# Love the site, Lot's of info here.



## Big4fan (Aug 29, 2010)

Hello Love the site been reading up on a lot of posts.
I am getting back into railroading after a 30 year hiatus, (Kids/college/etc) an wow have things changed!
Mostly for the better. 
I am going to build up my N Scale I currently have 4 trains, (3 frieght, and 1 passenger) 3 switchers and a host of rolling stock.

What I need to know is how hard is it going to be to refit my old Locomotives with DCC decoders?

I have 2 GP -40's and 1 FA -3A

Thanks,

JC


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Welcome...

As for DCC, gonna be hard to say. For it to work, you have to be able to isolate the motor from the frame, a pretty mean trick for 30 year old N scale as most of that is built using the frame as part of the circuit.


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## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

Wether you retrofit your thirty year old locos to DCC or not is your option so this is only my opinion.I wouldn't do it for a few reasons.First,they aren't "DCC ready" so that fitting a decoder will likely require machining the frame to create room wich has a cost to start with unless you can do it yourself.On top of the cost and/or work,machining the frame reduces the loco's weight somewhat,thus reducing its pulling power in the process.Secondly,as already stated,these locos usually used the frame as a path for the current to reach the motor so isolating it is required wich may be a tricky business in many cases.Thirdly,their motors are of an older generation (obviously) so will never run as smooth as the newer generation of locos and are also likely to draw more current,wich isn't decoder friendly.It would work,I've done it,but will never be as satisfying as the newer ones.
In short,if they aren't high end locos (Kato's and Atlas),I wouldn't even consider it.And even then,thirty year old Atlas's and Kato's are a world away from the present day offerings.But then,they might have an emotional value to you......


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## Big4fan (Aug 29, 2010)

Thanks for the advice guys, I think I will just keep my lines the way they are for now, and build my layout accordingly. Then as the old loco's go into retirement, consider changing over to digital.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Big4fan said:


> ... as the old loco's go into retirement ...




Big4fan,

We prefer to encourage ALL of our locos here on the forum to get out and stretch their legs every once in a while ... have a go on the suffleboard court, a little swing dancing down in the rec room, maybe even chasing after an old steamer after curfew hour. Gotta keep 'em stoked up, you know! :laugh:

Serioulsy, great to have you onboard. Sound advice from the Jake and Shay. Looking forward to seeing your layout develop.

Cheers,

TJ


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