For you older Engineers like me. I have 2 older Life Like Standard DC locos. 1 a GP-38-2 and the other a F7. They have the motor integral to the front power truck, power pickup on the rear truck, steel weight bars stacked in the middle. The only wiring, runs from the rear pickup truck to the motor on the front truck and from the front truck to the light. No resisters, no capacitors, no other wiring devices at all. I have 2 questions. 1) Can this setup be wired to a DCC mobile decoder? 2) Can a replacement motor be found? (the F7 has a hitch in its gitalong.) Ol Hoss
1) Probably, but don't expect stellar performance from such a motor arrangement. 2) Find a similar unit at a train show or flea market and swap shells. That's the cheaper solution (if not the only one considering the age of the loco). Or you might try to clean the wheels and power pickups, and a bit of lube. It doesn't cost anything to try. If that doesn't fix it, you may consider the shell swap.
Save up and purchase a few new engines with 8 wheel drive, pick-up and flywheels. Turn your older engines into dummy units to go with them. The one truck drive engines are never going to be as good. Bob
I think this is the best advice. I like resurrecting old rolling stock - usually out of necessity - but those old lcos are not good runners even when they're working. They tend to stall out on turnouts and cannot match the smoothness and reliability of the newer ones with all-wheel pickup. My old ones either sit on the shelf or have been converted to dummies.
Years ago, before my sister and brother-in-law had their son, they set up an HO scale train around their Christmas tree one year. It was some toy train brand (Life-Like?), whose engine had the annoying tendency to stall under the tree, in the corner. During one visit to their place, I popped the shell of the F7 decorated for the Santa Fe and looked at the engine's innards. "What a piece of junk," I thought, so for his birthday, I got him an Athearn Blue Box F7 in Santa Fe and upgraded its wheels and hardwired the electrical circuit. Those stalling problems vanished. If memory serves, they "retired" that quirky engine in favor of the Athearn. Dieter Zakas
Listen to the voice of experience. The best advice I can give you is to walk away from all the older stuff and replace your older equipment with the newer units available. You can fiddle with these all day long and still have the same old inherent problems. It's not worth the time or effort. From, Mr. Been there...done that.
