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Hi guys, i just won to Athearn RTR Engines off e-bay, one is a CSX GP38-2 in the Dark Future Paint and the other is a BNSF GP35 in the new Swoosh Paint.
Im wondering, are these DCC Ready? According to the product pages on Athearn's web site, the BNSF one is DCC Ready but the CSX GP38-2 Does not say if it is DCC Ready or not....
BNSF GP35:
http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default....D=ATH94226
CSX GP38-2:
http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default....ID=ATH8008
Anyone have the CSX one? Is it DCC Ready? Thanks in advance
Josh Mader
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Well the one description off the site says Equipped with Quick Plug DCC technology which doesn't really say if its dcc equiped but perhaps its saying its dcc ready and the second description doean't say anything about dcc. Whats the link off ebay ? There will be a more definate description on ebay of what the engines present dcc state is , whether its dcc equipped or if its just dcc ready.
Lynn
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wgrider Wrote:Well the one description off the site says Equipped with Quick Plug DCC technology which doesn't really say if its dcc equiped but perhaps its saying its dcc ready and the second description doean't say anything about dcc. Whats the link off ebay ? There will be a more definate description on ebay of what the engines present dcc state is , whether its dcc equipped or if its just dcc ready.
The guy who was selling the CSX GP38-2 it says he has not touched it since he bought it and its sat in the box since he bought it. In his description he said that he does not think it is DCC ready but i would think that it is since its an Athearn RTR model...? I dont think the guy really knows to much about trains.... lol
I guess i will see when i get it in the mail, he said it will be going out to me in tomorrow's mail, just ended this afternoon, quick payment with PayPal
Josh Mader
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If the seller says it is dcc ready than it is just that , dcc ready meaning its ready to accept a dcc decoder into the socket.
Lynn
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Thanks Lynn, you and this guy pretty much said the same thing
taken from Model Railroad Forums:
jerrytbirdsc Wrote:"The GP35 will have a circuit board for the lights and NMRA 9 Pin DCC "Quick Plug.". I use NCE D13SRJ decoders on my Athearn RTR, they work good for me and are around $15 discounted, there is even a guy selling these for around that shipped. Basically any deooder witha 9 pin socket will work. TCS website has a [url="http://www.tcsdcc.com/decoderpics/Athearn_EMD_GP35/Athearn_GP35.html"]how to install a decoder on a GP35 RTR[/url].
The GP38-2 is basically the same as the old Blue Box kit. No circuit board and not DCC ready. There is a lot more involved in this to make it DCC compatible. Here is another how to from TCS website on a [url="http://www.tcsdcc.com/decoderpics/athearn_GP_38.htm"]GP38-2 decoder install.[/url]"
I was trying to stay away from locos that were not DCC ready, i guess this will be an exception lol and ill have to do this one to make it DCC cuz i really liked this little loco
Josh Mader
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It depends on how old it is and when Athearn started making all r-t-r dcc ready. I have an A-B-B-A set of Athearn F-7s that were not dcc ready, but most of the newer r-t-r is dcc ready. I think the newest Athearn F-7 units are dcc ready, but I'm not sure. Athearn is very easy to convert to dcc regardless.
