I was working on my bench today. I cleaned some wheels and lubed up a few engines I was thinking about dropping DCC decoders into. So, far, out of the 5 I posted, at least 4 will have decoders dropped into them. Short video of the candidates.
I think if you are going to keep them convert them all as you could do it in the $30 range. Work on the ones that don't seem to run in one direction or both. Spend some time on that first before converting. Check them out on Spookshow. If they get good reviews there then they can probably be made to run better. I put sound in two Atlas GP7's ( HERE ) and since the GP9 is the same you could for sure put sound or non-sound into the GP9 and they are good runners. Let me know if I can help and most of my installs are ( HERE ). Sumner
The Fox Valley Rock is a very good runner and just needs a drop in decoder, so that engine is getting converted, also my Atlas Rock runs better than anything in my collection, so that one is getting a decoder also. I have a guy near me who will do the work for 45.00 if needed. He has converted 2 for me already. I'm thinking everything in my video minus the Rock that won't run slow will be converted. I purchased most of these engines around 2010 or so, all were used except the Fox Valley. I landed most of them in the 40.00 range, so dumping a few more dollars into the good runners seems like a logical move. I am seeing converted engines on eBay selling for 145.00 or so. Thanks for the info Sumner.
Yep you will probably get the money back out. I bought almost all of mine in the year or two before COVID and I'd say the prices on all have gone up 30%-50% since then and a few 100%. Not sure if they will hold going into the future but don't really care as I bought them for enjoyment and not as an investment . Once you do a couple 'wired' installs they are quite easy and pretty fast to do. I'm pretty much going to mostly all ESU sound or non-sound (more of these) but still have a lot of new in the package Digitrax 123's and 126T's and would consider selling those for under what they are going for now if anyone is interested. They are good decoders and will install them if no one else is interested in them. Sumner
My Lifelike E7 may be the engine I will have the most difficulties with. It will need to be broken down to the motor for a hardwire and reassembled. I truly do not like doing this type of thing these days because my eyes are not what they use to be. I think I will send this one out. The others I will give a go. I do not think I will be adding sound to any of the engines, so the work will be a bit less.
