Rapido Trains SW1200RS Operator's Manual - Operation – Dc (Silent)
8
• Turn the locomotive back on its roof and
you may see the 5 tabs holding the long
hood shell onto the body (two on each
side, one under the front air intake). They
are kind of hidden, or you may have kind
of broken them. Push the two tabs closest to
the cab inward (5), then slowly tilt the hood
forwards towards the front to disengage them. Push the remaining tabs on the
side of the long hood inward (6) and tilt a bit more to disengage (7). Don’t tilt
too far, or you’ll break the front tab off (provided you have not broken it already).
Once the side tabs are all disengaged, the front tab should slide out (8) and your
shell will be free to roam the prairies of Saskatchewan (9). Ok, maybe we got a
little carried away there.
• Any requests for replacement hoods or cabs because you broke the little tabby
things will be met with laughter followed by a very polite suggestion that you find
a nearby lake and jump into it.
OPERATION – DC (SILENT)
If your SW1200RS locomotive is not equipped with a sound decoder, it should function
like most other HO scale locomotives. Put it on the track. Give it some juice. Watch it go.
If you are new to the hobby (or just like to occasionally “play trains”) and you have a
DC-powered train set, please contact us before operating your SW1200RS as it may not
be safe (for your engine and/or your wallet) for you to use your controller.
Some train set throttles put out a very high maximum voltage that is not suitable for scale
model trains. The maximum recommended voltage is 16 volts DC. Similarly, controllers
designed for large scale trains put out a much higher voltage than your SW1200RS can
handle.
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 bag of popcorn left 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 we may have to charge you for the replacement parts and/or
the labour involved. That’s because you didn’t read this bit of the manual. In DC, the
number boards are always on and the headlights and ditch lights (when equipped) are
directional. The class lights are installed and wired, but they will not work in DC.
INSTALLING A SILENT DCC DECODER
The SW1200RS contains a motherboard specially designed for our decoders. This is
connected to the track, motor and lighting outputs. A blind plug is attached to the
motherboard using a 21-pin connector. To install a decoder, remove the blind plug and