Ya I did some further research, and the Marklin is a 3 rail locomotive.
Apparantly Trix has the same models in 2 rail with DCC decoder. So I will look into one of the Trix locos.
Michael
CEO- Mile-HI-RailroadPrototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989
Marklin 39017 is a locomotive, not a decoder.
Here's a link to information about Marklin's MFX decoder.
It appears that it will work with any US DCC command station, but you're not going to have control over any of the extra features that are incorporated into the decoder and mentioned by Wikipedia, and you'll have to find out how to turn some of those 'features' off or the locomotive may shut down and never run again.
Based on the information in the Wiki article about the MFX decoder, it was developed by ESU (Elektronik Solutions Ulm [Germany[) and has many features that have not yet been incorporated by NCE or any other US DCC manufacturer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A4rklin_Digital
If the JMRI people have not incorporated support for the Marklin MFX decoder into Decoder Pro, you're not going to be able to do anything with it. You'll need to check with them and see if they support the Marklin decoder.
Be aware, too, that some Marklin HO scale models require 3-rail track and operate on AC power, which makes them totally incompatible with any US system, so you need to read their description very carefully before purchasing a Marklin locomotive.
I have an NCE Power House Pro 5amp system.
I am interested in buying a Marklin locomotive with the MFX digital decoder. Marklin part # 39017
Will it work with my system? Will all the functions work?
Can I program it using JMRI?