For a command station, I purchased the MRC (www.modelrec.com) Command 2000. This command station will handle about 2.5 amps (all trains). It requires an AC power supply of slightly more than that. MRC also sells an appropriate power supply, so I purchased both of these at my local Hobby Shop. Later, also at my local hobby shop I purchased the MRC Handheld (tethered) Controller for the Command 2000. All of this equipment is also available through mail-order and internet dealers.

                                           (NEW)

As for the decoders, I chose the Digitrax (www.digitrax.com) DN140, N-scale decoder. I chose this decoder because it fits nicely into the LEGO train motor without any modifications, and supports functions such as Maximum Voltage and the Loadable Speed Table which allows you to set 28 throttle increments to a percentage of full throttle. This allows you to define a "speed curve", and it allows you to limit the voltage to the motor. HO and N scale DCC systems deliver about 12VDC to the motor at full throttle (G guage even more). I wanted to limit the LEGO train motor to about 9VDC, so I defined a curve with 0% at zero throttle and 75% and maximum throttle, and used a parabolic function to fill-in the remaining steps. This gives me finer control at the slow speeds and coarser control at the high speeds. (I’m still playing with this speed curve for optimum response).

           (NEW)

1. Using a sharp X-acto knife, carefully slice all eight tabs flush with the bottom of the train motor. Now pull the bottom off from the main unit. Rocking the axles helps break it loose.
   
   
   
2. Remove the wheelsets; then the metal wipers. After that, remove the motor. Now all that is left inside is the small conductive disk. Removed it also. Nothing but the LEGO cable metal connector and the intermediary gears are still attached.
   
   
3. Remove the two metal plates and diode which are attached to the motor. This will isolate the motor from the electrical pickup wipers. Now everything is separated and ready for DCC implementation.
   
   
   
4. Cut the green and purple accessory wires to about ¼ inch to get them out of the way, unless you will be using them for some accessory.
   
   
5. Cut the red and black wires (track pickup) of the decoder to about 1 1/4 inches long and the orange and gray wires (motor drive) to about 1 ½ inches long. Also cut the headlight wires, blue, white, and yellow, to about 1 ½ inches long. Then cut a 1 inch piece of white wire from the leftover scrape. This will be used for the headlight.
   
   
6. Wipe the lubricant from the wiping surface for better conductivity (Hobby Shops sell a conductive lubricant that could be used instead).
   
   
7. Assuming the LEGO cable connector is on the FRONT of the LEGO train motor, solder the red wire to what will be the LEFT hand metal wiper and the black wire to what will be the RIGHT hand metal wiper.
   
   
   
8. Carefully so as not to melt the plastic, tin and solder the 1 inch white wire to the inside of one of the LEGO cable connector plates.
   
   
9. Bend the lower motor connector to the side so it will not accidentally touch the metal wiper when installed. Then solder the orange wire to the lower motor connector and gray wire to the upper motor connector.
   
   
10. To get the headlight to stay on in both forward and reverse, solder the white and yellow wires together and then solder them to a 75 - 82 Ohm ¼ Watt resistor. This drops the voltage of the headlight circuit down to about 9V when used to light a LEGO train lamp. Then soldered the other end of the resistor to the 1 inch piece of white wire.
     
    
    
11. Now the only wire left is the blue headlight common. Tin the remaining LEGO cable connector plate and solder the blue wire to it.
    
    
    
12. (OPTIONAL) There is a noise reducing circuit to help keep the motor quiet at slow speeds. This circuit is not required for DCC to work, and therefore is optional. The circuit evolved from a discussion within the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) (www.nmra.org) DCC Special Interest Group (SIG) and may be found here (jdb.psu.edu/nmra/anitbuzz.htm). I used five 22 micro Farad capacitors instead of the one 100 micro Farad capacitor as shown in the circuit diagram. I did this because the single capacitor will not fit inside the LEGO train motor and the five individual capacitors will. I followed the following steps to install this circuit.
    a. Cut two 2 ¼ inch pieces of wire from the leftover scrap, one orange and one gray, since they will be connected to the motor.
    b. Solder the 2.2 Ohm ½ Watt resistor to the lower motor connector and the orange wire to the other end of the resistor.
    
    c. Solder the gray wire to the upper motor connector.
    d. Solder the five capacitors in parallel.
    
    e. Solder the gray wire to one lead and the orange wire to the other lead of the capacitor array.
    
    
13. Everything is now soldered in place and ready to be installed. Isolate the metal wipers from the inside of the LEGO cable connector with tape or a small piece of cardstock. You could cut off the tabs, but I chose not to, so as to minimize "damage" to the original LEGO train motor.
    
    
    
14. Again, assuming the LEGO cable connector is on the FRONT of the motor, insert the metal wiper with the red wire attached, into the LEFT side of the motor housing. Then insert the metal wiper with the black wire into the RIGHT side of the motor housing. It really does not matter which wire go to which side, I just do this for consistency.
    
    
    
15. Replace the two wheelsets.
    
    
    
16. Place the motor into the housing.
    
    
    
17. Place the decoder on edge and insert it into the FRONT of the LEGO train motor housing.
    
    
18. (OPTIONAL) Place the capacitors in a similar manner in the other end of the LEGO train motor housing.
    
    
    
19. Reattach the bottom plate onto the housing being careful to route the wires so they not to get pinched. I have not done anything to "hold" the bottom plate on yet. I have run these modified motors for hours without any problems, therefore I probably will not do anything until a problem presents itself.
    
    
20. The modified LEGO train motor is now ready to be programmed.

Programming is now complete.