bachmann HO Thomas with DCC and Sound

[Artieiii]

Ok, I stopped at my LHS today and bought a Bachmann Thomas engine in HO scale. I also purchased a Digitrax N scale SDN144PS sound decoder. When I got home I heated up the soldering iron and soldered 4 wires with shrink wrap drilled a few small holes in the back of Thomas's tender and stuck the itty bitty speaker that comes with the decoder to the back wall of the tender. I used my Digitrax PR3 programmer and soundloader and used the BR class "light prairie tank" sound project and added a wav file of thomas's horn to the project. Downloaded the sounds and Thomas is happily running around my shelf layout. I was worried that the tiny speaker would be insufficient but it is perfect! Thanks to another forum for the decoder suggestion. He needs a little break in time but the horn brings a smile to my face everytime.  He could still use a headlight and taillight in the future. Perhaps a bit of extra weight too. This will be great when my nieces and nephews come for a visit. This was a very simple conversion only 4 wires to solder from the Bachmann circuit board to the decoder.  Bachmann was kind enough to leave plenty of wire to make the connections easy.  Here is a youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDSbVQgVfec to show how to make the conversion (without sound).  Next I gotta find a sound clip from youtube of Thomas saying "Bust my Buffers" and add that sound.
-Art

[Artieiii]

I found a sound clip of Thomas saying "Ha Ha Ha.....Bust my Buffers" from a youtube video of "Pop goes Thomas".  I will add that to my custom Thomas sound project.   I realize that these sound clips are copyright protected but for my own personal use it should not be a problem.  I think there would be a market for a sound equipped Thomas with DCC.
-Art

[J70]

In regards to a larger speaker, perhaps permanently coupling Thomas up to Annie (wiring her to Thomas) and installing a larger speaker inside her. You could always do this with a plug in/plug out adapter located on either so you can separate them. It's the way I would do it as I feel there isn't enough room within Thomas himself. Seen tender engines done in this way (motor in loco, speaker in tender) and it works well.

I'm sure you have it already, but Annie/Clarabel are plastic in construction bar the metal weight sandwiched between the chassis and the body.

Jack

[Artieiii]

Here is a youtube video of my Bachmann Thomas in HO scale with Digitrax custom sound project.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvwtbeC0Gyo
This would be a great christmas present for the avid Thomas fan with DCC. This was a very simple DCC conversion it only involves 4 wires to solder then stuff the decoder in and drill some holes in the tender area and stick the speaker (with it's adhesive) to the back wall of the tender.  Piece of cake!
-Art