Search
You searched for the word(s): userid:142685
I suspect that you got the wires reversed when connecting feeders to the new track you put in before connecting the DCC system. Start there with your troubleshooting by disconnecting all of the newly installed track and reconnecting wires one at a time. This is why I always use terminal blocks for all of my track wiring.
They are not the same thing at all. If you use NMRA standard DCC any brand of decoder will work with any brand of command station. With Crest, it is a proprietary system so only Crest decoders will work with it. Crest was developed by Polk's Hobby Shop, whose specialty has long been G scale trains. If Crest goes out of business, you're going to be stuck with having to replace everything eventually as you acquire more locomotives and can't get Crest decoders for them.
In my neck of the woods, steamers in the 1940's and '50s never ran with their headlights on in the daytime. The headlights back then were incandescent bulbs that were much brighter than an automobile headlight because of their much larger reflector, but not nearly as bright as today's diesel locomotive lights. I doubt they illuminated anything further away than perhaps 1/4 mile, and then simply because they were so much higher up than an automobile headlight.
The DC versions should work okay on DCC with no modification. The only difference between the two versions was the addition of a constant lighting circuit on the DC version that the DCC version does not have.
There may not be such a decoder sound recording available from anyone. Here's a link to the available sound schemes offered by SoundTraxx Tsunami diesel decoders, and there's no listing for any type of rail car. http://www.soundtraxx.com/choose/index.php?p=choose3.php
I seriously doubt that Athearn would take the molds for Tower 55 products and downgrade them to Athearn RTR quality. But technically speaking, even Genesis can be called RTR -- they are, after all, ready to run out of the box. Athearn's official web site does not list the SD70ACe under either category. I have two of the original Tower 55 AC4400 models decorated for the fantasy Southern Pacific Black Widow scheme and can safely say that Athearn's would have to be Genesis to be of equal quality
One of our HO scale club members brought some of those trees last year. They are too big for HO scale and don't look the least bit realistic. They could probably be cut off at the bottom to make them shorter and used as background trees, but we didn't use any of them on the club layout.
Bachmann decoders are not very highly regarded for smooth motor control. A TCS T-1 or NCE DA13SR would probably be a better choice if they'll fit. I don't think all of the models you listed are DCC Ready so some may require soldering. If you can send an e-mail to Bruce Petrarca at Litchfield Station or the folks at Ulrich Models Hobby Shop listing exactly what you have they can probably recommend which decoders you should use and whether or not they will require soldering. Contact information
If all of your locomotives are truly Athearn with Quick Plug Technology, then either of the decoders I mentioned will just plug in. Any brand of NMRA-compliant decoder will work with any brand of Command Station. Directional lights have nothing to do with DCC conversion, and neither does your local electrical service -- a DCC Command Station converts the AC voltage to the DCC standard voltage on the track as long as you have the power supply required by your local electrical service. You need to
Christmas 1945 or '46, -- an American Flyer Royal Blue train set. Known today as S scale.