Has anyone installed a DCC decoder into an Eggliner? I'm curious how hard it is to isolate the voltage between the wheels and the motor. Are there a couple of wires connecting the wheels to the motor that I can get at?
Adding DCC to the EggLiner is fairly straight forward using an 8-pin decoder. If you open it up, on the side with the "LS/NMRA" polarity switch there is a connector with 4 wires. You can see it in the pick about half way down on this page:
https://www.trains.com/grw/news-reviews/reviews/bachmann-eggliners/
The lables on the PC board for the connector are:
R - Right Rail
M+ - Motor +
M- - Motor -
L - Left Rail
The wires coming up to the plug are from the rails and to the motor.
Write down which color wire goes to which pin on the plug. The colors may have changes since that pic was taken and you need to keep which wire is which straight.
Cut the wires going to the connector. Using the ends that come up from the chassis:
Track 'L' wire connects to pin 4 of the decoder (Black wire).
Motor 'M+' wire connects to pin 1 of the decoder (Orange wire).
Motor 'M-' wire connects to pin 5 of the decoder (Grey wire).
Track 'R" wire connects to pin 8 of the decoder (Red wire)
The lights will continue to operate the way they did for DC operation. Trying to connect them to the decoder is a bit of a pain.
Len
motor block has the 4 separate connections you need, plenty of room inside...
(https://elmassian.com/images/stories/motivepower/aristo/old_trucks/bb_power_brick_opened_gs.jpg)
Above pic, compared to the one in the link I posted, makes my point about the motor and track wire colors. They change over the years, so always write down what color goes were before you start disconnecting things.
Len
and that was the reason I posted a picture that was open, to be sure to show the wiring..
it clearly shows the motor is isloated from the track pickups
Thank you all. Now I'll go order one.
Eggliner install:;
https://elmassian.com/index.php/large-scale-train-main-page/motive-power-mods-aamp-tips/aristo-motive-power/eggliner
HTH
Greg
Quote from: Len on August 18, 2025, 06:14:50 PMAdding DCC to the EggLiner is fairly straight forward using an 8-pin decoder.
What are the limitations for the decoder in regards to power output of the eggliner? I thought these 8 pin decoders were limited to HO scale trains.
Motor does not draw a lot... most people do not pull more than one car if any.
Certain HO decoders will handle a constant current of around 2 amps... like Zimo... which also handle the higher DCC voltage needed in Large Scale.
I'd look for a rating of 2 amps continuous, that would be enough for reliable running and pulling the occasional car.
Also 27 volt max rating on the decoder... per NMRA large scale standard.. (it's 27 or 28, I forget now)