conventional this thing runs sooo smooth and slow! The sound is fantastic! It has PS 2.0. Looks like I’ll be yanking the motors out of the Williams NW2 and letting this thing drag THAT around! Very happy with this! Here’s some pics and what it’s gonna turn into. This little switcher was sort of a staple of the community in the 80s and early 90s. Scrapped late 2000s

How does the SW1 compare with your Wms/WBB NW-2s in length? Looks shorter.

They are perfectly scaled with each other. Cab is same height, frame is exactly the same length, hood is shorter.

Per pictures in previous post.

The MTH SW1, SW1500, MP15 are correct (at least EXTREMELY close).  The WBB is a knockoff of the Lionel NW2, which is a knockoff of the General Models NW2 which is correct.  They are all great looking engines.  Lionel was ahead of its time in 1949 when the NW2 came out.

The MTH SW8/9 is 1 inch too long in the hood length (why??), which is truly a shame as they offered many tremendous paint schemes.  Saved me a LOT of money and shelf space.

Why not leave both as powered units and run them as switchers were intended?

Switchers such as these are generally used to move short freight consists in a yard. You might see yard switchers double-headed for some unusual service, but not very often and certainly not a hobby standard.

I guess I think it makes no sense to strip the power out of one unit just to make an uncommon or unrealistic locomotive consist. Also, you end up with only one locomotive to enjoy when you paid for two.

Beth is right about alternatives if you want to run those locomotives together.  As a rule of thumb, when you create a lashup/MU whether conventional, DCS or TMCC/Legacy, put the locomotives on the same track but not coupled together.  Run the locomotive to see if they run at the same speed.  If they don’t, do not run them together or you will damage on or both of them.

Jim R, around here in northeast PA switchers were and still are very commonly used MU-ed together. Lehigh Valley ran up to 6 of them. Luzerne and Susquehanna as well as Reading and northern always double heads them, sometimes 3. They are used where track conditions are poor To distribute the weight over more rail and still get the same pulling power as a single larger, heavier locomotive. So yes double heading them is prototypical. But these are toys, if I wanted to triple head this with a big boy And a SD50 because it made me smile I would do it. With all due respect, The question I posed and Beth answered was a “can it be done” not please give me your opinion on how to run my railroad.

@C_Murley posted:

They are perfectly scaled with each other. Cab is same height, frame is exactly the same length, hood is shorter.

Thank you! Looks the same length coupler-to-coupler with the SW1 having a notched step in front that made it look shorter. 

sure thing!  the sw1 had a smaller engine at 600 hp. the nw2 had a larger engine, thus larger hood, at 1000 hp. both shared the same frame.

Of course, you can do whatever you want with your toys, including buying a powered locomotive to strip it into a dummy.

The obvious, more logical option is to buy a switcher that will double up well as a second power unit. Why not buy another MTH or Williams switcher with the same drive?

You will real enjoy that SW1 it is one of my favorites...maybe down the road you will find a larger MTH switcher and you’ll see how nice they MU with each other. Here is a very short video of my SWs in a DCS “ALL” configuration... the sound is sketchy my mic was acting up at the time.

Hey Jim, yea maybe someday I’ll get another one. Now I already have 7 Williams NW2s and the one this will be running with is already repainted into its partner. Hence the reason for using the existing one I already have and making it a dummy.

Bob, cool vid I really like the LV one! I could see more of these in the future!

An update for those interested. I pulled the motors out of the Williams nw2 and put the trucks back on with the motor mounts. Gear drag is minimal, I’d say like pulling 2 cars. Another forum member offer me dummy trucks but they are a different design. Oh well. Now I have my dummy. Sending the SW1 out in May for repaint. Will report back then......

Is the Pocono Northeast Switcher shown hear a custom made model or is it available for purchase?

it was custom paited. the sw1 has since also been painted.