K-line GG1 Upgrade

Well David, it's "upgradeable", but that doesn't mean much.  When you open it up, I think you'll find that any "upgrade" to TMCC will be a full up upgrade, there are no shortcuts.  I think K-Line decided to advertise it as "TMCC Upgradeable" to compete with Lionel's truly TMCC Upgradeable products that just required you pop a couple of boards in.  The only concession to being upgradeable I saw was the pantographs were insulated and there was a connection for an easy TMCC antenna install.

I was sent one of these a few years ago for an upgrade, and the owner apparently thought it was going to be a quick and easy job...

I have two of these and thought the same. ended up putting ERR in both of them. very straight forward install but not plug and play.

Thanks guys, I'll keep that in mind should I decide to move forward.

I bought the K-Line Pennsy GG1 semi scale engine you spoke of.  I bought mine with TMCC already installed.  I sold it long ago.  Nice engine, not nice enough to keep it long term.

So what was the purpose of this kit?

@Desert Railer posted:

So what was the purpose of this kit?

Exactly the title of the instruction sheet- upgrade a K-line GG-1 that was conventional only to TMCC command control and railsounds.

I have one of those kits NIB in my parts drawer. Have been saving it to install in something but I’m probably at the point to let it go. If the OP is interested, send me a PM.

@Desert Railer posted:

So what was the purpose of this kit?

Look closely at the kit.  It has the complete guts of a TMCC locomotive, motherboard, the three TMCC & Railsounds boards, the DCDR motor driver, and even the wheelset with the magnet ring and the matching hall effect sensor for the prime mover ramping!  That's what I mean by "a full TMCC upgrade", you replace EVERYTHING in the locomotive.

@Ryan Selvius posted:

I have one of those kits NIB in my parts drawer. Have been saving it to install in something but I’m probably at the point to let it go. If the OP is interested, send me a PM.

Thank you but considering the difficulty level, I may just go with the ERR sound kit; sounds less invasive and more towards my skill set.  Having TMCC in this is not a priority.