The O Scale Resource May/June 2018
65
Installing DCC in a
Sunset T1a
Locomotive
As you saw in the Chicago O Scale March Meet article in this issue I finally found my "dream locomotive".
It's something that I have wanted for many years and I missed out on this production run from Sunset back in
2003. This is not a real common design with its coffin feed water heater. Many locomotives had this coffin feed
water heater, but were built inside the smoke box. Not the Boston & Maine, it was on the outside, brute-like
and sinister looking. 20 of these T1a's were built in 1928 by Lima. It was the beginning of Lima super power.
These locomotives had 63" diameter drivers, 27.5" x 30" cylinders, a boiler pressure of 240 psi, they exerted
66,500 pounds of tractive effort and each weighed 390,200 pounds. Some of these were sold to the Santa Fe
and the Southern Pacific in 1945. Well, the Richmond, Danville & Southern bought one too!
I did an article on installing DCC in an S Scale River Raisin S-2 Berkshire back in the February/March
issuee of the S Scale Resource, so this time I'll do it in this Sunset T1a. Back home on the workbench, I tested
the engine on DC and found the stall current was just under 2 amps. The Tsunami2 TSU-2200 would fit the bill
nicely.
Be sure to test any locomotive on DC for running condition and binding. If it runs poorly on DC, DCC
will not help, and you may blow the decoder.
Collection of Robert Hundman used with permission.
By Daniel Dawdy
