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Related Manuals for Rapido Trains American Locomotive Co FA-1
Summary of Contents for Rapido Trains American Locomotive Co FA-1
- Page 2 ALCO FA-1/FB-1 LOCOMOTIVE PRODUCT GUIDELINES Thank you for purchasing this model of the American Locomotive Co. FA-1/FB-1. When introduced after World War II, these ALCO models in multi-unit sets replaced many steam engines on railroads across North America. By the way, we’re not printing different manuals for the FA-1 and the FB-1;...
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Page 3: Table Of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS Prototype History....................4 Break-In ......................4 How to Hold Your Locomotive ................5 Checking and Adjusting Your Locomotive .............. 5 Missing or Damaged Parts .................. 6 Removing the Shell ..................... 6 Operation – DC (Silent) ..................7 Installing a DCC Decoder .................. -
Page 4: Prototype History
PROTOTYPE HISTORY Between January 1946 and October 1950 a total of 440 FA-1s and 240 FB-1s were built by ALCo and their Canadian subsidiary, Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW). They were originally sold to twenty-five railroads in the US, Canada and Mexico. The FA-1 cab unit and booster FB-1 were both rated at 1500 horsepower, and they were designed primarily as a freight hauler, although photo evidence shows some railroads used them as commuter train power during warm weather months. -
Page 5: How To Hold Your Locomotive
HOW TO HOLD YOUR LOCOMOTIVE Hold your ALCO FA-1 gently, and with much love, care, and attention. Your model has numerous delicate parts, especially on the roof and underframe. If you want to back date it to be the quality of a model produced in the 1970s, then rip all the parts off and handle it like a doughnut from Dunkies after skipping breakfast. -
Page 6: Missing Or Damaged Parts
interfere with your switches and crossings. We recommend using Kadee part #237 (Trip Pin Pliers) or Micro-Mark part #80600 (Trip Pin Bending Plier). If your track transitions from flat to a 12% grade in three inches, you might also want to cut off the pilot and the fuel tank as they will foul the rails. Have you ever considered roller coaster modeling? That might be more your style. -
Page 7: Operation - Dc (Silent)
upright the chassis will now plumet to the nearest solid object. Hopefully that is not a concrete floor. You may want to do this carefully over your workbench with some foam or a cloth underneath. • If you wish to install a crew inside your ALCO FA-1, the cab floor is secured to the body shell by two clips –... -
Page 8: Installing A Dcc Decoder
If you use a train set throttle or a throttle designed for large scale trains, your locomotive’s circuitry may end up looking like a TV dinner forgotten in the microwave after you accidentally punched in an extra digit into the timer. In such situations, we’ll try our best to fix it for you, but it may be beyond salvaging. -
Page 9: Operation - Dc (Sound)
If you want to install a decoder other than the one we suggest, it’s more than just plugging in the decoder and then playing trains. You will have to custom map all the functions. It’s just how it is. We won’t apologize for that. Sorry. OPERATION –... -
Page 10: Operation - Dcc (Sound)
remind him what happened the last time he did that. Something about being chased down the county highway by a group of townsfolk wielding transformers and potentiometers. As long as we can keep reminding him of this event, he’ll be nice to DC modelers. -
Page 11: Functions
information. You can now download it from the Support section of our web site. The feature is called the “Prime Mover Startup Delay” and is Section 13.2 on Page 89 of the ESU LokSound V5 manual. If you press F8 when the locomotive is already moving, it will skip the startup and the sound will just turn on. - Page 12 as appropriate or as you see fit (even if it’s not appropriate). To get a short “toot” just tap F2 or your “HORN” button. If you hear a long tail-off, you are tapping for too long. If, no matter what you do, you just can’t get the darn thing to make a short “toot,”...
- Page 13 commonly referred to as “Rule 17”. The internet can answer all your questions about said rule. F8 Startup/Mute/Shutdown While your locomotive is stationary, pressing F8 will begin the startup sequence of the engine sounds. If your locomotive is silent but already in motion, pressing F8 will skip the startup sequence and simply turn on the sound.
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Page 14: Custom Sound Settings
F15 Flange Squeal Just as you're easing into a sharp curve on your layout, press F15 to hear the metal- on-metal squealing sound all trains are known for. I SAID YOU CAN TURN OFF THE SQUEALING SOUND WITH F15! F16 Independent Brake F16 works just like the brakes on a real engine. -
Page 15: Mo-Power
Horns Bells • CV163=0 WABCO E-2 (Default) • CV 164=0 Bell #1 (Default) • CV163=1 Nathan M3H • CV 164=1 Bell #2 • CV163=2 Nathan P3 • CV 164=2 Bell #3 • CV163=3 Nathan M5 Note that after you change the horn, bell or any other sound effect, you may need to cycle the power (turn it off and on). -
Page 16: Sound Volume Settings Chart
“Factory Reset” below) then having good notes will allow you to easily re-enter any changes that you wish to keep. — V ERY IM PORTANT — Before you manually change any of the volume control CVs, you must set CV 31 to 16 and then CV 32 to 1. -
Page 17: More Information
By the way, pay no attention to the person breaking into your layout room attempting to steal your Rapido ALCO FA-1 because they misread the instructions on Page 4. MORE INFORMATION While addressing the features that most modelers will need for normal operation, these instructions have covered just a small number of the many customizable features of your ESU LokSound decoder. -
Page 18: Acknowledgements
And of course we must say merci! to the one-and-only Richard Longpre for the great and no doubt last minute French translation of this manual. Merci mille fois! CONTACT US! Tel. (905) 474-3314 Toll Free 1-855-LRC-6917 Rapido Trains Inc. Fax. (905) 474-3325 500 Alden Road, Unit 21 Email. trains@rapidotrains.com Markham, Ontario service@rapidotrains.com...
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