Engine comes with DCC on Board. Is it possible, and if yes how hard and costly, to add sound?
Seems like a wired sound decoder install in the tender wouldn't be too difficult. Bachmann includes instructions for removing the stock decoder and then wiring up a different one -https://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/N_BALDWIN_4-6-0_EXPLODE_DRAWING_N514X_(1).pdf (https://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/N_BALDWIN_4-6-0_EXPLODE_DRAWING_N514X_(1).pdf)
-Mark
Mark, Do you know if simply plugging one of the new tenders from the Bachmann 2-8-0 (with DCC + sound) onto one of the older Bachmann DCC without sound locomotives will work? Or do the various wires not have the same positions in the plugs for the different versions?
I'm not really sure. As you say, it depends on if the wires are in the same relative position.
I do know that the wiring harness plug on the new 2-8-0 is different from what Bachmann has used in the past -
(http://www.spookshow.net/loco/files/spec280soundmech2.jpg)
-Mark
It sure would be nice if Bachmann (or even the whole industry) could decide on a standard 6-pin connector and wiring setup for connecting tenders to steam locomotives. Bachmann, in particular, could profit from that because they could sell their superior tenders to just about everybody who has bought somebody else's loco models.
it would be great if things was standardised - but the six pin plug/socket/chip has given way to the new next 18 type ,
I'm not talking about the plug that a decoder would plug into. I am talking about the wires that run between the tender and locomotive on steam engine models. Those are now typically 6 wires, and I can't see them going to more than that for a number of reasons, including no need for more and trouble getting more into a bundle that won't mess-up the way the loco and tender track.
Bachmann doesn't seem to like standards. Every new loco they release seems to be a completely new/different design from the ground up.
-Mark