Adding DCC to Atlas Kato gp7

[The Conrail Kid]

Hello all I was able to pick up 2 mint condition Atlas Kato GP7s today for 30 each. They run great  but I am not  seeing any way to add DCC to them. What decoder would work best  or can i replace the board on them to give me directional headlights?

thank you to all who help in advance

[Packer]

I don't have any of the Atlas/Kato Geeps, but I do have 2 Atlas/Kato C425s. I used an NCE DA-SR in them. It fits right on the mount, it just requires some soldering or wire boots.

[Green_Elite_cab]

http://www.hoseeker.net/assemblyexplosionAtlas/Assembly%20Explosion%20Atlas%20GP7.jpg

^  Is that the right diagram?

Regardless, converting any engine to DCC is relatively simple.  While there may be a decoder designed to work with that locomotive, you'll be doing much of the same sort of work regardless of your choice.   Isolate the motor, connect it to the Orange and Gray wires of the decoder, then attach the wires from the track pick ups to the corresponding Red and Black decoder wires.

Packer's idea seems sound.

[bnsf971]

I did this with two C425s. and I used what I have standardized on for hard wiring decoders, which is a Digitrax DZ143. I simply isolated the motors and headlight bulbs, which are very simple things on these engines (almost identical to your GP7 internally), and soldered the connections where they needed to go. To make sure nothing electrical touches anything else, I used a couple of strips of kaptan tape where there would be bare wires, and used heat shrink tubing over the connections. While this sounds like a lot, I had both locomotives up and running, with the decoders configured with their own addresses, in about 15 minutes each. Speed matching to the rest of the fleet took another 15 minutes per unit.