I can't speak for others, but I tend to restrict my answers to subjects I have first hand knowledge of. That way, I am not inadvertently giving bad advice based on ,y perception of what others have said. I, like many others on this forum, do not use EZ track on my layout. My track is handlaid, built on the spot or in jigs that I own. Therefore, anything I say about wiring an EZ track switch for DCC is irrelevant.

I do not own this locomotive so I can't offer personal experience. The parts drawings give no clue as to if the motor is isolated from the chassis. That is necessary as typically one side of the circuit between the wheels and motor goes through the chassis. Locomotives marked as "DCC Ready" already have an isolated motor, so if yours is marked that way you are in luck.


My experience with other Bachmann steam, notably the 0-6-0s from the train sets, is that the newer ones are DCC ready, and adding a decoder is a simple hardwire job involving 4 wires, 6 if you want a working headlight. These wires are all soldered to a circuit board in the cab, and conversion is merely unsoldering them from the circuit board and resoldering them to the appropriate leads on the decoder. It is worth noting that DCC wiring follows a specific colour code, and that the Bachmann locomotives I've converted, steam and diesel, do not conform to this colour code. As such, when installing the decoder, I suggest working on only one wire at a time so you don't get them mixed up.  If your locomotive has a smoke unit you'll want to make sure you remove it.

If you're lucky, a locomotive will already have a plug n play socket installed. Most common are 8 pin and 21 pin. If yours has a socket, it will have a dummy plug in it for DCC operation. Conversion to DCC is as simple as plugging a decoder with the appropriate number of pins into the socket. 8 pin decoders are usually not sound equipped, 21 pins are for sound.

That high pitched squeal you hear is a non DCC locomotive sitting on DCC powered track. RUnning a non DCC locomotive on DCC power can damage the motor, especially if it is left to sit idle. You need to add a decoder to your locomotive to safely run it with your EZ COmmand. Or run it with the DC controller that came with the set.

Have you considered converting Thomas to DCC? It is easy to hardwire a Z scale decoder in place of the PC board in Thomas's cab. Years ag0 I posted how to do this over in the Thomas forum.




https://www.bachmanntrains.com/smf/index.php?topic=17870.0

Quote from: RedMt Dave on January 20, 2024, 03:48:46 PM


JWard - BTW, I was born in PGH on the Southside.  My grandfather worked at J&L Steel.

My grandfather worked in the power plant on the Oakland side of the river at J&L. I lived in the hilltop neighbourhoods for many years. Spent alot of time on the Southside after I moved to Pittsburgh from the mountains.

Small world.



At any rate, I tweaked your plan in SCARM, and was able to find a way to run 22" curves around the layout as in your original plan. It is a sort of hybrid of the two plans, with the rear crossover moved closer to the end of the layout where hopefully it will be a little easier to reach. I also modified the inner siding to eliminate the 18" radius S curve which can cause problems. These mods were made merely in the interest of making your layout operate more reliably. Hope you find this helpful.

Looking at your plan I do have some constructive suggestions. First, and most likely to impact your enjoyment of the layout is the location of that one crossover and the industrial sidings. I assume due to the design that this will be shoved back in a corner of the room. If so, the switches I mentioned will be out of your reach. If and when things inevitably derail there, how do you intend to retrieve the derailed cars? As a practical matter, anything over 30" from the edge is out of your reach.

Another thing I've noticed is that all your curves are 18" radius. You've asked about running full length passenger cars. Have you considered making your outer loop 22" radius to better accommodate such cars?

You could always do what I do: het yourself a FLikr or Imgur account, upload your photos and image files there, then use the generated link for forum posts.

I've run into the slipping drive shaft problem myself. The universal, as you have guessed, may be the problem. They can split, and not grip the worm or motor shaft enough not to slip. The part should be replaced, but it is not available as a seperate item in the parts store. WHy not? If parts are known to fail why not have spares available for those of us who choose to make our own repairs?


I am investigating the use of aftermarket parts to replace the defective universal. You can buy universals from NWSL, but you need to know the motor shaft diameter to do so.

Yes, you will have trouble with longer passenger cars on 18" radius. Especially with a brand that's as close to scale as Rapido. It "may" be possible to run them on 24" radius, but even that's pushing things.


This brings up a common newbie misconception. You cannot run whatever you want on the track that comes in the train sets, let alone the even sharper 15" radius curves. Larger cars and locomotives require larger radius curves. Not only will they look better, they also will not run into the physical limitations inherent in smaller radii. One of the biggest of these is coupler swing. Another is truck swing. These two items can only pivot so far. Exceed those limitations and things come off the rails. If you want to use those 18" radius curves, stick with smaller steam, 4 axle diesels, and cars shorter than 50 feet in length.

While the real railroads bank their curves I would advise against it on a model railroad, particularly using small radii on a steep grade. The physics is far different for model trains than real ones, and long trains can roll over on banked curves. I t was a well known hazard on my grandfather's layout, where one 24" radius curve was unintentionally banked. Unless you were very careful starting a long train on this curve, it would roll over. Since the curve was near the entrance to a yard, trains often stopped there. And to make matters worse, much of the curve was in a tunnel which meant a trip under the layout to reach up inside the mountain to retrieve the derailed cars. We didn't have that problem on the unbanked curves, or any of the unbanked ones on subsequent layouts our family has built over the years.

Quote from: chuckpiot on January 13, 2024, 10:16:33 AMThank you len!
Is it possible to achieve a constant 12V DCC signal on the track?
Thanks, again!

Yes, if you're using a DCC command station. If you're running DC analog as you are, speed is controlled by varying track voltage. 12v on the track without a DCC command station to tell the locomotive what to do will result in your locomotive taking off at full speed.

QuoteOne more question, what is a "dummy plug tna"? Thanks, again!

A dummy plug is used in place of a decoder, to jumper the pins in a socket and effectively convert the locomotive to DC. In order to do this, the decoder must be unplugged, and any functions of the decoder are lost. In this case, you would lose the sound effects that I assume were the reason you bought the locomotive in the first place.

Quote from: BobZ on January 12, 2024, 09:03:14 PMDCC Ready means that the DCC Socket Connector is installed in the loco but you have to install the DCC Decoder.

DCC ready does NOT mean there is a socket installed in the locomotive. It means the motor has been isolated from the chassis. There may or may not be a socket to plug in a decoder. In many cases, you have to hard wire a decoder into the locomotive, or use one of the drop in decoders that replace the PC board in the locomotive.





If your locomotive has a socket you're ahead of the game. Be sure you know which socket it has. There are 6 pin, 8 pin, 9 pin and 21 pin versions out there, with 8 and 21 pin being the most common.

Quote from: trainman203 on January 10, 2024, 05:57:49 PMThst plan looks almost exactly like one end of my short line. And I wasn't copying anything from John Allen either, had never even heard of the time saver plan till last year.

Did I hear somebody say John Allen influenced their layout? Seriously, hr probably did and you didn't even realize it. The Timesaver has been copied and made a part of so many layouts over the years that many people don't realize where it originated.

Bachmann has yet to come out with the track pieces necessary to build this layout as it was designed, or reasonably close to it. My original comment on this subject still stands. You can redesign it using EZ track components, but it will be significantly different than the original.

Specific areas of concern: the Atlas switches used are designed to be drop in replacements for a standard 5" straight and a standard 19" radius curve. EZ track switches take up far more space than those used in the plan. Likewise, the smallest radius EZ track curves are 11.25" which take up far more space than the Atlas 9.75" radius curves called for in the track plan.

Perhaps you could come up with a workable substitution using one of the track planning programs like AnyRail or SCARM?

I don't have experience with O guage trains, but I can tell you that I design in 3" of overhead clearance for things like tunnels and bridges in HO. Since O is almost twice the size, I'd estimate you'd need 6" of clearance to run them.

WHile what Len said about O guage trains using curves of the same radius as HO is true, but due to their massive size they look rediculous doing so. It also brings its own set of problems, You've got a good starter set, that looks good on the track supplied with it. I'd stick with HO, and keep the curves at 18" radius or larger.