I would like to put a sound decoder in my new N Scale Bachman EMD GP7 Diesel Loco but have had no luck finding a compatible match. Has anyone tried this before and if so what decoder did you buy and how do you like the results?
I don't think you are going to find anything that will fit without some major modifications. The hood width is slightly narrower on the Bachmann loco so the MRC decoders for an Atlas loco are going to be a squeeze. You will still need to hardwire the decoder and mill the frame to make room for the speaker and other components.
There is no drop in option for sure.
There are some N scale sound decoder brands sold but the speaker will also be probably the main issue. The frame for N scale occupies most of the diesel shell. Forget plug and play in any N scale locos, steam or diesel.
You will have to hard wire.
Rich
Rich,
There are plenty of plug and play N scale decoders. Just about all Kato N scale diesel loco's have drop in sound decoders available for them. Most of the Atlas loco's have options also.
Here is a video of my Athearn SD70 which uses a "copy" of Kato mechanism so the decoder intended for the Kato SD70 fits with some minor mods.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hF_iq4gWWE
Both MRC and Digitrax make drop in sound decoders for quite a few loco's.