Monthly Archives: April 2023

Upcoming Project: TCS CS-105 and LED Lighting for the Lower Level

I took the plunge and decided to rid myself of my twenty-some year old hand-me-down Digitrax Empire Builder II starter set for something a bit more cutting edge. I really like what TCS is doing these days with their new systems and was able to finally see one in action at Springfield last winter. A new CS-105 is on hand and will be installed soon.

I also picked up a handful of LED light strips and a power supply. These will be used to illuminate the lower deck. Hope to do a full write up on this once installed. Need so cut some 1/8″ strips to mount the lights to.

Remotoring a Proto 2000 GP7/GP9 With a Kato Drive

My friend, Tom Matty, who models the Thomas Sub of the Western Maryland Ry, a very skilled and talented modeler, offered to do a writeup of how he re-motors an old Proto2000 GP7/GP9 with a much higher quality Kato drive. It involves milling the frame, fitting the motor, linkages and worm gears and then installing your favorite flavor of DCC/sound. (we won’t cover the DCC installation here today). Tom gave me permission to post his process on the blog so I figured I’d share it with everyone who may be interested in this fantastic upgrade.

Parts needed:

How-To Guide

Download the PDF here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dg7dcwgmj3447rk/Remotoring%20a%20Proto2000%20GP7-GP9%20-%20Tom%20Matty.pdf?dl=0