Most good sound cards have small capacitors installed to prevent just this from occurring, giving just enough power to the decoder to jump these small gaps.  If his sound board has these capacitors, maybe one is bad.

I do not have one of the Bachmann EZ DCC Controllers, but a friend in our train club asked me some questions, some of which I am not sure of the answer.  He is starting to build a layout and is considering the EZ DCC Controller for his kids to use, but also runs trains on our Club's layout which uses NCE controllers.  His kids also run their trains on their friends layouts as well.

Question 1:  The controller has 10 buttons for locos, 9 of which are for DCC.  If you have a Loco with an address of 2234 and want to run it on the EZ controller, you need to assign a button to the loco.  If, say, you select button #4, does this reprogram the loco to now use an address of 4 and no longer an address of 2234?  My assumption is the decoder was just reprogrammed, and to use it as Loco 2234 on another layout, it would have to be reprogrammed again.

Question 2:  If you are running Loco 1 at 10% speed and then shift to loco 2 and take it up to 80% speed, then shift back to Loco 1, does it then jump right up to 80% speed or does it retain the 10% speed setting.  My assumption is, because there is only one speed control dial, and it appears not to be a digital control but an analog dial, the first loco would now use the speed dial setting wherever it is set at the time of the switch to the second loco.

I have 4 SD40's, all HO DCC equipped without sound, and I would like to add sound to them.  Doesn't look to be very much room for the speaker in the top of the cavity.  Anyone done this before and if so, what did you install?

None of the Bachmann, Bowser or Athearn engines I have are a problem with too much speed.  I have a small 2-6-0 steam engine that pulls 5 old time excursion cars, that can really crank it up, and in some of the turns can get pretty dicy.  Another is a set of AC6000 diesels by Broadway Limited that can get out of control coming down a grade and entering a turn.  I programmed the max speed step for the engines so they cannot do this.  All the other engines I have capable of going too fast are not on the Christmas layout.

Quote from: jward on September 11, 2013, 07:10:14 AM
that said, I'd use the steel track on sidings and yard tracks where your locomotives won't be going much. that way, keeping it clean won't be as much of an issue.

While I agree with Jay, I would not use it on a siding where locomotives are used at all, only for storing rolling stock.  If the track is not used frequently, the rust problem occurs sooner, and when you do pull a locomotive onto that section of track, it will have a much higher degree of failing to operate.  Anywhere a locomotive will be used, I would recommend using Nickle Silver track, especially the less frequently used tracks.

I have 2 layouts, one is permanent and large, and the other is a Christmas temporary layout, and also large.  The permanent layout runs six trains with upwards of 16 locomotives at once while the Christmas layout runs 3 trains using 7 locomotives.  

I started with the Bachmann Dynamis, then added the Pro box.  Had lots of problems with the Dynamis failing to communicate in the vicinity of fluorescent lighting.  Removed the fluorescent light bulbs and the problem went away.  Then, when I started running more locomotives,  I tried using the Bachmann 5 amp booster  and it would not work with the Dynamis and Pro Box combination, only with the EZ Command units, even though Bachmann's literature said it would.  After many, many threads here and trials & tests, I gave up.  I sold the Dynamis and Pro Box and replaced it with the Bachmann EZ Command unit, which does work with the Bachmann 5 amp controller.

I now have an NCE SuperCab controller with 2 NCE 5 amp boosters running the permanent layout, which gives me the ability to run multiple cabs, multiple 5 amp boosters and the ability to program DCC controllers, all under florescent lighting and I am using the Bachmann EZ Controller with the Bachmann 5 amp booster on the Christmas layout, as it is very easy for visitors to operate trains.  All trains are on separate tracks so no collisions can occur, and all of the Christmas layout locomotives are programmed so that no train can go fast enough to jump the track, which makes it safe for visiting children to run the trains and have a ball.

I suggest you research all the brands before buying.  You will find they all have price advantages and disadvantages, but are not that far apart in the end once you start expanding.  Some are cheap to start with, but really pricy to expand on, while others are the opposite.  I started with Dynamis, but moved to something else when I had difficulty expanding.  There are several threads on this forum regarding good and bad things about Dynamis, read all of them before you decide.  If you are starting out and don't intend to expand, Dynamis is a good consideration, but there are many threads here about the inability of the Dynamis/Pro Box combination to use the 5 amp booster, which will limit you to the 2 amps of the Dynamis.

Do your research before you commit.  Don't even think about steel track.  It will give you a bad taste of model railroading for the wrong reasons, especially in DCC.   In DCC, small amounts of rust on the rails may stop the engine, as DCC relies on the computer signal getting from the rails to the decoder, and small resistances can stop that signal in it's tracks (wow, a pun!).  Go with Nickle Silver, even if it means not buying a train set but getting the items seperately.  THey are easy to tell apart, Nickle Silver has grey roadbed while steel has black roadbed.

I am not trying to discourage you from Bachmann, quite the contrary.  But when you purchase a control system and find it does not suite your needs, you may develop a poor attitude towards that manufacturer's products, when it was not their fault, but the buyers fault.  Simply do your research, go to train stores and try out their display units, go to train shows and see the different brands, find other model railroaders and/or model railroad clubs in your area and see what they are using ... and why.

DCC is really great, flexible and lots of fun, but it can get costly, especially if you jump into it and then decide to start over later.  How do I know this .......

Good luck

I watched a segment on the History channel about Freight Trains and they commented that in the US, 97% of all trains are heavy freight, which includes coal and ore as well.  Only 3% was passenger service.

I also found it humerously interesting that they said the demise of a lot of train service came in the 50's & 60's with the arrival of the interstate highways and shipping by trucks, which had only started reversing itself in the 90's with a lot of heavy rail freight service.  They then showed a segment on freight car maintenance and construction as well as Diesel locomotive construction, and it showed during the construction and maintenance of the freight cars and during the construction of the locomotive, where they build or repaired the entire freight car and built the entire engine frame, diesel, generator and support systems,  then they pick it all up and set it down on the two trucks.  Interestingly enough, probably due to the Teamsters Union, even now  it seems that trains are still being moved with "trucks"!  

You are all welcome.  Yes, there is an AnyRail forum, it not only covers all gauges of model railroading, but covers all makes and manufacturer's of products.  Very little bickering there as well, except for some on color humor.

The person who wrote AnyRail monitors the forum and has a special section for requesting programming enhancements, of which he really does try and do.  Members also post suggestions and photos of their railroads and help others with problems they are having with their railroad.

http://www.anyrail.com/forum_en/index.php

Really nice work.  Would you mind if I posted some of your photos of this bridge on the AnyRail forum, or if you are a member there, would you post them?

jbrock27,

I have on several occasions recently tried to do what you asked, but was censored by the Yardmaster, most likely because he did not like that I had a problem with the Bachmann product and found a compeditor's product that did work correctly.   To answer your questions, I have never had de-railing problems that were not self inflicted.  I have had constant problems with the Bachmann re-railer not functioning as a re-railer like it is suppose to.  Again, I have no de-railing problems other than ones I have caused myself.  I have found a fix with another product and will use it instead.

It seems the Bachmann Yardmaster again felt my comments were what he considered to be of a bad tone and again removed them.  To agan state my response, I know why they do not work, I am going to replace the problem items, not try and correct them.  I hope this tone is mild enough to stay.

FRED stands for "Flashing Rear End Device", or also, Flashing Red End Device.  It is a flashing red light that can be installed on practically any rolling stock to identify the end of a train. 

Since the advent of air brakes, brakemen were no longer necessary on railroads, and thus the caboose was no longer needed to house them.  FRED provided a far more versatile means of identifying the end of a train than a caboose.

I understand the "F" in  FRED had a different connotation to the unemployed brakemen though!

Thanks Jerry,  I was trying to attach the photos using Additional Options.  The Photobucket method worked.  See the above post where I added the photos.

Here is the difference I see between the Bachmann unit that does not work and the Atlas one that does work.

In the photos below, you can see the Bachmann's external ramp comes to a sharp point at the top.  The wheel simply rides up the ramp until it is pinched at the top, cannot slide over the rails, simply hops over the plastic lip, and drops into the groove beside the rail, then continues the length of the re-railer in the groove until the end, where it falls back out still in a de-railed condition.










The Atlas design has a flat surface at the top of the ramp, even with the top of the rails.  When the outside wheel rises to the top, it goes onto the flat surface.  As the inside wheel is being pulled over to the opposite side by the wedge on the inside of the tracks, the wheel sitting on the flat surface slides sideways where it slides over the rail and drops into position inside the rail, thus re-railing correctly.