Lionel Santa Fe Conventional Classis

Shawn,

Here is are some photos of the Lionel 2367 Wabash F3 Conventional Classic. The filler plate above the speaker is die cast.

Greg

Thanks, saves me time opening mine before conversion. I'm going to order some of those plates..I'm sure they will fit in the old body wheel of older engines with slight modes.

I'm looking to do the same thing to my New Haven F3's in the McGinnis scheme, I checked with a couple of places including our very own Alex and it can be done. Most have told me smoke is not possible except for Alex.

Mike

So, ordered a couple of the brackets for the F3. The one used by default in power unit. But, not installed in the dummy unit. Although, there is a place to mount one. I finally finished the upgrade. I opted to moved the sound from the motored unit to the dummy unit.

1) Swap bodies between Powered and dummy - the motored unit has the potentiometer on the roof for sound volume control.

2) Drill one hole in filler plate on powered frame and mount ERR AC Commander. Install per ERR manual.

    ( I removed the speaker from the powered A unit well area) But, this speaker is really not the correct size to mount in the upper body area of the F3 shell) So, I could have just left it in there

Dummy Unit

1) Mounted the speaker in the body with mounting plate and screw. (ordered from Lionel)

2) Added filler plate in the dummy A well area. (ordered from lionel )

3) Remove potentiometer from ERR sound board. Wired in the Lionel roof mounted pot to the

   Board.

4) Mounted ERR Dummy commander with softest technology and the ERR sound board to the installed plate in the dummy with double sided tape. ( I didn't want to cut the chassis for the program switches that were filled in the dummy casting. I had planned to use a old LCRX board. But, the ERR dummy commander is a much better option)

Wired to completion....ready to roll....the nice part!

There are already capacitors installed across the motors on these unit, so, that saves a step.

How did you wire the sound board to the Mini commander in the dummy? I was thinking of adding Railsounds upgrade to my conventional classic F3's and a few older versions and was thinking of putting the sounds in the dummy, but I am not sure this is possible without a tether.

Shawn, I have been wanting to do this upgrade to my Conventional Classics F3s, also. Can we see some photos of your work? Also, which F3s do you have? I have the Santa Fe "Black Bonnets" and I love them. Thanks!

It is the err dummy commander. In this case the dummy commander and the railsounds  commander both get connected to power separately. Then one wire connects to both board for the railsounds data. I've done this in dummy B's also. If you check lionel site you can get the part # for the plate,the speaker mounting bracket and larger speaker. This will relocate the speaker to the body....as the speaker holes are not in the dummy unit to mount it in the well...

Harry's Trains posted:

Shawn, I have been wanting to do this upgrade to my Conventional Classics F3s, also. Can we see some photos of your work? Also, which F3s do you have? I have the Santa Fe "Black Bonnets" and I love them. Thanks!

I'm waiting for the correct speaker form Lionel....for the dummy. The Powered A is boxed...But, when I get the correct speaker for the dummy I will take some pictures. It will show you the internals.....and basically the same as the power unit.......

I have a few extra speakers and mounting plates, I was just curious if the wires that come with the kits, are for the Railsounds Board to connect to the Dummy commander?