I have started work on speed matching and the breaking-in of my locos starting with the newest received. The first batch includes 3x SW7 switchers and 1x E8A. However I will test the E8A separately and probably with other “E” units as a separate batch. I now have 201 locomotives, of which 110 have DCC decoders either factory fitted or hobby shop installed. I have about 20 3rd party decoders which i will attempt to install in my older DC only units. I do plan to sell a lot of the older DC locos as I have enough new units to make many of them superfluous and it is not worth the trouble and to a degree an extra expense. Furthermore my skill level stops at drop in replacement decoders.

The luck of the draw has meant that my last half dozen purchases have been Broadway Limited units fitted with Paragon 3 decoders. Consequently Batch 1 is made up of the following:

• #2898 Diesel Switcher EMD SW7 Broadway Ltd #3885 Purchased 06-Jul-2020. UP #1800
• #2899 Diesel Switcher EMD SW7 Broadway Ltd #3886 Purchased 06-Jul-2020. UP #1824
• #2883 Diesel Switcher EMD SW7 Broadway Ltd #3879 Purchased 16-Jan-2020. CBQ #9255

As you can see from the following photo I have had to print, with my Brother P-touch labelling system, a clear 1/4″ 6mm label of the loco road number. I plan to do this for any loco that has a small unreadable number. With E and F units the number can be affixed to the side (and looks as if it belongs there) but with switchers the only choice is the roof. However the process is quite neat – and a lot quicker than decaling – and the number is removable if necessary. I am considering a similar practice for unreadable freight car numbers but that’s a subject for another day.

I have installed an NCE USB Interface board and have successfully connected to JMRI Decoder Pro. The biggest challenge was getting the jumper settings for a PowerCab Version 1.65 correct (they are ON OFF ON ON) and the Router Baud rate set as 19200. JMRI Decoder Pro is able to directly drive these locomotives and ring the Bell from my laptop but no matter what I have tried  I cannot get Decoder Pro to write CV values to the locomotives. One day I will succeed but in the meantime I am quite happy directly setting CV5 and CV6 via the PowerCab throttle/command station. The following picture is of the 10 40′ freight cars and one caboose used to test the locomotives pulling power.

The first decision to be made was the top speed. There is quite a bit of literature and videos on the web about speed matching. The best videos are by the DCC Guy at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuj_3CIjTM2ZCfCkDuICRqA but I also found an article by Jim Betz on Tony’s Trains Xchange (https://tonystrains.com/news/locomotive-speed-matching-made-easy/) very useful.

After much thought I have decided to limit the Top Speed of the Locomotives to a figure close to the prototypes.  I hate seeing trains going too fast on layouts that I visit and I think slower speeds are more realistic. Jim Betz in the above article does not agree! The top speed for an EMD SW7 switcher was 65mph. Using my Accutrack II Speedometer I have determined that setting CV5 @ 105 and CV6 @ 50 will result in a Top Speed of 68mph at speed step 126 and a speed of 34 mph at speed step 66 on the CBQ #9255 loco. I set CV2 @ 2 on all locos.

CBQ #9255 is able to pull the 10 40′ freight cars and one caboose around the test track – which is a 9.8″ tight curve with a slight increase in elevation – without stalling, but with a lot of strain. I changed the settings as follows and the loco performed much better:

• CV5 set to 130 giving a Top Speed of 80mph at speed step 126
• CV6 set to 60 giving a Speed of 41mph at speed step 63