I'm sorry, I got distracted when my photos didn't upload.  The motor is the typical gold can and brass flywheels "Blue Box" type.  With test leads and Ammeter I powered up the motor, and stalled it at full power, to get a reading 0.58-amps (just over 1/2-amp).  Restricting the motor to a slow roll at full power, I got 0.62-amps.  Both scenarios would never happen during locomotive operation as the wheels would slip way before any lock-rotor occurrence.

I tried upload a few very small format photos of the chassis and motor isolation, but for some reason there was a "file is full" error.  The tabs of the motor bottom grounding bar were flattened out so it wouldn't make connection to the chassis.  The tabs of the front and rear power trucks were trimmed short and soldered together with wire.  I put electrical tape between the chassis and bottom of the motor. 

I didn't have any photos of the DCC Sound installation.  For both the ECO-100 and the ECO-200 DCC sound decoder installations, the black wire was connected to the chassis frame terminal and the red wire to the power truck tabs, the orange and grey wires were connected to the brass motor bars.  The LED headlights were connected to the decoder white, yellow and blue-common wires.  The purple sound wires were connected to the speaker.  The Econami decoder installations were double-stick taped to the inside of the cab with a thin piece of plastic to insulate it from the motor (a really cramped fit).

I have been trying to add a Soundtraxx Econami sound decoder to the Athearn SW1500 "Blue Box" chassis for my On30 Backwoods Miniatures Center Cab Whitcomb Diesel kit.  I have had problems with two decoders with this installation.  The Athearn SW1500 chassis motor checked out at just over 1/2-amp stalled/locked rotor.  I isolated the motor from the frame so that the wheel pickup and motor input are independent.  I first used a Soundtraxx ECO-100 decoder and it ran about 5 feet and stopped (burned out ?).  I next tried a ECO-200 decoder and it ran for about two evenings of light running, and then it stopped.  I returned both decoders to Soundtraxx for repair/replacement.  Soundtraxx is very good about repair replacement issues and has so far returned another ECO-100 decoder.  There is minimal space in this project for any larger decoder.  Other folks have installed DCC sound decoder to these chassis.  Why am I having such a problem with this modification?

Thanks Dave,  I'm new to DCC and the neat sounds for my locomotives and I really enjoy having them now, after so many years of just hearing growling gears.  I've always liked changing things on my locomotives to make them more personal, rather than exactly like every other one that comes out of a box.  But, those are things I can see, feel, and hold in my hand - programming electronics is a little scary to me, as often is the case with me, it usually gets messed-up and they're expensive.  So I'm really unsure of what to expect, or what I can mess-up, if I start trying to reprogram the DCC and sound system. 

When I run my On30 Heisler on analog, the sounds of the whistle and chuff are different than when I run it with my MRC DCC (AD150 base and AD490 controller) system.  So I would assume that the sounds might be programmable to a different style/pitch and the steam chuff may be able to be better synchronized to the speed of the locomotive.

I like the option of the MRC "Decoder DR" that it can restore the original/default memory.  So I would hope, I can at least go back to where I started from, if it really gets messed-up. 

Leaving them the way they are is neat, but being able to change them is cool. Kovaks

Will the MRC "Decoder Dr." work to adjust the Tsunami® sounds for the Bachmann DCC systems on On30 locomotives? 
I don't know if the Bachmann DCC Tsunami® programming is different from the MRC DCC programming.

Thanks,
How long ago did Rivarossi make them, or are they still in production?

Why can't I find any HO scale Alaska RR passenger cars with the blue and yellow color scheme?  I find them in other scales, but not HO.  I find only the locomotives in the blue and yellow, and the McKinley Explorer schemes.