I don't own a 44-tonner, but all the other Bachmann 'DCC Ready' locos I have were plug and play out of the box. The only time any hard wiring was involved was when I also wanted to add sound.

Len

Quote from: Ralph S on April 20, 2023, 07:55:55 PMDarn!
 I just bought 100 of the 36-inch wheels thinking that was the size for freight cars.

Just think of it as a reason to start building a passenger fleet.

Len

Like I said over in the 'General Discussion' forum where you asked the same thing, any 14-16V AC or DC wall-wart power supply rated at least 1 amp (1000ma) will work to power the switches.

Len

From what Jeff says, if you really want a DCC w/sound GP30 you need to take a serious look at the Soundtraxx TSU-PNP8 sound decoder and 810113 oval speaker.

Len

If the GP30 has a can motor you should be able to add DCC & sound by swapping out the light board with a Soundtraxx TSU-PNP8 sound decoder and 810113 oval speaker.

Len

Not absolute, but in general the various wheel sizes show up as:

28 inch wheels will be found on cars used for double stacked containers to keep the overall height down. They are also used on some other large modern cars for the same reason.
33 inch wheels are usually found on freight cars.
36 inch wheels are usually found on passenger cars.
40 & 42 inch wheels are generally found on diesel and/or electric locomotives.

An 'outlier' in this are IHC/Rivarossi passenger cars, which come with 31 inch plastic wheels installed. There are after market sources for 31 inch metal wheels to replace them with. Or you can carve the brake shoes off the trucks and install 36 inch wheels.

Len

EZ-Command does not have any accessory power outputs. For remote control switches, a 14-16V AC or DC "wall-wart", rated at least 1 amp, power supply will work.

Len

I've lost count of the number of posts regarding the wiring between Bachmann locos and tenders when a wire pulls loose from a connector, or someone is trying to install a decoder in a 'not-DCC Ready' steamer and discovering the connector wires aren't color coded.

There aren't that many variations to the wiring harnesses used between the loco and tender. So how hard would it be for someone to find the original wiring schematics and make simplified diagrams, with the wires labeled by function, to post with the exploded diagrams in the "Reference" area?

This would be a great help to many, and hopefully cut down on the multiple posts a week asking for this wiring information.

Len

Whatever type of wheels, cleaning out the journals on those older "Tyco Style" cars with a truck tuning tool will improve rolling performance even more.


Len

The 32502 pack is HO scale and are actually a JTT Scenery product (JTT95582) sold by Bachmann. And whatever the bales and rolls are made of, they look a lot more realistic than plastic bales. I've used the O-scale version (JTT95583) on a display layout and gotten a lot of positive comments.

Len

I've had pretty good luck with someone else's Code 83 roadbed track. And the track is removable from the roadbed if you decide to switch to cork later on.

Len

The only problem with Kato track in HO is the limited number of different pieces. There's nowhere near the variety of pieces available to N scale Kato track users.

Len

Rather than shim the track on cork, I taper the roadbed of the connecting EZ-Track by running it across a sheet of 1,000 grit sandpaper on a flat surface until it matches the cork height.

Len

Some ideas using number switches, lengths can be modified to suit your space:

Most GoW bulbs in older locos were 12V. If you replace with LED's you'll need to add a current limiting resistor.

Len