Right now I'm strictly a DC guy. But an open house at a local MRR club left me with my tounge hanging out; watching all those DCC controlled, sound-equipped, locomotives running around their club layout. Even though I have no intention of converting my N-scale layout, I have two older Bachman On30 Moguls (2-6-0) and that might be an easier project. These are the pre-DCC offerings that, in so far as I know, have no decoder socket in them. I have never even attempted to disassemble one of them so I am not sure what the feasibility of such an operation is. I do know the tender is completely empty.
So has anyone out there converted one of these puppies to DCC and sound? Or had it done for you by a pro?
Oh, and just to show you how green I am at this, is it possible to install sound without DCC?
I have figured out what is wrong with my brain! On the left side nothing works right, and on the right side there is nothing left!
First I would open up the tender and double check, most engines introduced in the last 10-15 years or so have a lightboard with an 8-pin decoder receptacle standard. I believe the Bachmann On30 2-8-0 was only introduced relatively recently (like 2000 or later?) so I would think it would have one.
Even if it doesn't, a hardwire decoder installation isn't that hard. If you've wired a switch machine, you can do it. Sound isn't really any more complicated, just have two more wires going to a speaker. Some sound decoders come with a speaker already attached !!
wjstix First I would open up the tender and double check, most engines introduced in the last 10-15 years or so have a lightboard with an 8-pin decoder receptacle standard. I believe the Bachmann On30 2-8-0 was only introduced relatively recently (like 2000 or later?) so I would think it would have one.
There definitely isn't anything in the tender. When I say it's empty I mean it's a shell, period. All the wiring, and the electrical pickup, is through the locomotive. I am not even sure that there is room in the locomotive to install a decoder. Is there any place where I can get a schematic diagram of the disassembled locomotive? I tried the Bachman website, and there is nothing of the kind there. I really don't want to take one apart experimentally.
Here is a web page where a Soundtraxx Sound/DCC decoder was installed in a Bachmann On30 mogul:
http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/mogul_tsunami/
Jim Bernier
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
jrbernier Here is a web page where a Soundtraxx Sound/DCC decoder was installed in a Bachmann On30 mogul: http://www.nmra.org/standards/sandrp/s-8.html Jim Bernier
http://www.nmra.org/standards/sandrp/s-8.html
I think you may have copied the wrong URL, but thanks anyway. I did find an online article by PacificCoastLiner, so if that's the same link I already have it. If not I'm still interested in any other article you might have dug up.
I fixed it - Sorry!