Al-

There are three (well, four, if you count no provision for DCC at all) levels of DCC equipment in B'man locos: DCC and Sound On-Board, DCC On-Board and DCC Ready. DCC and Sound On-Board means that the DCC decoder, with sound, is installed and ready to use, including a speaker for the sound. DCC On-Board means that DCC is installed and ready to use but there is no sound. DCC Ready means the loco is ready for a comparatively easy DCC installation. This generally means that there is a plug on a circuit board or a harness in the engine or tender. It used to include locos with just an electrically-isolated motor but I'm pretty sure that Bachmann isn't calling such merchandise as DCC Ready any more. If I'm mistaken on that someone else on this board will straighten me out pretty quickly.

If you have a DCC Ready loco you can "easily" install either DCC or DCC with sound. Note that you'll need a speaker for the sound; this is often located in diesel fuel tanks.

Good luck with your project and do keep us up to date on your progress.
                                                                                                             -- D

SAL Fan-

Make yourself a jig so your grabs all come out the same. It will be faster and easier, too.

                                                                                                                          -- D

Mark-

While you have your loco apart to check on the gears and/or change the chassis, add several ounces of weight. Try to keep it comparatively evenly distributed. You don't have to get nuts about it but you don't want the extra weight added in a manner that it changes the loco's balance on its drive wheels.

Depending on what kind of track you are using, you may experience a significant voltage drop as you move away from the point where your power is attached to your track. You can easily remedy the situation by running a large (14 or 16 ga) power buss below your layout with short feeders running up to your track every so often. Each six to ten feet should be adequate. An old, but serviceable extension cord will work for most indoor layouts. You'll need to have a more robust electrical system if you run outdoors.

Good luck with your railroad.
                                              -- D

Bill-

Not necessary! The 0-6-0 has a can motor which is already isolated from the frame.

                                                                                                                  -- D

Barge Cement is, indeed, a contact adhesive, It grabs very tightly so be certain that the track is located exactly correctly. Try dry-fitting the pieces and mark the bridge deck with the precise spot for the track.

bill-

Not so many years ago, anything larger than a 10-wheeler required broader curves than 18 inches. Some larger locos needed
28" or 30" and big articulateds could require as much as 36" curves. Modern models are built to work their way around much
tighter curves. However, there is a remaining consideration: large locomotives on tight curves look preposterous and some
cannot successfully pull cars through the curves because the locos have such long overhangs. The moral of the story is that
it's not a good idea to put the largest locomotive possible on a given length of track just because it will fit. You'll be far more
pleased in the long run if you keep your layout, tracks, rolling stock and locomotives in scale with one another.
                                                                                                                                                                   -- D

Hawk-

Welcome back! It's remarkable how often grandchildren rekindle an interest in model trains.

You are better off purchasing a locomotive with sound already installed. You can piggy-back a sound decoder on a motion decoder but you aren't likely to save any money that way and some installations can be bears. Check out the B'man's sound-value offerings. They have full DCC motion control and a very good selection of sounds at a reasonable price. There is a large engine -- a Berkshire -- and a smaller one, a Mogul. The Berk prefers wider curves than 18" set track so you are probably better off with one of the Alco Moguls. These are nice little locomotives. They don't have smoke but that's not much of a loss. The smoke fluid condenses on the loco and tracks making a mess which will eventually interfere with operation.

You should be aware that sound-equipped locomotives have sound even when operated on a DC layout. Or, at least dual-mode locos do. That includes all Bachmann DCC locos and just about everyone else's, too. Of course, there's no individual locomotive motion control when a DCC loco is operated on DC. I mention this because you may want to see how your grandson (and you!) take to trains before you make major investments.

I urge you to rethink purchasing the EZCommand system unless you plan a very limited model railroad. The EZC has enough power for only two or three locos and it lacks almost all programming ability. You can increase the power but it is very expensive to do so. If you are thinking of something more elaborate than an oval of track on a 4'x8' table and just two engines running at a time, consider a more powerful and versatile system like Dynamis or entry-level systems from other manufacturers.

Welcome back to our hobby, and welcome to your grandson, too. Please keep us up to date on your progress.
                                                                                                                                                                  -- D

tvg-

You will also have a problem if you weren't careful about the polarity of your trucks.

                                                                                                                  -- D

T203-

You can use narrow strips of paper to represent boiler bands. Being flexible and porous, you can put the glue on the backs of the bands and just apply them -- no muss, no fuss. You can even paint your paper before applying the bands so you don't have to worry about slopping paint all over. I suggest something like construction paper or medium card stock so your bands are clearly visible. And -- this is important -- cut the bands with a straightedge and a razor blade on a hard surface like a piece of glass. That will ensure that your bands stay the same width.
                                                                                                                                                                    -- D

MrM-

Essentially, anything can be converted to DCC. Some conversions are little more than shaking the box. Others are decidedly
more complicated, time consuming, expensive and aggravating. Since you are asking this question, I strongly urge you to stick
to the easy side of the continuum until you get some more experience.
                                                                                                           -- D

ih-

The eBay listing says these are 6v lights which can be used on 12v or 16v systems. My guess is that there are some resistors to cut the current down to ~6v or a circuit breaker which is heating up due to the overvoltage. Try feeding your lights just 6v or maybe 9v and see what happens. You may very well have an old wall wart from a shaver, cell phone or other electronic device which will put out an appropriate voltage.

Good luck and please keep us informed of your progress.
                                                                                      -- D

layne-

We need more information in order to answer your question. What is the brand of your loco? Does it have sound now? What are
you using for your DCC system?  We should be able to give you a clear answer once we have this information.
                                                                                                                                                                   -- D

Quote from: Jhanecker2 on December 06, 2014, 06:54:38 PM
To Doneldon :  there is a typo in your last reply .  You have a feeder  wire of 2 gauge posted  , I am sure you meant to type  #20 gauge wire .  Sorry for being pedantic but used to be an electrical  Q.C. inspector .  John2.

J2-

You are absolutely correct and I will fix the typo. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

Actually, a 2 ga feeder would be a rather interesting animal, kind of like filling a child's wading pool with one of the spillways at the Hoover Dam.

                                                                                                                                                                          -- D

flm-

I encourage you to look into the Dynamis system. It has a good collection of features and capabilities, adequate power for most home layouts, a history of reliability operation, easy (if spendy) expansion and a good reasonable entry price. Its Bachmann competition, the EZCommand system, lacks power for anything beyond the very most basic layout and it has no meaningful programming ability. (It can program addresses for up to ten locos and tell a decoder which end of a loco is the front but that is all.) Its only real advantages are that it is very simple to learn and it has a low entry cost. But its expansion potential is limited and very expensive. The EZCommand's disadvantages far outweigh its assets, in my opinion. So ... go with the full-featured and sufficiently powerful Dynamis. It's only a little more complicated to learn and its overall utility make it a strong candidate for a new-to-DCC purchaser.

All DCC manufacturers have entry-level systems which are worth investigating. However, I believe you'll find that they cost a bit more than Dynamis for comparable capabilities. An excellent sale price on a given system might lead you to buy something other than Dynamis, but in a straight-up comparison of features, power and price, I think you'll find that Dynamis is a strong contender.

Be aware that there are a couple of manufacturers which offer DCC systems with added proprietary features not available on other manufacturers' "pure" DCC systems. These can look pretty attractive but you will have to go with those manufacturers' whole system to take advantage of the limited additional features. Those other systems are quite pricey and, again my opinion, not worth the added cost and inconveniences involved with a system which is not totally NMRA compliant.

Good luck with your research. Also, I salute you for looking at DCC as the way to get back into model railroading. The price jump from a basic power pack to a DCC system, even a rudimentary one like EZCommand, is daunting. But DCC has quite clearly established itself as the way of the future in model railroading (with the possible exception of large-scale trains). I'm sure that DCC will eventually give way to some new technology but for now it is the only way to go. That's just my opinion, of course, but I'll wager that the majority of model rails would agree.

Welcome back to the hobby and this board. Please keep us up to date on your progress.
                                                                                                                                   -- D

riff-

It's not necessary (or desirable) to stop everything and unplug your EZC from the track and wall when you want to move your command station. A power buss will enable you to keep things running while you change locations of Companions but the EZC Master must stay connected.

A power buss is a convenient way to keep the command station connected full time while still having an excellent power supply to your layout. The purpose of a power buss is to supply your railroad with consistent and reliable power.

The materials used for model rails, except brass which presents its own challenges, don't carry electricity very well. That is, the power drops comparatively quickly the farther you get from a power source. A power buss made of nice, large, brass, stranded wire carries power with almost no voltage drop. So ... you run a concealed power buss of large wire and feed your rails with short, small gauge wires often called jumpers but more often called feeders. These need to be as short as possible. (I use an eight-inch limit. Others go longer or shorter. However, we all use very fine wire for the feeders, even as small as 20-26 ga.) This all ensures that plenty of power is available on all of the tracks, not just the ones near a terminal track.

Instead of plugging your EZC Master directly into the rerailer ports on your terminal/rerailer tracks, connect it to the power buss hidden under your layout. These should be at least 16 ga (for a small pike) or larger as the size of the layout increases. Regular old lamp cord or a standard extension cord will work fine for a power buss on most home layouts. The feeders can be fed to terminal/rerailer tracks, soldered to the bottoms or outsides of rails, soldered to rail joiners or attached any other way which allows you to use small gauge, inconspicuous feeders.

In order to use your Companions in different locations, you connect a special cable (they come with the Companions) from the multi-conductor port on the back of the EZC master to an identical port mounted (usually) on the fascia of your model railroad. You then add additional ports at various places on your model railroad where you expect to need both visual and electrical control of your trains. These locations might be near a place with a lot of switching, like a yard, or a place where you can't see your trains, like behind scenery or just too far from the EZC master. Bachmann makes the various cables and ports you need.

I hope this explanation of power busses and command busses is clear. But I'm kind of in a rush right now so please excuse me if all I've done
is confuse you.
                         -- D