DCC Professionally

[Griffin (TheBlueSnowplow)]

After suffering the pains of DC running, I have decided to switch over to DCC. My model railroad friend (far and few between unfortunately...) is generously giving me a Bachmann DCC controller so that's taken care of.
Does anyone know of a place where I can send my Thomas locos to have them professionally DCC-ed? The instructions I have found online seem simple enough except for the soldering part...I wouldn't want to spend ALL this money (Hint bachmann- your prices bother me  ) just to destroy the model.
The engines I'm going to start with are--
Thomas
Percy
Edward
Gordon
Diesel
Salty
Emily
Duck
James (maybe...I might wait for the redesigned one...)
Oliver (when he's released)
Spencer (idk yet..)
That's all for now!
Thanks

[jward]

having dcc professionally installed is going to be expensive. expect to pay at least the cost of the decoder for the labour. by learning how to solder, you can do the job yourself in about an hour's time. I haven't installed a decoder in percy, but I have done Thomas. for this locomotive you need to use a z scale decoder as there isn't a lot of room inside the body. I ended up putting my decoder inside the coal bunker.

the tender engines should be easier to do, as you have a lot of room in the tender and merely have to have long enough wires to reach the motor and wheel pickups from the tender.

[Chaz]

A shop I would recommend is called Train Buddy.  This business was kind enough to sell me models of Thomas, Percy, James, and Toby with lights installed in each of the models with the results being very satisfying.  They do this as well as DCC by request of the customer and I believe they do sound too but don't quote me on that.

Some advice I have for you for looking into this is there is no specific Thomas page on this website, so I would suggest clicking on "search" and under manufacturer type in Bachmann, and for scale type in H (Not HO), and then type up the specific Thomas engine you would like to have with lights or other features installed.  You can then order the engine and call/email them requesting them to have the model include any of the features listed above.  However, if you already have models and you would like to send them to Train Buddy to add decoders or other features to them, then I'm sure they would be willing to help out.  They're a great business and I recommend them.

www.trainbuddy.com

Good luck

[Br 98.75]

most of the dcc'ing of the locomotives takes only a few minutes and can be completed in under half an hour. For me i have done with sound; Diesel, Mavis, Henry and Percy.... my Girlfriends friends kid is autistic and loves them. i have done most of the series for People in my Club(Duck and Salty)

[The train kid]

I recommend doing it yourself. I haven't done it before but have helped friends. It's not as hard as it seems trust me and if you mess up Bachmann has replacement parts no biggy really.

[clan line 35028]

i am working on DCC for all my thomas stuff. even doing extra like converting to kadee couplers on my British collection. I have a Emily right now but i need to service the motor first. next is Duck and followed by a special project on one of the scotish twins. i will paint douglas into the original blue as seen on the real prototype and the original series. install a sound chip and program special sound effects. such as Sean Connery Draco lines "how do you like the ride so far" and Ready or not here i come". I have done DCC before for some people for free along with conversion to Kadee's

[Br 98.75]

I have dcc sound in Percy Mavis and Diesel it actually really easy to do to mavis and diesel, here is percy with a tsu-750 light steam on the TUBE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgSiO9UzJKU it only took about 30 minutes to do.... and now he has a keep alive in him, i took out the eye gears and added weight for extra traction and upped the speaker since the video was taken

[Br 98.75]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5gjWpbuZVg /here Mavis and i like to work on the ground because of my back i messed it up big time(But that is another story)