# Dummy locos with working lights



## Cprail43 (Jan 1, 2013)

SCROLL DOWN FOR QUICK FIX I CAME UP WITH. I'LL KEEP ORIGINAL QUESTIONS UP

Recently, I thought of turning my bachmann gp35 into a dummy engine. But I would like to keep the lights working. It's got Bachmann's DCC onboard decoder, so it works with DC and DCC. 

I thought of putting on metal rolling stock wheels in order to keep electrical current, but no gear with the motor. Is this ok?


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## rrgrassi (May 3, 2012)

Make sure to remove the gears, but leave the eletrical pick up. As far as just programming for the lights, well, I would ask NIMT.


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

Cprail43 said:


> Recently, I thought of turning my bachmann gp35 into a dummy engine. But I would like to keep the lights working. It's got Bachmann's DCC onboard decoder, so it works with DC and DCC.
> 
> I thought of putting on metal rolling stock wheels in order to keep electrical current, but no gear with the motor. Is this ok?


Why would you need to change the wheels? It already has metal wheels and trucks that pick up power, just pull out the top gears and away you go.

Why do you want to make it a dummy if it aready runs?

Just leave the decoder in it and pull the motor...Still confused why a dummy?


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## Cprail43 (Jan 1, 2013)

NIMT said:


> Why would you need to change the wheels? It already has metal wheels and trucks that pick up power, just pull out the top gears and away you go.
> 
> Why do you want to make it a dummy if it aready runs?
> 
> Just leave the decoder in it and pull the motor...Still confused why a dummy?


The engine is very slow. I want to use it with other engines at the same time. I only have DC, so it would work better as a dummy. It seems that gear removal is the way to go. I remembered rolling stock wheels would be too small for the engine anyways. Thanks


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## trnfn69 (Jan 21, 2012)

Probably needs a cleaning and lube to have it run better. Some of the members here should be able to give you guidance on opening it up to clean the engine. If you still want a dummy unit after that, just try to find one at your LHS or online.


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## Cprail43 (Jan 1, 2013)

trnfn69 said:


> Probably needs a cleaning and lube to have it run better. Some of the members here should be able to give you guidance on opening it up to clean the engine. If you still want a dummy unit after that, just try to find one at your LHS or online.


No. It's clean. I believe the motor has mechanical issues. I'm going to leve it in anyways for the running motor effect. Thanks


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## Cprail43 (Jan 1, 2013)

MY FIX

So I found a way to get what I wanted. I just needed to file down the gears on the wheels so I get electrical pickup from the track for lighting and running motor effect. It works well, but it is slightly loud, possibly from its DCC decoder, which is said to hum loudly. Hope this works for anyone else wanting to do this! Thank you to the members for trying to help out!


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