Bob,

That sounds like an interesting conversion. Would you consider describing what you did.

Tom

By any chance would an Athearn F7 shell fit the FT chassis without major modifications?

I have a couple of F7's I would like to update to DCC

Tom

Due to recent problems with water heaters and breaker boxes, I have had to demolish a substantial portion of my layout. This. along with an artical I came across in an old MOdel Railroader, got me to wondering how often othersstart over from scratch and what was the motivation ?

Personally, I think I have made substanial changes about  every five  years be seldom a complte tear down and start over.

Tom

I came across this tidbit in the Yahoo DCC4EVERONE group that might interest anyone considering a more advanced syste, especially the


In a message dated 2/14/2009 2:29:33 A.M. Mid-Atlantic Standard Time,
tjbjrvt68@... writes:   
John at Peachcreek Shops wrote:"When I got all of the bugs out of the
layout wiring, fixed the bad turnouts,and got all the track back in
gauge, I disconnected the Bachmann system and connected the MRC system. The beauty of this is that MRC and Bachmann use the same cab buss+"

I asked John the following, I am a bit confused by this statement is this saying that the Bachmann connector panels will provide connections for yhe Prodigy throttle?

John replied  That is correct. No problems. Just remember to unplug any Companions. It doesn't hurt anything, but the MRC throttles won't work if the Companion is plugged in at the same time.

As my long range plans contemplated a step up to MRC, I was thrilled to find that I would not have to undo a lot of wiring.

Hope this is useful to others.

Tom B

I have a modeling project in mind and was wondering about using the Bachmann Santa Fe 2-10-2  and have a couple of questions about the Sahta Fe type.

Is the decoder located in the tender?

Could a DCC Ready Vandebuilt lon tender be used on this locomotive and could the Bachmann decoder be swappede.

Could the Vanderbuilt long tender be used on an IHC 2=10=2.

It looks as if I will need to send my E-Z Command to Philadelphia, from other posts I have read I am concerned about the time I can expect to be without the controller (one writer had experienced a time lapse from mid October to present time with no results)

Could someone give me some assurance that that was an exception rather than typical time frame; this was a Christmas gift, I would hope to have it running before Christmas 2009.

Tom

I have a Bachmann GP40 with DCC ON Board that will run fine on analog DC but o0n DCC will only respond to turning on/off lights but will not move in either direction using an E_Z Command.

Is there a simple way to determine if the p;roblem is in the controller (i.e. would the controller be the culprit if it does respond to F10  but nothing else)?

Would the locomotive operate in dc if the decoder has gone bad?

Boomertom

Quite unexpectedly my EZ Command and GP40(my only decoder equipped locomotive)  have stopped working.

The GP40 will run on dc but will not do any thing on the EZ command.

Analog locomotives will display lights but not respond on address 10.

Two questions come to mind:
  !. The decoder has shorted out

  2. The EZ Command has failed. ( It has never really handled analog locos as advertised so I don't know if this is due to the vintage of my older Athern bluebox locos)

Any suggestion s, reccommendations etc would be appreciated,

The EZ Command was acquired at a train show so returning to the dealer may pos a problem.