ho bachmann dynamis locomotives decoder help

[anthonykaz]

'Santa' brought me the Dynamis DCC set this morning.
The two locos that do not have decoders are a fairly new Bachmann gp-40, the cheapest varity, without a dcc pin. The other is an old athearn SW-1200, and does not have a circut board. From my research, i need to buy a decoder for each loco. What do you reccommend? How would I go about fixin the two together so I can use DCC? I am running HO scale.
Thank You and Merry Christmas,
AK

[anthonykaz]

Thanks for your help David

[rrinker]

 Digitrax DH123AT or DH163AT for the Athearns. Easy install with no soldering, unless you want to replace the "light up the entire front end" bulb with something that lights up only the headlight.

                                --Randy

 

[jasperofzeal]

For the Bachmann, I'd use NCE's BACHDSL decoder, since it's a straight substitute for the light board on most RTR Bachmann diesels.  You simply remove the loco shell, unsolder the 6 wires from the light board, be sure to pay attention to where the wires went.  The instructions that come with the BACHDSL decoder are very straight forward and simple to follow, they will tell you where exactly to solder the wires.  Another good thing about this decoder is that it comes with LED's, so you can get rid of the bulbs that come with the stock light board.

For the Athearn, I'd go with the Digitrax DH123AT or DH163AT that was suggested above.  If you don't mind doing some soldering, then your decoder selection greatly increases for the Athearn.