Hey guys,
I recently installed a Bachmann decoder in my Spectrum DCC-ready 4-8-2 light mountain. I put it on the track to see if it worked and it did. I assigned it a number and put it away until yesterday.

I just noticed that I cannot turn on the headlight but the fire box light is always lit even if I'm running other locos. I should be able to control the headlight with my E-Z Command controller by pressing the fuction button and then pressing the #10 button.

Before I open the tender and start tinkering I thought I would ask if you think I put the 8-pin plug in backwards? That's the only thing I can think of unless I inadvertently disconnected the wire leading to the head light.

Thanks for any help,

New Guy (Andrew)

Dtrain,

Sometimes you have to get a little creative when replacing horn hook couplers with Kadee #5 couplers. Some of the older and less expensive or low quality rolling stock may have not only horn hook couplers but they may have cheap plastic wheels and trucks and the couplers may not be body mounted. I think it is kind of fun to take these and upgrade their parts. Body mounting the couplers is a big improvement as well. I wouldn't ever use horn hook couplers if I had a choice.

To be honest though, I have found that you get what you pay for and I have completely stopped buying the fix 'er uppers. Bachmann has a great line of "Silver Series" rolling stock that is affordable. They roll great  and look great. Right now that's all I will buy. I do however still replace the couplers with kadee #5's. They are extremely easy to change. Bachmann makes it's own brand which are ok but I like the Kadee's better (all due respect to Bachmann).

Clearly there are even more expensive brands that are of excellent quality out there but I think the Silver Series is great for my purposes.

P.S. The most affordable websites to buy silver series or any other brand of rolling stock are wholesaletrains.com or ebay.

Best regards,

new guy

Hey scott,

Currently I am using a Digital Commander and E-Z track also. The way I power my E-Z track turnouts is with an athearn "power pack" or "controller" (whatever you want to call it.) The First train set I started with was an Athearn set. (see this link )
http://www.wholesaletrains.com/Detail.asp?ID=200414378

It came with E-Z track and so it had the appropriate wires. You can problably go to your local hobby store and ask them for almost any brand of power pack. If they offer Bachmann products,  they will probably have the wires you need as well.

If you want to avoid wires coming from your turnouts, Bachmann now offers DCC equipped turnouts that you can control with your Digital Commander. This is the way I am going to go. I assume this is a very new product since the picture isn't even available on the Bachmann website nor have I seen them on any other site or hobby store. As of now, the retail price on the website is pretty expensive (no disrespect to Bachmann) but I will probably wait until the DCC turnouts are available on less expensive sites or ebay. Bachmann is really moving things toward wireless railroading.

Good Luck

New Guy

I'm not surprised he hasn't returned. Are any of you?? If the poor guy ever does return it will most likely be under a new screen name and with perfectly checked grammar. He has probably found a different forum to ask questions on and that is unfortunate.

New Guy

Dear Bach Man,

Thanks for the information. I'm glad I won't have to upgrade my controller. I am really excited about the DCC switches. For my layout this will work out perfectly!

Happy Thanksgiving to you as well,

New Guy

I think I got my answer. I searched the bachmann products on the website and saw the E-Z Command Dynamis and I also saw that there are DCC equipped switches. Are these products both brand new?? I've never seen them before. Are they in the stores yet? The image was not yet available for the DCC switches. Are there any pics on the web of them?? Is the Dynamis the only controller that can control the DCC switches?

Sorry Bach Man, lots of questions but I'm excited about these products.

New Guy

I just read your response to a posting where you wrote that the E-Z command will control switches if they are DCC switches. Does that include the E-Z track switches or is that something new that I haven't seen yet? Also, is that a newer version of the E-Z command that controls the switches? Right now I have many E-Z track swithes and I run everything with my E-Z command except the switches which I have hooked up to an athearn power pack.

Thanks,

New Guy

One other thing - Make sure the trip pin or glad hand (whatever you want to call it) on the coupler isn't dragging on the rails or ties and derailing the whole locomotive. I had that problem and it took me forever to figure it out.  Mostly they get caught in the E-Z track turnouts. Just a suggestion.

New guy

I've got five of them and they all are DCC on-board. Bach Man can correct me if I'm wrong but I think that you can still buy some of the older Spectrum SD-45 units that are just DCC ready. If it doesn't say DCC on the front of the box then it doesn't have it.

Jamie, here is a link where you can buy a decoder:
http://www.wholesaletrains.com/Detail.asp?ID=200425962. I also just bought one on ebay for about $5.00 cheaper if you want to go that route. Or just go to your local hobby store if you don't want to wait around for shipping.

Have fun with your SD-45 - I love mine they are great. I've only had one problem with one of them. The headlights weren't working on the first test run. I was able to fix it easlily (just a disconnected wire) and have had no other problems since!


New Guy

Rich,

I wish my wife thought my train addiction was "great." It sounds like the date you had was a keeper. That's a good screening tool. My wife just thinks I'm a 30 yr old man who plays with toys. So far the only people that think my trains are cool are my three year old and one year old sons and my cub scouts. (I'm a Weblos leader)

Good luck buddy,

New Guy

Hello,

You may take my advice with a grain of salt. It is only advice.

If you plan to only use this train set for your Christmas needs and then store it away each year then I think that it will be fine for that purpose.

Do you intend to make a layout after the holidays with several trains running? If so, you may not want a Christmas-type train running with the rest of your trains because it wouldn't be realistic. Also, the type of track that it comes with it is not the best type. It appears to be Bachmann steel E-Z track with black roadbed. Eventually you would want to use the nickel silver track. (Bachmann also makes nickel silver E-Z track with grey roadbed) The nickel silver is less corrosive and resistant to rust. You can connect the two types but it would look like a checker board.

If I were you, I would get a train set that can be used year round that has a steam locomotive and coaches similar to the Ben Franklin Ltd. but are not just for holiday use (green, red and white). Almost any steam locomotive will look good going around a Christmas tree or other decorations.

I just gave this advice to another person who is looking at starter train sets. I'll cut and paste my advice here:

Bachmann is very user friendly for beginners. If you get a Bachmann Spectrum set (Spectrum is the upper-end line of Bachmann's products) you will not regret it. You always get what you pay for.
My other bit of advice would be to get a train set that has a DCC on-board locomotive. If you expand and want to add more trains later you will want DCC - trust me! DCC allows you to run several trains independently of each other. Bachmann offers a few of these sets and they can be found on wholesaletrains.com. This is the least expensive site out there.

Check out this link. I wish this had been my first set: http://www.wholesaletrains.com/Detail.asp?ID=200429888

The Ben Franklin set may be inexpensive but if you buy it for the holidays and then turn around and have to buy another starter set for your hobby then you may end up spending more money than if you had just bought one quality set.

That's my two cents,

Good luck,

New Guy

I agree with Gene. Bachmann is very user friendly for beginners. If you get a Bachmann Spectrum set (Spectrum is the upper-end line of Bachmann's products) you will not regret it. You always get what you pay for.
My other bit of advice would be to get a train set that has a DCC on-board locomotive. If you expand and want to add more trains later you will want DCC - trust me! DCC allows you to run several trains independently of each other. Bachmann offers a few of these sets and they can be found on wholesaletrains.com. This is the least expensive site out there.

Check out this link. I wish this had been my first set: http://www.wholesaletrains.com/Detail.asp?ID=200429888

Good luck,

new guy

Dear Bach Man,

I have the EZ Command controller and several Bachmann DCC locos and a few Bachmann DC locos.

When I am using the EZ command and I have a DC loco on the track, it is as if the DC loco is receiving too much power. The lights on the locos are very bright and the motors are loud and it sounds like they will burn out at any moment and they are just sitting still. 

It worries me, I just don't want to ruin my analog locos. Is this normal? I know the instructions say that the EZ command my damage older analog locomotives buy mine are new, one of which is a Spectrum DCC ready 4-8-2 light mountain.

Thanks for your help and advice,

New guy

Dear Bachmann,

I was in my local hobby store and noticed an ez-track kit that had a dvd called The World's Greatest Hobby, Building Your First Model Railroad. Can I buy the dvd seperately? I didn't see it on your website.

Thanks,

New Guy

Thanks for the suggestions. Since I'm using DCC I have just assigned a couple of GP-40 locos the same number and I run them together back to back. It seems to work ok except that I notice that in reverse the  locos run faster than going forward. I don't know if that makes much difference to the slightly slower moving forward-facing loco or not. I guess Bachmann is aware of it since they teach you how to link the locos on their instructional dvd.

New Guy