Yes, most (all?) DCC decoders now available will work on DC or DCC...however you can turn the DC-compatability off. Sometimes, problems come up running an engine in DCC and turning off DC-compatability seems to help. If that's the case, it's just one CV that needs to be changed.

OK I'll keep looking, I'm guessing they must be selling pretty fast!!

I too would like to see undec models be more common, for the 2-6-0 and the other Bachmann engines with the stripped-down Tsunami.

FWIW it's pretty easy to remove lettering on a factory engine by using a rubber pencil eraser and a liberal amount of Walther's Solvaset. If it's a black steam engine, you don't need to strip it and repaint it.

Hi, I've been looking around the past couple of weeks (since reading the Model Railway News review of these) but haven't found them. Have they actually shipped yet, or are they still expected in the future??

I wonder where you saw that?? The website says it's available "DCC sound equipped" and "DCC Ready" (which probably means there is a DCC receptacle in the tender).

The rule of thumb is one sound-equipped engine uses about the same power as two non-sound DCC engines. If two or three engines can run together using your system, you should be fine running sound.

Most sound decoders sounds like steam blow-off and such are automatic. If you can activate F0 (lights) F1 (bell) and F2 (whistle/horn), that's really about all you need. However, without programming, you won't be able to change sounds like choose a different whistle or adjust the chuff rate - some engines come with a sound cam so the chuffs are timed to the rotation of the drivers, but Bachmann/Spectrum ones don't so you have to adjust it using the CV's or live with it being a bit off.

If you buy the engine at a local hobby shop, they may be willing to do some programming for you to get it the way you want it??

I usually spray a model with gloss finish before adding decals, then seal the decals in with flat finish spray. Then I weather the model with powdered charcoal - I put it on fairly heavy, then remove much of it with a soft paper towel (like Viva) so the charcoal remains mainly around rivets or between slats of a wood-sided car. Then I seal the weathering in with another spray of flat finish.

Testor's dullcote and glosscote are good, I often use acrylic gloss and matte spraycans from an art supply store (Michael's).

The FT was very different from all the later F series (F2-F3-F7-F9). The body sat differently on the chassis, the rear truck was very close to the end of the body while the front truck was set in similar to later versions. This is particularly noticeable on B units, where there is a long overhang on one end. On later F units, the trucks were spaced out evenly so they were the same distance from the front or the rear of the engine.

http://research.nprha.org/diesel%20diagrams/emd%20ft%205400a-5410d.jpg

I seem to remember reading that a 2% grade could limit the number of cars an engine could pull to something like 40% of what it could pull on flat ground. A 4% grade is going to really cut down the number of cars. Also, it seems steam engines are more affected by this (models that is) than diesels.

Plus as noted the real Russian decapods were pretty lightweight, they were built to run over swampy soft ground in Russia. I have one (with Tsunami) that I decorated for the Minneapolis Northfield and Southern, who bought some of them after WW1. I've pics of them being doubleheaded so I'm guessing they were fairly limited on what they could pull.

One thing about Spectrum engines as far as "binding"...I've had a few where in shipping the siderods got pushed in a tiny bit and touched the frame every rotation of the drivers. Lightly applying pressure to bend it out in the offending area results in a very smooth running engine.

First, as noted, there's no need to remove the decoder, it doesn't affect how your engine will run on DC.

Second, unfortunately the decoders Bachmann uses are very cheap ones with minimal options compared to other decoders. Most notably, because you can't set the CVs for top speed and midrange speed, you can't speed-match the engines with other engines. Most DCC modellers remove the decoder and basically chuck it and replace it with a better one from TCS, NCE or Digitrax.

Your building's light bulb will draw very little power by itself. You could probably hook up 10 or more similar lights without much problem. At some point down the road you may want to get a second power pack to run accessories and use one just to run trains, but for now it should be no problem.

Barnes and Noble may or may not have books on trains, I would check their magazine section for Model Railroader and Railroad Model Craftsman magazines too. Both mag's publishers (Kalmbach and Carstens) print a number of "how to" books that will help you out. You can also check out their websites.

The decoders they come with are OK but kinda "bare bones" without some CVs you'd normally use to control speed (like in speed matching the two engines).

BTW as designed the real FT's used drawbars between the A and B units. There wasn't even a door between the A and B unit, only a walkway. You could buy them in A-B sets or A-A sets only. Many railroads ran two sets together A-B+B-A. GM did come out with the FTSB (FT Short Booster) B unit which allowed a second A unit to be connected for an A-B-A set.

The Santa Fe did convince GM to gerry-rig couplers between the A and B units, but most sets ran their whole lives with the drawbars.

As someone noted, you might be able to find a sound-equipped BLI engine for less than the $150. Unless you're planning on a large layout in the near future, I think one good running sound-equipped engine might be better than several cheap-o non-sound ones. (I'd recommend the NW-2 switcher, good sound and runs well on tight curves.)

Quote from: loco4fun on October 12, 2009, 08:27:43 PM
As I mentioned, my other Backmann and 'Spectrum' engines have normal speed ranges.  Even with the large diameter drivers of the 4-8-4 'Daylight', my engine is still a freight engine for speed. 
This is an 80 mph engine with its' train in tow!!  I'm hoping to see it first hand as it travels back home to Oregon this week!!

Well actually 60 MPH freight trains are a more modern phenomenon. Steam freights were normally much slower than that, more like 20-30 MPH except for "fast freights" and reefer expresses.

Keep in mind that it's not necessarily a good thing to run trains at prototype speeds on our layouts.

For one thing, if a real train had to go around the equivalent of an HO scale "broad" curve of 30-35" it would have to slow down to about 20 MPH to do so - so seeing a train whizzing around such a curve (or an even tighter curve) at 80 MPH isn't realistic.

Plus, since distances between stations, towns etc. are so compressed on a layout, it makes sense to run slower to allow more time to run between point A and B.

Also, our model trains tend to be much shorter than real ones. A 7 car model passenger train going 35 MPH takes as long to go by say a grade crossing as a prototype 14 car train would going 70.

For me running passenger trains at 30-35 MPH, freights at around 20-25 MPH, and ore trains around 12-15 MPH works out about right.

You can pop the coal load out and install a 1" speaker there - you do need to drill a hole for the two wires from the speaker to the decoder. I did that with my 2-6-6-2 and it works very well.