I would like to know the difference in analog / digital ready engins?
Then are the analog engins able to be converted into digital ready?
Thanks for the help.
Analog engines are those that were made to run from a DC power pack, such as an MRC controller. Digital engines, if they have decoders already in them, are made to run from a Digital Command Control (DCC) system. Some DCC decoders can also operate from a DC power pack. Sound decoders such as those in Broadway Limited models can operate both ways, but you don’t get all of the sound effects with DC control.
I have converted many old Athearn, Tyco, Mantua, and other brands into digital engines by installing DCC decoders. Decoder installation is not that difficult. Getting an engine apart so the decoder can be wired to the motor’s brushes, insulating the motor from the frame, and finding a place where the decoder can sit without the wires getting tangled up in the gearing is usually a bigger challenge than the actual installation procedure.
[#ditto] He pretty well covered it, but I might also add that with some of the newer analog locos there is a plug on the circuit board so you can plug a decoder (that’s what makes it digital) right in instead of having to actually solder it into the wiring. Don’t get the wrong idea though, if you can solder and follow instructions it is easy to install one the other way as long as there is room inside the locomotive for a thing about the size of a penny with 8 wires coming off of it. Also, with digital each locomotive has it’s own control and the track has no polarity (the rails carry AC)so you can move each one separately at different speeds in different directions.