DCC Decoder And LED Upgrade On An Old DC Athearn Blue Box - Digitrax DH126D 

I used to take off the dynamic brake housing, put the main body shell back on, then run all the wires, then snap the dynamic brake back on. Saved me the “routing wire” nightmare. Loved the video my brother.

Another remarkable video, bravo. I don't have the budget--temporal, mental and fiscal--to convert to DCC. I'll be happy being DC til I die. 😎

Thanks Dave. I was asked to look at an Athearn DC chassis and motor like this one today for my local club. Your strip down helps confirm what I had worked out. Someone has changed the motor mount on this one so not sure if I can fix it. Your informative strip down helped. Thanks. Happy Modelling Mon

Thank You Very much,i love old Athearn BLUE box locomotive❤

Am I the only one who always think of Brian Cox (the actor), when I see this guy talk about trains? :)

This is cool, awesome video.

A useful style of LED to look out for are whats known as "top hats". As the name suggests they are shaped with a shoulder and flat top, ideal where there was no existing bulb. You carefully drill a small hole and these fit flush. When you see them you'll know what I mean. Even after a lifetime of messing with electronics, you still can't beat that "YES!!" moment when you stick a few bits together and it works when powered up. Well done Dave. 👍

How exciting Dave! Well done and have even MORE fun playing trains...

Nicely done. Gives me hope when I do mine. Thanks sir.

Loved this video. Thank you!

Now try that with an N scale loco! 😁 A lot less space as has been my experience but still quite doable. So nice to have all that space in these Blue Box locos. And that 3d printed holder is a great idea.

There is yet another useful class of LED's, 1.8 mm diameter. You can install a pair of them in each of the front and rear light 'holes' on the Athearn diesels, just need to drill the holes a shade larger. With two independent lights installed you can set one to be a regular headlight and one to be red light or a Mars light or a Gyralight.

Awesome install of the decoder. Thx for sharing

Been trying to find a good detailed video on how to install for a beginner...thanks so much.

great job

Hi Dave, a very useful and instructional video as I am dabbling in some American HO. I inherited some from my late brother and disposed of some (including a Dash9 in BC) and with the remainder I thought I would do a small switching layout. I’ve had the opportunity to squire some more which included a blue box SD40-2 so I am tempted to convert to DCC as I also inherited a Digitrax system. I’ve watched other RU-vid videos, all very good but yours has given the confidence to have a go. I need to rewatch to identify suppliers of coders, LEDs and connectors. I’ve subscribed so look forward to other videos and I have put a thread in Western Thunder of my layout progress.

Nicely demonstrated! Really enjoying taking the journey with you (as someone without a layout😔)

Your Video, inspire me to try the same work to my locomotive, the same locomotive like yours an SD-45, mine with the SEABOARD Livery. Thank you

We upgraded an old Athearn blue box F7 to DCC with sound and LED lighting but also upgraded the motor. The new motor draws a lot less power and is much quieter. Those old blue box engines run great, but the downside was always the power usage and the noise.

Hello Dave great video and very well demonstrated.

I'm about to do my first conversions, this was very helpful. Thanks!

u can use dish soap to put the little rubber bits into the frame. The soap dries out and rubber bits are in.

What Digitrax decoder did you use? I've got several ALCO C420s I've got to convert.

I believe that is a color code for al the wires. And the color code for the bottom of the motor is gray, and the top; orange.

Nice job Dave.

Now you get to learn how to consist!

Very well done. Learned a bunch that I will apply to my fleet. What brand is the wire stripper and where did you get it?

Most enjoyable presentation. Very smooth and easy to follow. Where did you find the Athearn 3D printed decoder holder? That was a cool product!

Thanks for the tutorial. I have a couple of blue box GP-38's I'm going to put decoders in. Can you tell me where you got the 3d printed decoder bracket from? They make the job a lot tidier. Take care. Sean.

Dont you love it Dave when a part flys accros the room and it takes forever to find it,,,i know the fealing did it a thousand times

Could not locate the bracket for decoder and wires on thingiverse....what was it called?....thanks!

Those motor mounts, for some reason are not easy to get them back, Athearn sells new ones as parts.

Hey, if people can figure out how to get speakers into N scale locomotives, fitting one into the BC Rail loco should be a breeze!

Seems as if all you have is a decoder which does the same as if you were using DC. Now if there was sound added it would be something special otherwise it's not for me. Note: having the trains moving in opposite directions is cool I would just use another track side by side. thanks for the heads up.

Scott, do you have the print file for the decoder holder? I would love to give it a shot.

If you are using Resin core solder, adding resin/flux is not necessary.

WHITE TO WHITE , RED TO RED , BLACK TO BLACK , BLUE TO BITS

Why use flux when there is flux in the solder core?

Dave if you need some Kapton tape let me know because I have some

Steam engine has tonnes of room for speaker in tender😂

All you have to do is cut the tabs off the bottom pickup bar...