I purchsed 2 used units a train show or two ago with intensions of repainting them. I test ran them at the show and they ran ok, and was told “with a good cleaning” they would run better. Well as I have pulled them apart for the cleaning I got to looking and wondered if they where really worth putting decoders in? I have cleaned the wheels and contacts and they still do not run the greatest. Will the removing of the current board and adding a decoder fix the sluggish running? I have applied wires to the motor leads and they run great, no binding. They are also nice and quite. Any positive help would be greatly appreatied. [:)]
If the engines run smoothly on DC, they are candidates for DCC conversion. I have two of the Walthers TrainLine U.S.Army locomotives that they had on sale a couple of years ago, and I converted both to DCC using TCS T-1 decoders. They run just as smoothly as a more expensive brand.
I’d say if you plan on using them and they run well on DC, the answer is Yes. I have had one of the trainline GP9M’s for several years, and though it’s not very detailed it runs better than some of my old Athearn’s. I figure if I ever upgrade to DCC I’ll use an NCE D13SR decoder in my GP9m.
Good luck in the world of DCC, I’m staying on familiar ground… For now
I have one, which I installed a NCE DA-SR into. I took the factory board out and soldered in the DA-SR. The lights are 12-15v bulbs, so you can hook those right up. It runs decent, and has some heft to it.
Follow up with the dash 8’s. I did pull out the factory borad and hard wired the loco. They both run great. I guess I will be getting decoders to install into them. Follow up question: Does anyone know if there are replacement shells avaible for this unit? Again thanks for any responses.