I am trying to determine if the newest acela locomotive #160-89145 is DCC ready or DCC on board?
The newest are DCC on board, they just came out this year, anything previous was only DCC ready, including if you purchased a new loco this year that was actually old stock, but the seller didn't tell you.
mine came dcc ready but putting in a decoder is real easy
Thank you I will be purchasing one this week.
Sounds like you got a great bargain.
Received the units today, I haven't tested it as yet but I have to thank everyone for their input and the item is DCC onboard. Model Train Stuff selling them For $100.
is that a stand alone store or ebay...I paid 264.00 for mine dcc ready
It Is a stand alone store, they have some great prices and the shipping is great I ordered mine on Tuesday this week and I received it on Thursday. http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/
One draw back to these new locos is that they don't use the incandescent bulbs that the earlier models used (the plus side to that is the extended life of the bulbs). Therefore when creating the prototypical set which has power cars 2018 and 2004 (part of an earlier Acela Express train set run) one will have the "correct" incandescent bulb in power car 2004 and the other will have a bluish headlight as a result of the new LEDs in power car 2018 (the new power car).
Fortunately all I had to do was swap shells with earlier power cars.
Other than that, I feel Bachmann did a nice job. I'm happy to finally have two "prototypical" sets (as far as power car numbers are concerned, now if I can only get the space for two six-car train sets)
MLRR, I love your site, I must add that it is one of my inspirations. Thanks for the info. This is the second set of acela locos that I have I just could not resist the price