In order to run “F” Scale clearance tests at Deep Cut Tunnel, I needed to get some battery powered motive power going since I haven’t tested my track power in over 6 months. The obvious choice was one of my 45 Tonners since they are a mobile clearance gauge themselves 
Sorry I didn’t take any photos of the project wile the loco was apart. I’ll explain the process the best I can. Feel free to ask questions. I have standardized on the Aristo MU plug for connecting trail car power and control. These plug sets are available from All Electronics. I wanted the Dizzie to still be able to run track power. Previously I converted all the spring contacts between the trucks and the circuitry to wires. The task seemed pretty simple after removing the fuel tank and body shells… A - Find a DPDT toggle switch in the junk box to act as a Track/Battery switch. B - Locate a spot in the internal wiring to interrupt the connection from the track pick-ups. C - Install a “train-line” from front to rear with MU Plugs at each end D - Install the DPDT switch and wire it up. The easiest place to interrupt the track pick up was at the small circuit board above each truck. The terminals marked CON feed the track power to the switch board under the front hood. I unsoldered the wires leading to the switch board from the truck boards. I kept the long wires from the rear truck connected to the switch board, but unsoldered both ends of the short wires from the front truck and discarded them. Next I soldered a new pair of wires to the CON terminal at each truck. These wires will come together at the TRACK end of the DPDT switch. The wires removed from the CON connector on the rear truck were soldered to the center terminals off the DPDT switch. This is the power feed to the loco. Finally, the train line wires were connected to the BATTERY end of the DPDT switch. Along the way I made plenty of polarity checks to be sure I wasn’t introducing any shorts and that the loco would travel the direction expected when the battery was connected. What I neglected to check the first time was the CON wires form the front truck. I initially left them connected to the switch board in error. When I bench tested on blocks, it seemed fine but when I put the loco on the track with track power locos, it acted odd like it was running on dirty track. I finally noticed sparks coming from the front wheels and realized what I had done wrong. Correction was easy, just time consuming. Here’s the MU/Train-Line connector at the front… [url=lsc.cvsry.com/Post/45T_BatConv_04-1200.JPG]
[/url][color=blue]FF: Click to Enlarge - IE: Right Click Photo and select Open Link in New Window to Enlarge[/color] And at the rear… [url=lsc.cvsry.com/Post/45T_BatConv_05-1200.JPG]
[/url][color=blue]FF: Click to Enlarge - IE: Right Click Photo and select Open Link in New Window to Enlarge[/color] One issue I had with the 45 Tonner was coupler height. It will not line up with Bachman F scale cars with the coupler in either the High or Low positions. As a quick fix I cut down a Kadee mount and attached it with a single screw. Not a great solution but it got me running. You can see it in the above photo. Next up was a Quick & Dirty Battery Trail Car in F Scale. I chose an AMS DR&RGW gondola that I picked up a while back at ECLSTS. I was elated to find that a TE Rx unit would fit in the gondola without removing the board from the case. All I needed to do to create working trail car was to solder up the ends of the power feed wire and tie one of my MU connectors to the TRACK terminals. I used an insulated clamp to hold the tinned ends of the feed wire to a drill battery. The antenna wire was run through an RC Car antenna tube to hold it up a bit for improved reception. Here is the completed car… [url=lsc.cvsry.com/Post/45T_BatConv_02-1200.JPG]
[/url][color=blue]FF: Click to Enlarge - IE: Right Click Photo and select Open Link in New Window to Enlarge[/color] I’m thinking that if I can get reasonable reception with the antenna taped around the inside of the gondola that I can cover the TE and the battery with a tarp and it won’t look bad. Here are a few more photos of the new combination out on the line… [url=lsc.cvsry.com/Post/45T_BatConv_01-1200.JPG]
[/url][color=blue]FF: Click to Enlarge - IE: Right Click Photo and select Open Link in New Window to Enlarge[/color] [url=lsc.cvsry.com/Post/45T_BatConv_03-1200.JPG]
[/url][color=blue]FF: Click to Enlarge - IE: Right Click Photo and select Open Link in New Window to Enlarge[/color] You can find more photos of the consist in my Deep Cut thread and the Summer Run thread later today.