Wanting to know if there's enough room for a DCC decoder for wither Lifelike or Model Power's Amtrak powered loco.... would love a pic "under the shell" if possible.
Wow. I never thought I'd hear of someone putting a decoder in an engine that isn't even worth as much as the decider! I suppose it's possible, there's a lot of room in those Life-Like F40's if you grind down the weights. I've got a rather elaborate plan to combine the Life-Like shells with rebuilt Atlas GP40 frames and drives to make a more useable engine. I'm just always a dollar short and a day late in getting started.
have a Kato Amtrak loco with a decoder in it. It has hardly been run since it is out of the timeframe of the JJJ&E and sits in a case above my computer desk... I also have a string of eight Kato Amtrak cars...oh well Stay cool and run steam....
Mike, I have a Model Power I think it's an F40PH. It was made by Mehano in Yugoslavia. It was in a large lot of locos I purchased from a local guy that changed scales. He told me he kept this one around to let his young kids run around the track like a slot car. The motor is in the center of the frame with springs used to drive both trucks. There's a large weight that sits over the rear truck only. I'm not real familiar with DCC but I'm sure there would be plenty of room in this one for a decoder. This one must have had one in it at one time because the original owner had a DCC layout. Like Brian said though, this is far from a quality loco, more like a poor quality trainset engine.
Mike: The Kato Amtrak loco's have room for a Digitraxx decoder.... It's a simple drop-in decoder. Stay cool and run steam....
I have a Kato P42 Genesis in the Amtrak paint and it is, without question, the smoothest and quietest loco I have ever seen. I have a drop-in Digitrax decoder in it.
