In all fairness this train would be a good project for a scratchbuilder, or a 3d printer. Apparently Overland Models made these in brass, but they are pricey, well over $2k if you can find one. Overland has since gone out of business.

I find it kind of odd that the OP thinks Bachmann not producing a model of an obscure one of a kind passenger train is bias against certain parts of America. It is ironic seeing as the standard Bachmann caboose in all the HO sets is a midwestern prototype, and they did a GP35 on Alco trucks as a Frisco unit (the only model like this they produced)

If  there is no socket for a decoder you'll need to bypass the board. You can connect the decoder's red and black wires directly to those screws. Then desolder the wires from the board one9 at a time, trace them to see where they go, then connect them to the appropriate decoder wire. Your setup is different than mine.

Quote from: Ralph S on November 03, 2025, 02:13:56 AMI agree, and there's a "But"  behind that.  The OP (original post) was asking what the EZ command can do and hopefully I provided a way to do "Consist" of a train using the EZ Command.  Yes, it's more complicated than the more advanced DCC systems, but we don't know of the OP's desires.  Therefore, I assumed that the OP is like me, i.e., not having a desire to enhance the controller, or adding additional finances at this point in time to enter into advanced systems.   

The only problem with that is that what you are doing is not a consist, either by DCC or by railroad definitions. Consist means all locomotives are controlled as a single entity. What you are doing is more akin to a helper locomotive with its own separate crew independently controlling their locomotive. There is nothing inherently wrong with what you are doing, and you've found a workaround for the limitations of your system. But the only way I can see to consist locomotives on EZ Command is to run all of those locomotives on a single address. If they were all running on say address 9, that would be be a consist. The advanced DCC systems have a way of doing this without reprogramming the individual locomotive addresses in a consist.   

It looks like there may be too much play in that truck.. One nice thing about Bachmann diesels is that the trucks can be tightened just like a freight car. The bolster screw sits on top of that round piece above the drive shaft. Put the drive shaft back in place, then tighten the bolster screw to reduce the play in the truck. Don't over tighten as too stiff a truck will cause derailments just like with a freight car.  If  you encounter this problem, back the screw off in quarter turn increments until the derailments go away.

If this doesn't solve the problem and the drivee shaft still keeps slipping out get a slightly longer one. They are available from Bachmann parts you just have to look under the listing for each individual locomotive type to find them, because they often have a different part number than what is on the diagram that came with your locomotive. The listing in parts will tell you the length of the shaft, like 20mm for a GP30 or 30mm for a GP40. They are pretty cheap, $1.35 each, so you might want to go through all the locomotive pages and order one of each length you find. That way you can test fit them in any locomotive you have this problem with.

Here is the  parts diagram I have. It came with a locomotive  I purchased at a train show in 2009. I suspect this locomotive was about 5 years old when I bought it.

Here's how i did mine.

On my 0-6-0s, the light sits wedged between the frame halves and must be removed. I also remove the smoke unit. the cavity where it sits is a perfect place for a Z scale decoder like the DZ126. The circuit board in the cab has two wires to the motor, and two to the drive wheels, you simply connect these 4 wires to the appropriate wires on the decoder. Please note that Bachman wiring does not use the same colour code as the decoder so be careful when connecting the decoder. Use a voltmeter before soldering any connection to be sure it is wired correctly, and only work on one wire at a time.

If you want to use an HO decoder, particularly one with sound, you'll have to run wires between the locomotive and tender. That's something I've tried to avoid. If you opt to go this route, I'd look into adding a power extender to your decoder. Those 0-6-0s can be finicky on switches with unpowered frogs.

On the Digitrax HO decoders, the wiring harness plugs into the decoder with that 9 pin plug. It's not something you really need to worry about. Digitrax HO decoders can be unplugged from the wiring harness without having to desolder the harness from the locomotive, which really helps if you ever have to replace the decoder.

How old is this locomotive? I may have the parts sheet you need in one of my older boxes if the locomotive dates from about 2004 to now.

No. Speed matching requires programming capabilities EZ Command does not have. It should also be noted that some Bachmann DCC OnBoard locomotives have a decoder that does not support adjustments to top and mid range volage, which are essential to speed matching. The best you will be able to do is to run two locomotives on the same address, and hopefully their speeds are close enough it won't matter. 

Is this problem unique to one locomotive? Or does it affect all your locomotives?

Honestly, if I were building this layout in either Atlas or EZ track I'd use #4 switches instead of Snap Switches or their equivalent. The Atlas ones are designed to fit where you have a 9" straight just like a Snap switch, and the EZ track ones are just an inch longer. What you'd sacrifice by the realignment of the layout mto accomodate these switches would be more than compensated for by the elimination of the s curve problems the Snap switches cause. You'd wind up with a much more derailment free layout.

You cannot directly duplicate this layout with EZ track. The layout used Atlas Snap Switches, which have a curves route of 20 degrees. The equivalent EZ Track switches are 30 degrees, meaning you would have to do a redesign of the track plan  and it would take up a LOT more space.

A better idea would be to make an approximately 20 inch radius curve that will fit between the 19 and 22. You can do this by alternating 22 and 18 sections. for a 180 degree turn you'd use 22-18-22-18-22-18-22. You might need to add a short 1" straight to the middle of the outer track's 22" radius curve to keep trains from sideswiping on the outer two tracks.

apparently you have a short circuit. Can you post a drawing of how your track is laid out? I suspect that, not the locomotive, is the culprit.

On a small layout you shouldn't have to make any changes to your wiring when switching from DC to DCC. I have done this a couple of times without problems.