i just picked one up and the conversion looks easy.  two motors are wired in parallel and locked rotor is .6 amps. i have ordered a digitrax 1 amp decoder with bemf.  also ordered some nmra colored wire to make the wiring job easier. bachmann wires are black. loco has 12 volt lamps. the motor wiring looks a little different than the article in the mr jan 2001 article. should be a piece of pie. 
lex

i just got an answer from soundtraxx. yes i know the bach man answered already.

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to do the research on this one for you. We had our technical staff at a trade show. The only decoders that have been installed in the Bachmann steam locomotives as an OEM product were the Tsunami series decoders, Hope this helps!

Allison Nataro
SoundTraxx Sales

sometimes it is best to go to the source.
lex

i just found this good site. he has a lot of diagrams of locos, cars, buildings. even found bachmann stuff. many times people get used stuff or part built stuff with no diagrams.
if you have diagrams not there, scan them and send them in. this can help a lot of people.
lex
http://www.hoseeker.net/

I just found a site with a lot of unpainted and painted figures. Could i post the link here?
Below are the scales

HO Scale
S Scale
O Scale
3/8" Scale
Large Scale

lex

this has been discuused so i will post some information. you are on your own.

http://www.trainweb.org/girr/tips/tips3/smoke_tips.html

http://www.kato-unitrack.co.uk/seuthe-smoke-units-9280-0.html

lex

here is a link you should store in your favorites folder. an excellent source of photos from the late 1800s into the 1900s. this should keep some people busy for hours.

http://www.shorpy.com/historical-railroad-and-train-photos

forgot to mention. many of the photos are from glass negatives. click on the photos and they get really big.
lex

don't know if any of you have seen this magazine. it is free and is available every three months. the fourth issue just came out today. lots of good information
http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/
lex

Unstoppable (2010) is about a single locomotive bringing a freight train with no engineer in the loco under control. hollywood will no doubt make it an action movie. wonder if the original story will be recognized.
lex

i see a lot of thread hijacking in these forums. Is this how the bachmann forums operate? it makes searching the forum difficult.
lex