Mine sure don't act like they have BEMF. I've pulled 60+ car trains, had a break away and the loco bolted off at twice the speed it was running while pulling the train.

Quote from: Shunter on March 06, 2014, 09:17:54 AM
Hello

I have a N gauge engine which I would like to have sound fitted, It is a N EMD DD40AX Centennial Union Pacific. could anyone tell me what type of sound decoder I will need for this engine

Thanks

Shunter

If it is one of the more recent ones, I would see what the decoder that comes in the current DD40 runs. The current release comes with sound in it. It might just be cheaper to buy a new one with sound though. A good sound decoder will run you over $100 by the time you get a proper fitting speaker.

Just pick one of the standard 2 output Bachmann decoders, it works fine. Can't remember exactly which one but I didn't have any problems. It's just a basic decoder, no speed tables, no vmid or vmax, and some lighting features.

The PRR fans and cool their jets, you can put the K4 requests on hold for a while....Broadway has finally put a hard date on the arrival of the M1's so you will have something road specific to play with. The M1's are due by the 2014 Hollidays, only 10 years after they were first announced.

Stalling in a DC loco is due to electrical power loss. It could be due to dirty track, dirty wheels, dirty pickups or a failing transformer. Are there any turnouts in the layout? Do the locos stall in the same place or randomly?

Some points to help clarify.....

Bachmann F7A & B: Bachmann never made a DCC ready F7A and F7B. The old Spectrum units were very DCC unfriendly. If they are the new F7's then they are DCC on board.

Baldwin 4-6-0: This loco is DCC on board.

What transformer are you using?
I am guessing that all your Bachmann locos are new, and if so, they are all DCC. The DCC decoders in these locos don't play well with some transformers. If the transformer is a pulse power style transformer, the decoders can interpert the pulses as a DCC signal and get confused causing erratic behavior.

Quote from: TJ on February 27, 2014, 03:51:54 PM

Quote from: duke2448 on February 27, 2014, 02:25:05 PM
4-6-2 Pacific or 2-8-4 Berkshire Dcc ready or equipped

Duke,  I say any locomotive which is either DCC ON BOARD with or without sound or DCC READY or ready to accept a DECODER chip as simple as PLUG-N- PLAY version. As long as it is reasonably priced!

      TJ

Anything new that comes from Bachmann will have DCC. They have already stated that many times.

Quote from: sumfred on February 24, 2014, 12:17:02 PM
It appears that something is happening, as the 4-8-4 Northern, 4-8-2 Light Mountain and the 2-8-0 Consolidation all have disappeared from the Bachmann list on their web-site. They still show them on the steam locomotive overall view but not on the individual engine list. ( "There are no products to list in this category." )
Fred

It looks like the 4-8-2 Lt. and Heavy, and 2-8-0 are gone. WOW. Distributors are showing them all discontinued. I hope this means there are new replacements announced at this years NMRA show. I'm glad I have a couple of each stashed away. Always wanted a C&O 2-8-0 and never got around to getting one, too late now.

The 4-8-4 Northern has two new versions on the way. The Bachmann product listing is a webstore so it doesn't show items that are not in stock.

Not completely positive on this but I believe the cars come with the Rapido couplers as spares in the package so you can back date the couplers.

My best guess for the next steam:

C&O / NKP Berkshire - Walthers obviously has forgotten that they own the tooling for them and Bachmann already does them in HO and seems to have a soft spot for C&O loco's. I hope for the C&O version, there are plenty of NKP's out there already.

PRR K4 - Lots of pent up demand.

Russian Decapod - Long shot, just to save face on the previously announced model.

That is a brass loco from the 90's. Half axle pickup was all there was at the time. Every locomotive was made that way. brass or plastic. The brass locos were heavy enough that pickup was not a problem.

At the time, if you wanted a good running loco, brass was your only option, especially if you wanted a road specific loco. Nobody at that time ever thought we would see loco's such as the EM1 or the AC12 available as a mass production loco. Brass loco's were produced in batches or around 100 or so locos and modeled a very specific loco usually, not a generic close enough.

I've done a couple of the 4-8-4's. Here is the most recent with a Rivarossi Berkshire tender on the back to create a stand in for a C&O Greenbrier.



Before instaling DCC you need to add tender pickup. The loco will not run worth a darn until you add tender pickup. Richmond controls offers a kit or you can do it yourself by adding wipers on the truck axles to create a half alxe pickup system.

Install the decoder in the tender, it's not worth trying to cram it in the boiler and I would never want to fill in an open cab with a decoder. It takes 6 wires between the loco and tender if you want headlight control and there is plenty of room to route them.

You can barely see the wires in this install...

Digitrax DZ 125 would be fine. Any other similar would also work. Just depends on your preference.

Quote from: baldwinmikado on February 06, 2014, 06:20:03 PM
Since I brought up the topic, has anyone dcc'd this locomotive or know how to? What chip should I use if you know?

Any small / micro solder in decoder will work. The smaller it is, the smaller space you need to mill out for it. The worst part is attching the frame pickup wires to the frame. I ended up drilling and tapping some 2-56 holes in the frame and then screwing the wires down.

Red Caboose Unitmates also work in this situation if you can't find the Bachmann coupler. The unimates are a little more universally adaptable anyhow. The Bachmann couplers end up being the wrong height.

Also, you may have a different style coupler box than Brokomoto mentioned. Early cars had the simple twist out system on the Rapido's. I that case, you are pretty much stuck with the dummy couplers or some custom rigging to make MT T-shanks work.

The Bachmann system voltage is a lot higher than I like to see. The accepted norm for N scale is to keep max voltage at around 12V. It's easier on motors.

Those trucks are set up for half axle pickup with a wiper on the axle. They will never have flicker free opperation without some sort of lighting circuit with a capacitor. If you are worried about having a somewhat correct truck the MT trucks are not a good option, they are for lightweight streamline cars of the 50's, not a 1900's car.

The easiest solution is to cut off the rapidos and body mount the couplers. If you want to keep the lighting, look into the Rapido brand (not the same as the couplers) batery powered lighting kits. They can be cut down to length and will never flicker. They turn on and off with a magnetic wand that you wave over the car. If you want to keep the track pickup power, seach the net for Richmond Conrols. He sells lighting modules that will cure the flicker and replace the lights with LED's.

I have a batch of these myself to convert, just haven't gotten around to doing anything with them yet.