Never bought Lenz before. Just wanted a simple, easy to install decoder, no sound.

Went to see Tony @ Tony's Trains. He gave me a pair of plug-n-play decoders part # 10231-01 - standard Lenz - Digital plus.

4-6-0 63'' wheeler:

1. pulled out the dummy plug.

2. Cut caps marked C1 & C2 as per Tony's instructions.

3. Placed in the Lenz decoder plug, lining up the the orange wire with the "1" marker on the circut board plug.

4. Connected the tender leads to the locomotive & placed on DCC track.

5. turned on my NCE system & ........nothing. It can't even find the damned thing.

Any one got suggestions or pointers on what I should be looking for?

I haven't even bothered to try putting one in the 4-8-4 yet, because this one is just not working right. This is very annoying & frankly is starting to make me think that turning my fleet into a more modern running fleet just isn't worth the time & frusterations that I keep running into

Thanks.

Vermont Bob

I know this is a bachmann-only type forum, but I have searched bing, google, yahoo, & altavista search engines, &have yet to come up with ANY plans, photos, instructions on how to install a Soundtraxx EMD 567 decoder into an Athearn GP9.

Does anyone know where I can find some instructions on how to do this, because I don't want to fry or screw up this fun sounding decoder with a wrongly soldered wire.

Thanks,
Vermont Bob

Does anyone have the exploded diagrams for the engine/motor part? I got one at a train show & it doesn't run, but I have a feeling I might be able to repair it, if I could get it apart. But never having had one like this before, I don't want to break it.

Vermont Bob

Hello again,

I had asked earlier what sound decoder would work best with the bachmann 2-6-6-2 & the 4-6-0 with little replies.

I probably should clarify: I'm looking for the easier to self-install. I tried the plug & play MRC mini-dcc decoder which didn't work at all.

I also need to know where I can ask about intermitant decoder response when (a Soundtraxx sound EMD 567 decoder) powering up a Walthers GP9, seeing as how this is a Bachmann only forum.

Thanks again,
Vermont Bob.

just a couple of questions that are puzzling me:

1. Bachmann 1st run of the 2-6-6-2 weathered units: What sound decoder is best?

2. Bachmann 1st run of the 4-6-0 high drivers (63''?) : what sound decoder is best?

3. Shorty Vanderbuilt tender, dcc-ready: what locomotives can I use this with aside from the first run of the 2-8-0?

& lastly,
4. Bit OT, but I have a walthers basic model (loco & caboose set from 2001) GP9 that I'd like to put a Soundtraxx EMD 567 sound decoder into, but before I try this install, has anyone done this particular install before, & if so, have you any pointers so that I don't cook this decoder?

Thanks,
Vermont Bob

I know they didn't have one, but I got bored & made my own. I like the odd ball locomotives.





I 'think' this was an old AHM, but I'm not totally sure.

Bob

Yup, Sprained my knee pretty good & was advised to stay off it for a week or 2. Out of work until I heal back up, so I'll be kitbashing my model.

Bought a pair of Kemtron Vesibule cab kits (meant for the mantua mikado, but will fit the bachmann 2-10-2 with a little modding. Easy kit to build actually.

Now, I had asked this earlier, about how to remove the cab on the DCC-Equipt 2-10-2, & some one gave me a link to a pdf, However, the pdf shows one screw, & I'll be danged if I can't find it. I found TWO screws under the cab itself, but they seem to go to something else. I loosen them & the cab didn't even wiggle a bit. Has anyone had theirs apart? I'm afraid of breaking the model if I do something wrong, plus for what I paid for it, I certainly don't want to break it

I have the decals, paints, & photographs of reference to go off of...........now I just need to change the cab so I can finish it Been waiting a long time & this has been the 1 hold up in my continuing the project

Thanks again,
Bob

hello,

How do I remove the cab (just the cab) from the 2-10-2?

Thanks,
Bob

yup, finally got off my duff & made a few more. The video quality is not well, due to the fact that 2 ballasts burned out & I just haven't gotten around to replacing them just yet. The links are as follows:

An idea I got from reading the book about John Allen

Trammelling Try #1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSNlvNZV_K8

Trammelling try #2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhC7xz7mLOM

New Haven runby, (4-6-0 DC with 2 new haven coaches)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FF2f9AdWA8

& the running a complete loop on the mainline. The 4-6-0 is pulling the camera which is mounted on an old kadee logging disconnect, same as the 9V battery behind it. I just reversed the film to make it look as if you were going forwards.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkgAH1t6bXg

Enjoy

Bob

I know this has been asked before here, but I can't seem to find it tonight with my tired brain with the search command.....

What Bachmann tenders, either DCC or not are interchangible with what locomotive? Can anyone provide a list here please?

Thanks y'all

Bob

hello,

Just purchased a new-in-box Sharknose. The detail is stunning, & the lettering is sharp. So nice to get one of these in something other then brass.

Now then, before I run it (it is a DCC unit) is there anything special I must do?

Bob

I'm posting this in response to several folks asking me how I like the MRC mini-dcc sound decoder. Maybe some folks here can help me set these settings correctly so that my Climax & my 2-6-6-2 behave correctly.

Thanks,
Bob

Still working on the model. Small video of it on my test track. The model was the 2-10-2 DCC bachmann model. I wanted to have used a Hicken tender, but I am between jobs & just don't have the income. I'll post a works-in-progress photo page later on this week if I get time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4phUuKHihE8

She runs well tho

Bob

hello,

I've been reading for quite some time now, & I see alot of requests for:

Pacifics - 4-6-2
Big Boys - 4-8-8-4
Challengers - 4-6-6-4
Berkshires - 2-8-4
Diesels - too numberous to mention.

Why is everyone requesting locomotives that have been produced & reproduced over & over by many other companies? What happened to the obscure & overlooked steam & diesel locomotives, that I can't seem to find a good model of, ANYWHERE.

How about:

A Mogul, 2-6-0 with full Walcherts valve gear for the folks that do SP, or a few New England roads?
OR
re-do the 2-6-2 Prairie into a less wobbley model?
OR
how bout a 2 axle Plymouth Switcher? Maybe a Davenport?
OR
how about the cherished 4-8-0? Instead of only having the option to buy it in the rare brass model, make a Spectrum one? Lots of roads had them, not just the N&W.

I will admit to wanting a 2-10-4, but in all reality, some of us just don't have that kind of radius to be able to model.

Any thoughts, or am I talking to empty space?

bob

bachmann's 3 truck shay with the now-discontinued soundtraxx decoder:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhjxH1uHkwo

lots more different sound-equiped models on my test track. Next up (after I download & upload to YT) is the 2-truck climax & the 2-6-6-2.

Bob

hello,

I recently purchased 2 MRC mini-DCC (with speaker) steam sound decoders.

One went in my HO scale 2 truck Climax, & the other went in my 2-6-6-2 W&LE Mallet. They both sound great BUT.....

They both run about 3 inches & stop. 2 seconds go by & they jerk to life again, only to stop short. They do this at all speeds.

Someone said to fix this promblem, I must cut a capaitor off the main board. Then they pointed to the "yellow things" on the boards. What I want to know is, can someone please post an image of what exactly I'm supposed to cut off the main DCC board so that I don't screw up & cut the wrong thing? These decoders fit & sound so perfect for the locomotives. I'd hate to think I wasted money again :S

Thanks,
Bob

Looking for a test track setup I saw at a train show once. The guy had a 2-10-2 bachmann on the stand & running in place. I'd like to find one of these things for displaying my stuff at shows & at home.

Thanks,
Bob

hello,

Got a few photos to share of the progress on making a Central Vermont 2-10-4, aka the 700 Class. Progress has been sort of slow, due to a new work schedule, but it's coming along nicely.

I started with a Canadian/Canadien National 2-10-2 because the CV 2-10-4 was essentially a CN 2-10-2 Class T-3-a with a 4 wheel trailing truck. I took a Rivarossi tender & cut a 1 inch section out of the middle. That was easy. What took about 3 frusterating hours was to get the DCC board in & in place because the Vandy tender does not come apart. The rear end comes off, but I seem to have fat fingers because it was almost a nightmare to get the original truck, spring, & screw held in one hand, while the other hand tries to hook the metal washer & the DCC eyelet over the screw tip. Then came the nut. Thankfully the thread pattern matched the Rivarossi threads. I put a dab of hot glue over the end of the truck screws after I got them all in place, just to make darn sure they wouldn't back out. Before I placed & reglued the rear of the tender on, I drilled out a place for the headlamp off the Bachmann tender. Four 1/4 ounce selfsticking tire weights & the mounting of the rear lamp & door.

The DCC board fits nicely inside. It got electrical tape over the entire bottom because I didn't want any short circuts. Another 5 tireweights went in the very bottom for weight & balance. Styrene cut to fit, fixed the coal bunker into a square one like the CV had. Plastistruct I-Beam heated over a candle & bent into the square shape became the "Banjo Frame" over the trailing truck. The pin for pulling is an old machine screw pressed into a piece of styrene & glued to the floor of the tender. The tender originally had a full length weight that came out & got set aside for other projects, but it was the weight that the trucks screwed into (I used the nuts & washers from the Bachmann tender) & the weight also had the pulling pin in it, that I replaced with a better looking machine screw.

The trailing truck started out as a Bennendorf 40' tanker truck that I ground down & shaped into the trailing truck shape. one wheel is a 33'' (original freight car wheel) & the bigger wheel is a 40'' athearn passenger one.

The number boards were built out of small styrene pieces. The Elesco feedwater was a kit I bought from Yardbird designs. I'm using a mix between Ambriod Proweld glue (<-- help! I need more & can't find any anywhere ), & Walthers Goo.

The photos are a little big to show the detail. I'll post one here, & if you want the other 3 images, post here & I'll post them on this thread.

[img]http://download.lavadomefive.com/members/RDFlambouyant/projects/2104B.jpg[img]


Thanks,
Rob

For some reason, when I try to sign in, or look at this website, as of lately it refuses to load. I get a 404 error, or a trouble message telling me the server will not respond.

Is there a reason for the sudden overload, or what?

Bob, annoyed at a full month of issues.

Before I accidentally burn out more then just the headlight in my Non-DCC 2-6-6-2, Just what locomotives are compatible with with item? I got some bad advice from a freind who claimed I could run the 2-6-6-2 with this tender. The second I applied a 1/4 throttle, the headlight popped. Immediate cancellation of all power. I reattached the original long tender & with the exception of the headlight on the pilot deck, she runs just like before. But having a tender, I'd like to find out what it runs with.

Item #89902
Vanderbilt Medium-Length Tender (with Coal Load)

Thanks,
Rob