Hello Guys,

A couple of questions since the situation is not quite clear to me. I have some assumptions but I'd like to verify if they are correct.

1. The engine is advertised as DCC sound-equipped. The specifications also mention '... plug & play electronics interface to accommodate the control system of your choice, etc...' I interpret this as the engine being fitted with "only" the sound part or a DCC installation, but not the decoder part for running it on DCC. Is this the correct assumption?

2. Consequently the sound can be fully used with a DCC command center / controller, but you can't run the engine with it. In order to run the engine you have to use DC power, or have I misunderstood that? (the answer to statement / question #1 will mainly answer that).

3. I thought that in general more complicated sound effects can only be utilized completely with a proper DCC controller, and that with DC power sound effects are much more limited. Or is this DCC sound card capable of producing all the sound effects with DC power as well? Why would it then be specifically designated DCC sound-equipped?

4. If the sound effects are more limited with DC power why would this engine come without a DCC controller but with a complete DCC sound system? Moreover, you have to remove the sound card in order to install a DCC decoder on the "p&p electronics interface", judging by what I have been able to find on the internet, so why would you need a "DCC sound card" in the first place.

5. Does anybody know if the sound card can still successfully be used after installing a DCC decoder? How should the sound card be connected / installed in that case? The p&p interface is already used by the DCC decoder, so where does it need to go?

6. What type or brand DCC decoder would you suggest in either situation, with and without the factory supplied sound card? Pros and cons for both situations? (replacing the entire sound card with a sound-equipped DCC decoder or just a simpler DCC decoder and retaining the original sound card in whatever way)

Just curious since I recently acquired one of those "DCC sound-equipped" Climaxes. It's waiting for me in the USA and I was wondering what to expect and if I could already prepare something for it if necessary. I intend to use it with DCC ultimately anyway.

Thanks a lot in advance for your answers, tips, suggestions.

Kind regards,


Kor Elzenga
Xanton & Western Union Rail Road
Wassenaar Division

Hello all,

Is it me or is the Photo Gallery indeed a bit behind?
According to the above header
   News: Check out the photo gallery link above or >click here< to see photos of recently announced products!
you should be able to find photos of announced products, but the latest photo I can find in the Gallery is on page 14 and was created on 04/16/11. The one before that is from 12/06/10, so that's been quite a while.

Actually I was anticipating to find some pictures of the newly announced C19, but alas.
When the K27 and the whole line of F-Scale cars were announced there were plenty of pictures and of good to excellent quality. They were a good basis for my purchases. Not that I doubt the quality of the F-Scale items from Bachmann, having acquired already a fair quantity of them, but still some details would be nice.

So a kind request to the Bach-Man: Please provide us with some nice pictures of the C19, and especially some close ups of the details. I am particularly interested in the 'fully adjustable inside Stephenson valve gear'.
I was already very pleased with the adjustable valve gear on both my Connies and on my K27, but they are on the outside, so it makes sense to model them accurately. Inside valve gear is usually not modeled since it's supposedly not visible. I tend not to agree with that, especially n F-Scale, and would try and recreate that on my models too, so it's a nice surprise that the C19 will feature this!
You may have already sold at least one C19 to me, simply based on the choice of the model plus the quality I have experienced so far, but you might convince me even more if you post some pictures.

Kind regards,

Kor Elzenga
General Manager Xanton & Western Union Rail Road
Wassenaar, Netherlands