Installing DCC

[Muggzy]

I'm new to this so bare with me.I have a bachman emd gp40 ho scale loco, and I want to add DCC with sound.Ihave a digitrax control system.Is there a dcc replacement decoder for this or do I have to use a special decoder? Please help.

[Fred Klein]

Muggzy, Since I do not model in HO, I'm not familiar with your particular locomotive, but since I model in On30 and my DCC system is from Digitrax, I'm very familiar with Bachman/Digitrax combinations. First of all, just so you know, since DCC is a standard created by the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA), as long as a manufacturer's decoder adheres to those standards, it will work with your setup. Therefore, you are not limited to using only Digitrax decoders.

From your questions, I think what you are asking is whether or not Bachmann makes a specific decoder for your locomotive. Since I'm not familiar with your engine, I don't have the answer to that but perhaps someone else can chime in on this with more information. However, one thing I do know is that Digitrax has an excellent decoder selection tool on their website. You plug some information such as manufacturer, model, etc. in and it will list some suggestions of what would work in your locomotive. I'm assuming that other DCC manufacturers have similar tools but I would try Digitrax's first. If nothing else, it will provide you with a starting point. Hope this helps.

[jward]

The easiest way to convert to DCC is either if your locomotive has an 8 pin NMRA socket, you can use any decoder that will fit that has the 8 pin plug, If it doesn't have the socket, then the entire circuit board can be replaced by an NCE BACH-DSL decoder which is a drop in replacement. The NCE option does require some basic soldering skills. Neither of these is a sound decoder though. Sound is a bit more complicated to install, and I don;t want sound bad enough to attempt to install it myself.

[Muggzy]

I thank you both very much.I will check the bachman website first. It's the first train I got, it's a BNSF Dc engine I want to convert.Thanks again.

[trainman203]

If you are new to model railroading,  I would not as one of my very first steps attempt to do something as relatively complex as a decoder and sound installation. I had a friend who wanted to start in Model Railroading, started with tasks that were too complicated for him, and walked away. 

For your first engine, I'd suggest buying a locomotive that already has DCC and sound installed, ready to go when you connect your DCC command station to the track.  You can then operate immediately instead of meeting frustration trying to first figure out something with many potential dead ends.  You can then work on this install on the side at your leisure.