Bowser and Pennsylvania Scale Models (PSM) have produced three HO scale metal-shelled streetcars for over 50 years. The most known one is the 1948 all-electric PCC car, based on the Philadelphia 2091-2200 series PCC cars. The second is the Brill Suburban car, a 1906 semi-convertible based on a similar Hershey Transit vehicle and, last, the IRR Lightweight Interurban. Bowser shifted their PCC car to Ready-To-Run status with an injection shell with DCC and sound a few years ago and is considering doing the same thing to the Brill Suburban. However, there are many of them running on model railroads all over the country so this article is to document the installation of a typical non-sound decoder.

This particular car is the first HO scale streetcar ever owned by Custom Traxx webmaster, George Huckaby. He acquired it in 1959 at Todd's Hobby Shop in Upper Darby, PA. It was first painted as a Philadelphia Transportation Co green trolley and repainted in PRT orange and renumbered 3121 in the late 1960s while on alert in a Minuteman II Launch Control Center near Grand Forks, North Dakota. The unit was upgraded to the Bowser 1999 drive with an A-line 20040 flywheel in January 2001. The first decoder, a TCS M1 decoder had been installed in 2013 but there was an issue with it and it was removed. During 2013, the car was selected as a test bed for the 4'10" wheelbase drive being developed for the Bowser New Orleans 900 class streetcar.

Exhibit 1 - Bowser Brill Suburban Shell

The shell as shown in Exhibit 1 above shows its age. It shows the mounts at each end, "A" required for the 1999 mechanism. The older 1966 mechanism mounted in the center of the shell as marked "B". Note that headlights are already installed on both ends and the original connections to the trolley pole bases are still in place.

Originally we planned to install a TCS "Keep Alive™" decoder in this car, most likely a KAT12. However, due to the use of the Bowser breadboard 4'10" wheelbase mechanism with flywheel, there was not enough room for an easy installation, so we elected to use a TCS M1 decoder as it would fit easily in the deck portion of the roof.

In the next exhibit, Exhibit 2, we have replaced the original connection to the trolley poles with red wire and installed all the printed circuit "pads" as shown by the arrows. W (White wire for front headlight), BLK (Black wire for Track Ground), ORG (Orange Wire for Motor plus) , B (Blue Wire for Lighting Common), R (Red Wire for Overhead Wire Power) and GRAY Gray wire for Motor minus)

Exhibit 2 - Bowser Brill Suburban Shell with 'pads' installed.

In Exhibit 3 below, all wiring and the M1 decoder has been installed. All that it left to install is the Miniatronics three-pin plug. Yes, for the record, it is our practice to install decoders in the roof on cars running from overhead wire especially when the headlights are installed on the shell. By doing this, we only have three wires to have to pass from the shell to the chassis. These are the orange and gray motor control wires and the ground (track) negative from the wheels. Hence the use of the Miniatronics Three-pin Micro Mini Connector (Model 50-003-01). All other wiring is on the shell itself, as you can see for yourself.

Exhibit 3 - Bowser Brill Suburban Shell with TCS M1 decoder and headlights installed.

This article and any article on DCC installations are being provided to elicit comments and other opinions. Please feel free to let us know if you have other ideas or tips that you feel are better.

Another advantage of DCC in Traction Vehicles!
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A while back, about thirty four year ago, while working on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Project, Trolleyville Webmaster George Huckaby discovered New Orleans Public Service Inc. (NOPSI) car 453. It was an American Car Company semi-convertible that looked very similar to the Bachmann and Bowser Brill semi-convertible cars then available in HO scale.

Car 453 was one of 25 cars built in Saint Louis. MO and delivered to the New Orleans Railway & Light Company in 1906. Originally equipped with Brill 27-G trucks, the cars were rebuilt in 1917, renumbered to 450-474 and equipped with Brill 76-E2 trucks. A photo exists of car 457 on Brill 39E trucks. The NOR&L would last from 1905 until 1922 until a disastrous fire gutted the upper floors of their main office building at Baronne & Common streets. New Orleans Public Service Inc. (NOPSI) emerged from the reorganization and would operate the streetcars for the next 60 plus years. They would also supervise the elimination of all but one streetcar line, Saint Charles.

The cars served the Crescent city until 1935 when all were removed from service except for car 453 which was retained as a training car.

George obtained a Bachmann Brill shell, made appropriate modifications and went to Carrollton shops and got some paint samples (while they were painting car 963 at the time), modified the front and rear ends somewhat and finished the model. At the time there were Brill 76E power and trailing trucks available from Ken Kidder, so George obtained one and finished his model. The model ran but George never liked the motor noise level and the lack of a flywheel from what was essentially "slot car" type motor.

The car was resurrected in 2013 as a color sample for the Bowser New Orleans Car project and at that time, it was decided to make the car a subject for a TCS KAT decoder. The low profile of both the power and trailing trucks made locating the larger than normal "Keep Alive™" decoder much easier. The conversion of this vehicle to DCC became significant as we discovered that the introduction of the TCS "Keep Alive™" decoders and other similar products tip the scale for overhead wire operation in favor of DCC.

The shell was prepared using our so far proven 'pad' method. Small pieces of single-sided circuit board about 1/8" square or a little larger are secured to the roof of the shell with ACC and used as solder terminals. There would be reversible headlights on each end but no other lights. The deck roof presents challenges in mounting the decoder and in the location of our 'pads' but they were overcome when some thought was applied. As a rule, we mount our decoders on the underside of the roof over the trailing truck in cars using the Bowser traction mechanism. Four 'pads' are usually mounted near the decoder [1 - Red wire for overhead power; 2 - Black wire for Truck Ground; 3 - Orange wire for Motor Plus; 4 - Gray Wire for Motor minus]. Two pads are placed at the ends of each cars. The front headlight needing the white and blue wires and the rear headlight using the yellow and blue wires. Where feasible, one long printed circuit strip is affixed to the roof from end-to-end for the blue wire (common). This was not done in this case. We mount the decoders on the roof since the lights will all be body mounted, requiring only three wires (Truck ground, Motor plus and Motor minus) to be connected to the chassis. Having the wires close to the rook normally removes most of them from view. A Miniatronics 3-Pin Micro Mini plug #50-003-01 is normally used to connect the chassis to the shell.

Exhibit C - View of HO scale Bachmann Brill shell with KAT12 decoder installed

Sharp eyed readers can see the red wire (power +), the black wire* (power -), the white wire (front headlight), the yellow wire (rear headlight), the blue wire (lights common), the orange wire* (motor +) and the gray wire* (motor -).

Exhibit D - View of modified HO scale Bowser 1285 floor with Ken Kidder drive unit installed.

The three wires identified with an asterisk (*) are connected to a three-pin plug for connection to the chassis. Note that the black wire is always the center of the thee pin plug so that the plug can be reversed if the car runs in reverse when it should be running in the forward direction.

Note: Readers should be aware that this procedure shown here on essentially a Bachmann Brill shell on a Bowser Brill floor could be used on older Bowser/PSM Brill shells upgraded with the Bowser 125144 mechanism or Bachmann shells upgraded with the Bowser and 125144 mechanisms with floor. We understand that these mechanisms will soon be unavailable due to lack of the floor castings. Bowser is no longer die casting in house. However, modelers should check with Custom Traxx as we learned that they have a few floors left from planned conversions that never materialized. For the Bachmann Shell the correct part number for the floor is #1333. For the Bowser shell, the correct part number for the floor is #1285.

The unique feature of the TCS post January 2012 decoders are the several factory resets. Naturally setting CV 8 = 8 resets the decoder to original factory settings. But setting CV 8 equal to 10, 11 or 12 can have other effects also and we will be discussing them in a later article. For now setting CV 8 equal to 11 results in a slate of CVs that give the trolley features that were created just for them. These features include but are not limited to the passenger stop, brake lights, tail lights etc.

Those of you using JMRI's DecoderPro (more about JMRI in another article) know the great utility of this program. What you may not know is that you can set CV8 = 11 using DecoderPro. Using the initial menu, just go to Action and go to Single CV Programmer and write 11. Remember that this CV will always read back 153 for a TCS decoder. If the value in CV 49 is 32 (Constant Bright Light) and CV 50 is 46 (Brake Light), entering the value of 11 did what we wanted.

This is standard for a single end PCC Car. Since this is a double end car, we will need to change the following:
CV34 to 2. CV49 to 0, CV50 to 16, CV 61 to 1 and CV 64 to 6. After that you will be in business.

Train Control Systems has a Comprehensive Programming Guide and a List of Default CV values on their website. These two documents contain twenty-two pages of great information. There is also a list of CVs and what they control! This is great reference data and is highly recommended!

George L. Huckaby

Running trains around in loops, circles or back and forth was a thrill for spectators (back in the stone age) but today so much more is possible with what we call Digital Command Control (DCC). DCC, an update from analog to digital is sort of the same process we went though a few years ago with television transmission. We had a house full of converter boxes. Now we have none. All of our television sets are now digital. The younger generation is as comfortable with computer technology as some of us with yo-yos (many years ago)!

Ten years ago, I wanted nothing to do with DCC. I constantly told Bob Santelli at Allied Model Trains that I wanted nothing to do with it. The old comfortable way was fine. Two years later I was placing my first decoder in a Bowser PCC and accompanying Lee English, Bowser CEO, to China for design and production of the Bowser Ready-to-Run PCC cars. The next year it was San Francisco for the recording of sounds for the Bowser PCC cars. The next year we were teaming with TCS to develop the M4T for the Bowser PCC cars. This allowed realistic brake lights for the cars. When I saw Con-Cor stubbornly trying to make realistic PCC brake lights in the DC mode, I knew that the time for DCC was definitely here. When sound was introduced with the Bowser PCC cars, that was it. Today I have over 143 vehicles with ether DCC or DCC/Sound capability.

JMRI (Java Model Railroad Interface) was created by some forward thinking model railroaders who knew that the mechanical features of older trains could be vastly superseded with electronics means. We highly recommend that you take the time to check out their web site and learn of the effort that has gone into the development of DecoderPro. You will find that over 200 individuals who have made major contributions to this excellent software. JMRI claims to have had input and coordination with Atlas, Bachrus, C/MRI, CTI Electronics, CVP Products East DCC, DCC Specialties, Digi, Digitrax, ESU, Fleischmann, Hornby, Lenz, Trainmaster, Marklin, MRC, RPS, NCE, Oak Tree Systems, Open LCB, ProTraxck Grapevine, QSI Solutions, RailDriver, Roco, Sprog DCC, SCRP, Uhlenbrock, Viessman, Wangrow, X120, Zimo and ZTC Controls.

Bob Santelli passed away a few years ago but not before convincing me of the utility of JMRI/DecoderPro. So beginning in 2008, I hooked my MacBook Pro to my programming track with a Digitrax PR3 and have been able to read all of my traction models DCC decoders. I have to use a DCC Specialties POWER PAX booster in series with the PR3 for most of the sound decoders (but not ESU).

As an ardent Mac User for over fifteen years, I was surprised to know that two of those 200 mentioned, one of them being a software programmer for Apple, came up with the name "Decoder Pro" over a series of lunch conversations. Both of them were Mac Users that wanted to program their decoders with their PowerBooks. However, since Apple was in somewhat of a decline at the time (middle 90's), they wanted Decoder Pro to work on PCs as well. They knew that the success of the program directly related to having widest PC base possible. Some proof of concept code was developed on the Macintosh and hence it was not PC compatible. At that time, the Java language was an up and coming independent cross platform language that allowed a Java program to run on any PC based operating system that supports java (MacOS, Windows, Linux..). Switching to Java would also allow the decoder description files to be created and edited by any ASCII text editor. I currently use Decoder Pro to change addresses and to record the CV's on every piece of DCC equipment.

HO traction is a latecomer to DCC. The first true HO scale ready-to-run injection molded streetcar from Bowser came in late 2009 but the first streetcar with factory sound did not come from any manufacturer until late 2011. Custom Traxx started testing for Bowser in 2011. Everyone knows that model steam, diesel and electric locomotives were around long before that.

The first resistance to DCC was expected. It was new and most traction modelers were old and they had invested time and money in DC operated vehicles. Of course, I was told that it would never work with overhead wire (trolley poles) due to the single point of contact. I bought that for a while until Bob Santelli introduced me to Track & Rail Cleaner, ACT-6006, a conductive lubricant, produced by Aero-Car Hobby Lubricants, Western Springs, IL. After using this on a DC module and finding it to be just short of amazing, I wondered if it could be effective in a DCC application. So I converted the Custom Traxx three foot square display layout to DCC and use the ACT-6006. The rest is history. Within months the Southern California Traction Club had a four module city streetcar line operated with DCC. The operation of the DCC trolleys on overhead wire was no less reliable than those operated on similar DC layouts. The TCS "Keep Alive™" decoders just made operation virtually flawless.

We have been using DecoderPro for over six years for our decoders and found it to be an excellent tool. The uncompensated volunteer members of JMRI have done a great service to the model railroad industry. We firmly believe that if the model railroad industry had embraced DCC and other computer related features earlier, the model railroad hobby could have found itself in a better state than it is today. After seeing the technological leap made in ESU LokSound decoders and what they can do, it is no wonder that they have been able to enthrall larger numbers younger hobbyists in countries like Germany, where it is estimated that 25% of households have a model railroad in them.

Recently, we discovered that DecoderPro may have some performance issues when reading ESU LokSound Select decoders due to the vast amount of information contained therein. I have experienced some of these personally and are working with JMRI to try and correct the issues. But JMRI is a volunteer organization and fixing this quickly may not be in the cards but they are working with it according with Bob Jacobsen, JMRI spokesperson. We know that Bowser is planning more streetcars and maybe even some light rail vehicles and is amassing recordings of these vehicles for sound decoders. As of today, they will all be using ESU LokSound decoders.