ftp://I have purchased two Bachmann 4-8-2 locos, two three truck shays and one Climax loco, all Bachmann products. Would they all be DCC ready, and if so which decoders do I buy? All my other locos are DCC equipped, and I am in the process of building my first DCC layout in HO.
The box should have on it - "DCC Ready" or "DCC on Board". For the 4-8-2s you can look in the tender and see if it has a decoder or a plug.
for installation ease, a Bachmann decoder might be the best way to go if you need to buy decoders.
Mersry Eighth Day of Christmas and Merry New Year.
Gene
They may already have DCC installed. For the 4-8-2 locos, take the tender apart and you can easily tell if they have a decoder in them. Bachmann locos use the 8-pin DCC connection type; if there is no decoder, any type of 8-pin plugs should work unless you want it to have sound, then you would have to find the sounds for that loco. As for the Climax and the shays, I know nothing about them.
OR
If you have a DCC controler, test each loco one at a time on the track. All Bachmann DCC equipped locos are preprogrammed to respond to address 3. Hope this works.
Happy New Year
the shay has an 8 pin plug in the water tank.
I'm not sure if you would be able to fit a B-mann decoder in there. I think the Digitrax DZ123 is recommended. Then cut capacitors C1 and C2.
I have a 4-8-2 heavy mountain and for personal reasons, I bought a sound decoder for the beast. My goal is to have all my steam loco's make noise and when i am done with the layout, all the loco's running, i will have a concert in my house. My first DCC loco was 2-10-0 Russian decapod and it came with the Bachmann decoder, which has no sound. Bottom line becomes the answer to the question " you want sound ? " It takes just as much effort to install a DCC decoder without sound as it does to install one with sound. Just a few more dollars and the economy will do better with sound ( price will go down ) By the way, the 4-8-2 has an interesting tender that allows the spoeaker to be installed under the coal cover, after dremelling a hole big enough for the speaker to slide into this area.
I have 4 HO Shays and 1 Climax.....all run a Bachmann 44915 decoder.
There is a whole lot more room in the Shay than the Climax, but they do fit nicely.
Sid
The Bachmann Decoder fits in the shay and 4-8-2(light) and work well . :)
All of the Bachmann steam I have: 4-8-2, light and heavy, 2-8-0, 2-6-6-2, 2-10-2 light, 2-8-4, plus the "medium" and the 16V Vanderbilt tender all can have a speaker mounted under the coal load.
Merry Twelveth Day of Christmas.
Gene
If there from the Spectrum line of protucts they should be at least DCC ready. If not, I don't Know.