Athearn Locomotive Midframe for DCC Decoder and Reverse Light

thingiverse

We have a bunch of old Athearn blue box locomotives that we rewired for DCC many years ago. This process adds a mess of wires that we just stuffed inside the locomotive, gluing the decoder to the top shell along with a light bulb for the reverse light. This was not ideal as it made it difficult to service the locomotives when the top shell was attached with wires as well as sometimes the wires would touch the flywheels or interfere with the mechanism. Now, with 3D printing, I decided to create a midframe that can be glued into the locomotive that routes the wires cleanly over the motor and flywheels as well as provides a shelf for the decoder and holder for the reverse bulb. I've installed it in two locomotives so far and I haven't had any issues with wires touching moving parts anymore.