Over the years I have converted locos from analog to digital and especially older type locos from the 60's and 80's. some manufacturers haven't updated locos to todays standards, e.g.: smoke generator, gearlights, firebox, markerlights, cab or plate lights, interior lights, and I have been able to add them without a great expense., my greatest success I think has been adding ball bearings to these oldies and they will survive another 50 or so years.
some locos may not have the details as todays produced locos and to tell you the truth when these locos are running on my layout, you can't really tell the difference, its only when you hold them 5cm from your face could you tell the difference.,
Having chosen a very expesnive hobby I've been able to keep costs down when purchasing or converting locos and I would have saved 1000's of dollars by converting them myself.

the light circuit boards I make myself cost a fraction of if I would buy a ready made up one, it may not look as good but what is under the bonnet no one can see anyhow., lately I'm covering them with plasticine, another innovation., using smd resistors and led's made it possible to apply applications impossible before., using 1mm x 1mm tiny led's in tenders top lightfitting and to fit them without noticing it that they are there., I also have repaired signals with tiny led's to give them another life span after connecting them with out a resistor.
with the introduction of new decoders, they offer now up to 8 Aux functions + 2 light functions, this is another improvement; I can use them for adding more functions as mentioned above.

As I update my loco with newer sound decoders or lokpilot decoders I also update the wiring with insulated copper wires, I found these last longer than the ordinary thin wire and with complicated wiring diagrams, these copper wires can be bent to an aquired shape and form and especially in steam locos whereas wiring goes to the and over the tender.
my next order with ESU I will persue another innovation and try out the new pantograph motors and see what I can do in this department, although other manufacturer of pantographs are getting more and more useless and I must say Märklin has kept the standard., Piko pantographs are having now a plastic mounting frame

John

Edited by user 14 June 2021 11:31:32(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

I've noticed the other day on the Piko website, an electric loco with the abilty to run locos from the overhead.

John