Bachmann DCC equipped 2-10-4 and 4-8-4

[buddemrm]

I am looking into the purchase of Bachmann DCC equipped 2-10-4 and 4-8-4 item #'s 50803 and 51202 and I have some questions about these
1) What type of DCC decoder are these equipped with and is this something that could be changed to a Sound Trax, Digitrax or other decoder
2) Is there a spec sheet on these locomotives giving some more details to aid in my choice to purchase or not
3) I have heard that there were some running and performance problems with  some  Bachmann models are these recent models in which the problems have been resolved

[ACY]

These have Bachmann (Lenz) 2 function decoders with 8 pin plugs. You can replace the decoder with any decoder. These should be run on at least 22" radius and will run flawlessly on 24" radius. These 2 locos do not have any issues provided you buy new ones.

[richg]

Do not replace the decoder with any decoder. Make sure the decoder has BEMF capability. I do not know your source is for getting decoders.
I have seen in different forums that someone buys a decoder from a private source or ebay and sometimes from a LHS that wants to unload and older series of decoders that do not have bemf.
You probably have no idea what BEMF means so go to the below link.

http://tinyurl.com/6xzhtfv

The present Bachmann decoders are low end toy quality and if you want a nice slow running loco, the decoder with BEMF does a lot better. I guess it depends on how many rivets you count.

Digitrax, TCS, NCE sell some nice small non sound decoders with the eight pin plug that Bachmann uses.
Al decoders come with instructions. The decoder companies also have more extensive manuals at their websites. All the specs for the decodes are there also.

The manuals for the Bachmann factory equipped locos are right on this page. Go look.

SoundTraxx has the Tsunami, a sound, lights and motor decoder but you have to consider the speaker installation. It is not plug and play.
SoundTraxx is also coming out with a new line of non sound decoders.

Good luck.

Rich