Congratulations! Simple surgery on BLI and Athearn steam locomotives? Moose would not call it simple surgery. You would have to disassemble the tender, remove the decoder, and solder in wiring for the electrical pick-up to lights & motor. Note that there are wire harnesses from the locomotives with plugs that connect to the decoder PCB boards' plugs. You might want to reuse the decoders' plugs to so you did not have to remove locomotive shells to rewire the locomotives with their tenders. The good thing for you would be no more sound as you would no longer have the sound decoder. If you are considering doing this to an Athearn 4-6-6-4 or 4-8-8-4 steam locomotive, please note that their Centipede tenders are somewhat complicated to disassemble and reassemble. See webpages below for example photos of locomotives and tenders with their shells off. http://www.spookshow.net/loco/athearn4664.html http://www.spookshow.net/loco/bli282.html
