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Updating Locomotives
“I’m a newbie into the model railroading. I have 6 DC blue box athrean locomotives and want to update to dcc with sound. After talking to the hobby shop they are like yes it can be done but the performance isn’t that great. Can I get some answers please?”
15 Responses to Updating Locomotives
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Make sure the coupler spring is not gone. Make sure the couplers between different cars are the same heigth. Make sure you either bend the glad hand up or cut it off so that it doesn’t hit the top of a rail as it passes over a turnout. Make sure you don’t have dips or humps in your track work.
Is it always the same car? If so, the car is the problem, look at it very close to see where the problem is. Turn the car around and run it the other way and see what happens.
If your locos are DCC ready, then it is a relatively easy procedure to install sound/motion decoders. I have not installed a decoder in a non-DCC ready loco. I have installed several Soundtraxx Tsunami decoders in both steam and diesel locos. It is a fairly straight forward process. To me the sound brings the loco to life with start-up, shut-down sequences, revving up diesels, etc. I would recommend going to the Soundtraxx or TCS websites. There you can hear the actual sound recordings. Also you can download installation instructions for various locos. Hope this helped. Good luck.
you need to install out-shop service dcc-180 motors in those engines. they will make them run as good as any new engine out there! easy to install / lower profile leaves lots f room for electronics.very low current draw work great with sound decoders.can be found on the internet from time to time.
Go to another hobby shop! Get a lot of model railroad books of HOW TO instruction. You need to have model railroad experience and then really ask for help. TOO much for a newbie to take hold of in an email only.
Find a club of guys working on a layout and ask them for help too.Going from DC to DCC is going to be more expensive but S S S S O O O better in the long run. Easier also. Two BUS wires under the table go to the feeder wires to a three foot piece of track and no track block wires to worry about. Each three foot section is then powered having the same amount of voltage. ( NO voltage drop at the far end of your layout.
it is really difficult HERTE to say all that has to be said about this.
Good Luck to you and your railroad empire building.
Don
The expense of adding DCC with sound is close to or greater than buying new unless you are going to do the install. Thankfully most of my locos came DCC ready. I added the chips and speakers. Speakers can be a nightmare especially in steam. My original DC locos run as an extra when needed.
Hi, I’ve had the same questions when I finally decided to get my “stuff” out of the boxes and onto a layout. I’ve been “collecting” Blue Box (BB) DC locomotives and rolling stock for more than 30 years and am in the “upgrading” process. So far, the performance of an “upgraded” DC to DCC BB Athearn loco is not as fine as the newer locos you can buy nowadays. But, if you’re a little like me, some of these locos got me into the hobby and for such I decided to go all the way and do a “makeover”. Let me explain the differences:
First you can upgrade a DC loco simply by installing a DCC decoder into the loco. Most decoder makers have a series of simple decoder you could buy. Digitrax has special fittings making such a change as easy as 1-2-3 (if you follow the installation guide). NCE, Soundtraxx, TCS do have some too.
On the other hand, if you really want your loco to run as smoothly as the new ones on the market, you can put a new motor with new flywheels and new couplings and doing so, you’ll get a better performance out of it. You still have to add a DCC decoder.
If you want to upgrade it a little, new wheels would be nice. All of these products are easy to get from the internet. For my part, I bought NWSL “repowering kits” (includes a motor with flywheels and couplings) & Nickel/Silver loco wheels.
Finally, the last step would be to decide if you want to pu sound into your unit. If not, your ready to try (and it’s fun too!). If so, (you want sound), you then have to shop a little to find which decoder would best fit your loco shell including the speaker. As for the installation, it’s like most tasks we have to do in our hobby, practice makes perfect.
Hope it helps a little
Here are my two penny contribution:
I had over 30 Athearn locos onhands, all brought at the time I started in the hobbhy many years ago. Some of them with the old oval ferrite motor, others with the modernized rectangular brass type armature (just a picture to help you identify them). The old motors should be substituted. They are not good for DCC – while the new ones are absolutely OK. It is quite simple to install DCC on them. The issuef, and big one, is to find space to install the speakers. Narrow bodied locos (SD 40´s, GP´s) do not have space at all, unless you install N scale decoders, but then the sound may not sactisfy you.
Wide body locos (F´s, FT etc may be easier). One solution is to use a B dummy unit just to install the decoder and speakers. Obviously you will have them permanently coupled, but it is a good solution.
I personally did this in two F7 sets, and keep all other units with simple no sound decoders. Much easier.
As another member said before, it is much better to by new ones with sound pre installed.
Happy model railroading!
I have done many (15+) old locos including Athearn BB’s and Revell, many were 30+ years old. I have used original motors as well. The key to success is “cleaning everything” from motors to gear boxes to wheels. I also suggest that you replace motor magnets with the newer earth magnets available. They are fairly cheap and provide very good results. Many sizes are available as well. There are some technical issues with older loco, mostly in gearing and electrical pickups but I have had great success in all my conversions. While performance can’t match the costly new locos available today, they do as well as the newer Athearn’s and Bachmann locos. Even these usually require some substantial overall to run smoothly.
My conversions have included the lower cost end of DCC decoders available from TCS and Digitrax. That way your investment is minimal and both of these come with the goof proof replacement warranties.
I as well as Russ have had good success with updating older engines. Yes they perform well. I do go through my fleet and pick ones that are worth the while to do so though. If it is an engine that only has one drive truck or axle it still will not pull much after it is converted. If it cannot maintain power from poor contacts or not enough contacts to the wheels and tracks then it will not perform well. If it don’t run very good on it’s own standard DC then the performance will not change. (Unless you do the added maintenance and work that Russ says above. I am even looking at a small steam engine that I want to convert if I can find the chip that fits and the performance of standard DC is what I think. By all means convert those older engines(at least the better ones. from Newman
Off hand, I would say that the motors in the blue box units (from my experience) draw too much current for most decoders. So they should be replaced with a can motor, thus smoother operation. Another issue is having the space for a decoder and or speaker. Sometimes you may have to mill down some of the frame to make room. All of this is mentioned in the above comments, the wheels, motors etc. It is much easier to just purchase new locomotives, but if you are like me, I do enjoy the challenge of upgrading older loco’s to DCC & Sound, but it is work.
I have done several of these conversions. FIRST get a copy of instructions on how to upgrade Athern locos. This requires removing the long clips and installing wire instead. Then decide if you want DCC with sound or just straight DCC. I would suggest just straight DCC for the first one. All decoders come with a wiring color code. On older units you may have to install grain of wheat lites. as the voltage will burn out the original ones. Remember that the motor needs to be isolated from the frame. A piece of electrical tape under it does the job.If you follow the upgrade instructions and the DCC makers instructions you should not have any problems. If your units are over 30 years old. Get a motor replacement kit from Walthers or Micro-Mark. Have fun.
If you use the internet a lot go to youtube and there are some good some bad videos on how to install or switch your old BB locomotives to those with sound. Watch a few get an idea if its something you want to undertake and go from there.
I’ve converted a number of Blue Box Locos to DCC and I’ve never experienced any problems with them. The biggest problem would be the installation but even that has become easier with the introduction of the Harnesses that fit on the old motors. It also depends upon what decoders you are going to use. Other than that… Piece of cake! 🙂 GBR!
I have to agree with Keith Petrie. Most of my loco’s are from the 70’s and 80’s. Atheran Blue Box, Bachmann, Model Power, just recently a 90’s Mantua F unit. All of the conversions that I have done to mine are with the existing motors. All so far preform very well, even in a slow crawl. My conversion have been with GP’s, SD’s, F’s and Shark’s. I’m looking at doing a couple of AHM GP-18’s, which I’ll admit will be more involved. I’m just saying it can be done with your current collection, as is. Don’t know about doing the sound, as mine are all just plain ole DCC, which I love compared to my old DC. My main Decoder thus far is the NCE D13SRJ. It’s baxic, but it works and they are less then $20.00. Steam is my next venture and they to are almost as old as I am. Take your time follow instructions and do watch some of the Youtube video’s. Hope this helped ease the pain a little.
A cheap and easy option is the train tech SFX sound capsules. All you do is place them in one of the wagons in the load or in the tender. Super easy!