Sound and DCC into an old Athearn GP59?


malletman

Alcohaulic
Can duel model DCC/Sound be fit easily into an older Athearn Blue Box GP59 diesel? I am superdetailing a Southern RR 4610 and wouldnt mind putting sound in it. It will be one of the few plastic engines I have, so its getting the full treatment. Maybe even an Overland chassis if I can find one. Thanks Mike
 
MM, I'm confused. There is no BB GP-59 that I know of. Can you check for the correct model number again?
 
Good job guys, ya figured it out on your own, but the Southern 4610 is actualy a GP59 and I speak of it as such. Same model and sound as a GP60. The sound set up for any of the Athearn BB 4 axle EMD's is basily the same other than proper sounds being loaded for non turbo 645, 645 turbocharged and 710 turbocharged depending on what 4 axle EMD your working on. I am supprised this came up :) The board install is fairly straightforward. I am intersted in what others have done for speaker and placement? I may just send her to a shop that does DCC/Sound installs. Mike
 
GP60s use a EMD 16-710G3A engine. 16 cylinders producing 3800 HP. The GP59 uses a 12-710G3A engine with 12 cylinders producing 3500 HP. The decoder you'd obviously want to use is a EMD 710 Diesel Tsunami Decoder. I highly recommend it, I use one for my EMD F59PHI and it sounds very nice.
 
I have figured out a possible speaker to use, per the tony's train exchange website. I may get the stuff and see if I can do it. I suspect the speaker will fit back in the rear radiator area above the rear truck. with the decoder above the motor maybe. Anybody done a Tsunami into an Blue Box Athearn and has pics of where they put everything. I am using 1.5vt micro bulbs for all the lights, both ditch and headlights. Can that decoder be set up to alternate the ditch lights for a short duration whenever the horn is blown? And be able to do that in either direction as this engine will have working ditch lights on both ends. This will be my one and only plastic engine with sound and DCC. I might do one of my brass PFM Crescent Limited engines eventualy. P.S. I knew which prime mover she has, I worked for NS for a year back in 1998 and got to ride on many of the 7100 class GP60s and the 4610 on one instance. This would be my first DCC install as well as sound. So I am a bit apprehensive to say the least. I can tear down and clean/tune vintage brass engines, but when it comes to this new digital stuff, its a bit tricky to me. I need to find a better way to fasten down all the little wires up in the shell to keep them out of the flywheels and drive shafts. Got 8 wires from each end just in lighting. Mike Thanks Mike
 
I do not know if you can have directional ditchlights without adding a seperate function decoder. But I do know ditchlights can flash, you need to add a 470 Ohm Resistor inline with the function wire-headlight connection to keep from blowing the bulb. It also comes with the perfect Nathan P5 for the 4610.
 
Kewl on the horn! They dont need to flash, as long as they are directional thats all I care for. We have like 3 whole grade crossings on the club layout anyway. I thought the Tsunami could do that as part of the grade crossing timer thing. When the effect lights were set up for ditch lights, they would start to flash when the horn was blown and keep flashing for a set lenght of time that was controlable thru programing. If she sounds like a 710 and a P5 I am happy. Now if I can deal with all the wires that are going to be inside this little shell! Can I run both LED and 1.5 micro bulbs off the same decoder? I can use the minatronics yeloglow LEDS to light up the headlights, 1 LED at each end as I keep the stock Athearn lenses in my headlights, I already have the 1.5vt bulbs in the ditch lights. Man I miss the days of just the simple cab headlight, them walkway lights are a major PITA to put on and light up.
 
Ok, I sold my two items on ebay, gonna take the plunge and order the Tsunami with correct 710 prime mover sounds, along with one of the nice oval speakers w/enclosure from Tony's train exchange tomorrow. It was a toss up to either put sound in, or put an overland chassis under the shell. I think the sound is going to win out. The stock blue box chassis runs smooth and quiet, one of the quietest I have heard in awhile. I have it appart right now and if I run just the motor and flywheels in my hand, there are no vibrations from out of balance flywheels or motor armature. I had to body mount the couplers as both ends of the 4610 have big snow plows on them. I got the long hood ditch lights mounted, just need to get more bulbs for them and the main headlights. Tomorrow I hope to get the numberboards done and the rest of the lights installed. Then I can glosscoat the whole unit to look paint shop fresh. I cant wait to hear that 710 fire up with its signature "ying, ying, ying, ying" idle chant. This will be my very first DCC/Sound install, should be intersting. The plan is to put the decoder ontop of the motor and the speaker below the rad fans facing downward with enough room behind it to access the rear headlight. I hope to mount everything up in the shell with just the feeder wires to the chassis. I think that makes the shell more easily removed for chassis lubrication. I havent seen a good way to mount everything to the chassis in a blue box engine. With 8 wires from each end's lighting, keeping the whole setup at the top of the shell is best, I think! Cheers Mike
 
Well, slight change of plans, I ended up buying both the GP60 OMI chassis and a SD40-2 chassis for $150 shipped to me. I will put sound in the 4610 eventualy. I was planing to do a Southern high hood SD40-2 in the future, so I will have a power chassis for it. Cheers Mike
 



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