I just bought a Proto2K HO BL2 off ebay in B&M marroon/gold. The unit runs great and is in good condition. Has anyone coverted one of these units to dcc? If so which decoder did you use (I dont’ need sound) and was it a difficult install? The mechanism looks similar to the older Athearn ones in my old blue box equipment.
It is pretty much an athearn clone, but the motor should have 2 wires going to it, and there should be 2 wires from each truck. An NCE D13SRJ is a nice decoder that is also inexepensive and should work well. Just solder the wires directly. Replace the headlight bulb with a golden-white LED (like a Miniatronics Yelo-Glo) with a 1K resistor.
–Randy
if it’s the original release, there is only one wire from each truck, the other pickup wire is attached to the frame. lose the dropping diode package for the lights, relace bulbs with 12volt or led/resistor. any basic two function decoder will work.
I have on of these in the Missouri Pacific scheme and I installed a Digitrax DH123 decoder in it. It was pretty easy, like an Athearn install. I replaced the lights with white LEDs with resistors as well.