I just picked up one of the new Athearn RTR GP60Ms. One of the first things I noticed was that the directional lighting did not require more power like most directional light setups to get the engine to run (There is a review of the engine in the January 2004 issue of MR). I figured that the directional lighting/DCC board would work on some of my older non-RTR engines. So I made the needed modifications to one of my engines and the board works great. The engine required about 2-2.5 volts less to get to running at the same speed as with my current directional lighting setup. After my test I contacted Athearn to see if I could obtain the necessary parts to renovate my older engines, but they will not be available for sale until February or March of 2004. If anybody else has one of the new RTR engines and wants to try it, I would suggest it. The engine I used to test the board was an old U28B. It seems to have plenty of room for the board.
Greg