pardon my newb-ness...is there something to look for when i take the shell off to see if the motor is isolated? 

yes i have the box. yes it runs well. no there are no wires between the loco and the tender.

thanks for bearing with me.

is there a way to see how old it is (serial number, date stamp, etc)? It was given to me for Christmas just 6 months ago...

i hate to be a bumper, but ....bump

i've heard that the Digitrax No. DZ123 decoder will work, but needs to be hardwired to the motor. has anyone done this with either this loco, or another?

It's a Bachmann 2-6-0, purchased new about 6 months ago.  The reason I'm asking is that I'm new to the hobby, and want to know if anyone else has had success with this.  The rest of my locos are all DCC, and I'd like to be able to run this on the same track as those (I read that you can address the DC loco at DCC address 0, but that it can cause problems).

I've got an HO 2-6-0 that I'd like to outfit w/ a DCC decoder (sound not needed, but it'd be a nice bonus...i won't lose sleep over it though).  Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,
DM