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Hello Fuzzypa, Determining which wires/contacts inside the locomotive are which, and then determining which decoder wire goes where is sometimes the most difficult part of installing a decoder. Follow the color codes: gray wire to motor negative; orange to motor positive; red to pickups from the right-hand (engineer's) side; black wire to the pickups from the left-hand rail (fireman's side); blue is light common; yellow is reverse light; and white wire goes to the headlight. You'll find an illustrated story on Trains.com explaining the installation of a decoder in older Athearn locomotives at <a href = "http://www.trains.com/content/dynamic/articles/000/000/002/386vdfwa.asp."> http://www.trains.com/content/dynamic/articles/000/000/002/386vdfwa.asp</a>. This story might be helpful also: <a href="http://www.trains.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/002/388hbotf.asp"> http://www.trains.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/002/388hbotf.asp</a>. Hope this helps, Paul Schmidt Contributing Editor Trains.com
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