I have several of these engines and all have been converted to DCC. The shell can be removed by very carefully pulling up on it and slightly spreading the sides at the bottom center. Sometimes a little prying (VERY GENTLY) with a small jewelers screwdriver may be required. The circuit board that sits on top of the chassis/motor has 7 copper-plated holes on the side at the rear of the engine. These are numbered 1-8 and correspond to the NMRA specification for wiring decoders. There are two small copper jumpers that connect some to the solder pads on the holes. These must be removed (they just pull off to the side of the board - again gently but firmly, they can be stubborn).

Here is the NMRA pinout for wiring DCC decoders:

Hole #    Wire Color
-------    -----------
  1          Orange
  2          Yellow
  3          - not used, probably will not even be present
  4          Black
  5          Gray
  6          White
  7          Blue
  8          Red

I use Digitrax DZ123 decoders in my engines because they tuck neatly under the circuit board in the space at the rear of the engine.  You may want to shorten the wires on the decoder to make it easier to tuck under the board. Just solder the wires to the corresponding holes and then test the engine with the shell off to make sure everything works.

Hope this helps,

Fred Klein,
Okeechobee, FL

George50,

If you don't mind a single-track mainline, Bachmann makes their EZ track in an 11-1/4 inch radius which would make for a 22-1/2 inch diameter loop. As far as I know, this is the radius of the curves that ship with all of the starter sets. If you can squeeze another 2 inches or so out of your space, then you could go to the 12-1/2 in radius curves which would make for a 25 inch diameter loop. The 11-1/4 inch and 12-1/2 inch radii nest very nicely inside of one another with about 3/4 inch of space between them and that would allow you to run a two-track mainline. Either way, you could branch off from the mainline with a switch ( or more) and put in a yard, industry, etc. in the center. Another option would be be to go with another manufacturers track, such as Atlas, which makes a slightly smaller radius.

Hope this helps,

Fred Klein
Okeechobee, FL

Thanks for the information and pointer to the other topic. Sounds like the newer turnouts are OK. I guess I'll find out soon enough - I'm getting some as Christmas presents from my wife (she made me order them - LOL). As I get around to using the turnouts, I'll try to post my experiences here. Again, thank you for the information.

Fred Klein
Okeechobee, FL

Hi,

I've been working on my N-scale layout, as time permits, off and on for about 2 years and have decided to change things around a bit. Originally I was using a few of the Bachmann EZ track turnouts and have to say, the quality and reliability left a LOT to be desired. Since then, Bachmann has announced the new #4 and #6 turnouts and I was wondering what, if any, positive or negative experiences anyone may have encountered with them.

Thanks in advance,

Fred Klein
Okeechobee, FL

SpecialK67,

I'm running a double loop of Bachmann EZ track. My outside loop consists of 12-1/2" radius curves and the inside curves are 11-1/4". The two radii complement each other perfectly. I'm running this on 32" x 96" benchwork and I have enough room to put one of the small 2-1/2" pieces in each curve and still have the outside track about 2" away from the edges.

Hope this helps.
Fred Klein 

Rookie,

I'm a grandpa too, but I'm running my own N scale layout (used to be in HO a long time ago). I'm running Bachmann's EZ track system in 12.5 and 11.25 radii. The two complement each other and make for a nice double track layout. I run fairly long diesels (Bachmann Dash 8-40s) and they run very well on either radius. Is it prototypical? Probably not, but in N scale the overhang on the curves is really not very noticeable - at least to my old eyes. Also, instead of a 4x6 piece of plywood, you may want to consider a hollow-core door. I'm running mine on a 32"x80" door and even with the 12.5 inch radius, there is plenty of space left for sidings, etc. Lot of times, you can pick up a door that has some imperfections (mine has a couple of small holes punched in one side) for very little money. IIRC, I paid $10 for mine.

Hope this helps,

Fred Klein
Okeechobee, FL

Charlie,

I recently converted 3 Bachmann Dash 8-40CW units to DCC using the Digitrax DZ123 decoder. The Bachmann circuit board uses the standard NMRA numbering for the wiring so all you have to do is match the color to the number and then solder the wires in. Prior to soldering the wires, you will have to remove two copper jumper clips that connect to the holes on the board. They just pull off with a pair of pliers. On the Dash 8-40CW units there is a space between the overhanging circuit board and the chassis at the rear of the engine that is large enough for you to tuck the decoder in. Prior to soldering the wires, I sort of do a "dry" run of tucking in the decoder and seeing how it fits, then I cut the wires to length, allowing a little bit extra so that I can easily maneuver the decoder under the circuit board after soldering.

All of the engines I have converted run great. I have two of them MU'ed together and they have a great slow speed as well as a lot of pulling power.

Hope this helps,

Fred Klein
Okeechobee, FL

Charlie,

When I spoke with Bachmann service that day, I did not get a warm fuzzy feeling that knuckle couplers for the Amfleet cars would ever be available since the lady in the service department did not even seem to know that the coupler assemblies for these cars are completely different from their standard "dummy" knuckle couplers. She seemed to think that the couplers from their assortment would just drop right in and replace the Rapido couplers.

Anyway, after I posted on here, I went ahead and ordered one of Micro-Tains' un-assembled coupler assortments (001 02 000), as well as one of their coupler assembly jigs. (My nearest hobby shop with any type of decent selection is about 90 miles away so order most of my model RR stuff via internet). The package arrived yesterday and this afternoon I had a chance to assemble the couplers. Assembly wasn't too difficult following MT's instructions and using their jig. The assortment comes with 2 pair of short shank and one pair of medium shank couplers.

Using the excellent tutorial from r0bert in another thread on this same topic in this forum, I mounted the medium shank couplers to the ends of the swing arms. I chose not to mount the couplers to the body because the standard curves on my layout are 12.5" radius and the inner trach has 11.25" radius. Anyway, I cut the Rapido couplers off the swing arm and then drilled and tapped the stub in the arm. The couplers mounted to the arm with no problems and seemed to be close enough to the correct height that I did not bother to adjust the arm. Also, I only did the couplers on one end of each car since these cars will always be run as a consist and the Rapidos do a good enough job holding them together.

While I had the car apart, I also removed one contact from each wheelset to reduce the drag and formed the remaining two into a gentle V-shape that r0bert describes in his tutorial. The wheels seem to be about as free as I can get them with very little drag and the lights still function well.

Anyway, I am very pleased with the conversion and the cars seem to run very well. Let me know if I can provide any additional info.

(Sorry for the long append)

Fred Klein
Okeechobee, FL

I just purchased on each of the Amfleet cars 14161 and 14157 and am eager to convert them to knuckle couplers, since my other two Amtrak cars (the full-dome observation cars) came with the dummy knuckle couplers installed. So, per the message from Bach-mann above, I just got off the phone with the service department and they do not have knuckle couplers for the Amfleet cars. The lady was very nice and did a parts lookup for me and the only thing that she found was the knuckle coupler assortment (which I already have) but which does not fit the Amfleet cars. I guess I will go ahead and install Micro-Trains couplers on them.