There are solder pads for soldering the decoder to the circuit board.

Quote from: steveeusd on February 13, 2007, 01:26:09 PM
Jim--

You obviously know what you're talking about.  Let me throw my idea at you, which is probably not too different from your suggestion.  My thought is to place plastic joiners on both rails on either side of the siding as close to the diverging track of each switch.  Using bachmann's terminal track, connect  Bachmann's green wire from the terminal track to an on/off switch you described.  Then, I would connect another wire from the on/off switch to the DCC command unit.  In theory, this seems tenable.  What do you think?

Steve 

Steve;

What you describe would work.

Please do NOT do your original plan of using both DC and DCC - you would have smoked the DCC system, and probably the DC power pack as well - and warrenties do not cover blatant abuse like that.

Available options are:

http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/585-31557

http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/585-31556

You may also want to check Bowser and Athearn.

Hi Mark;

Some of the other brands are slightly more realistic, and all that I am aware of have ties which .017" thinner than the Atlas code 83 ties.

Atlas made thier ties thicker so that the top of the rail matches code 100 track.

If you use Atlas code 83 turnouts (or any code 100 turnouts) with the Atlas code 83 flex track, no shims are needed.  If you want to use other companies' turnouts, you'll have to shim the turnout .017".

Model Power code 83 flex is a bit cheaper than Atlas.  I have not sampled it, and do not know if it has thicker or thinner ties.

Quote from: dmreed on February 10, 2007, 08:58:41 AM
.......

someone has suggested to me that this loco comes with an MRC decoder...does anyone know for sure?

They are not MRC - see Railroad Model Craftsman, March 2007, page 10, for a letter from Frank Verico, Product Manager, Model Rectifier Corporation.

Bachmann's non-sound decoders to date are all based on Lenz designs.

No HO scale EZ track turnouts are power routing.

In these times of DCC, manufacturers are generally moving away from power routing, and it is believe to complicate things for most DCC implimentations.

Insulated rail joiners and a relay switched at the same time as the turnout is but one way around this.

Quote from: Virginian on February 11, 2007, 09:23:00 AM
........
Bachmann GS-4s have been around for a long time in one guise or another, and I believe Rivarossi used to make one too, .......

Rivarossi never offered a SP GS4.

The Bachmann GS4 traces its routes to the GS4 Kader Industries (Bachmann's parent) made ofr Lionel.  When Lionel got out of HO that time, many of the Lionel branded models became Bachmann branded models, including the GS4 and GP30.