I’m new to Model railroading and my dad is pretty set on Bachmann as a brand. He recently bought a “HO” scale GE Dash 8-40 CW, Item # 86027. I was wondering if it was possible to make it DCC compatible and how difficult it would be, if possible? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
If you are new to model railroading, botchman is the worst of any of the products on the market today.
ANYTHING is better and will give you much better quality and long lasting operation.
QUALITY is always better than QUANTITY and just remember, “You get what you pay for.”
Visit a local hobby shop and ask questions. Do you really need DCC? How many people are going to be operating your railroad?
DCC is great! IF you have enough people to take advantage of it.
There again, ANYTHING is better than botchman!
I like EASY DCC, but I don’t have it on my RR as I don’t need and don’t want it.
ATLAS is one of the best out there as they’ve been in business over 80 years making QUALITY products. And most hobby shops do discount, especially the higher dollar items. Check out the pages of MR for good people selling QUALITY products. Avoid buying of e-bay as you never know what you are getting. This is where your local hobby shop is a big help.
Good luck,
gtirr
gtirr is right about bachmann to a point. The bachman standard stuff is junk. The spectrum however is OK. (spectrum comes in a black box with gold letters). As far as a DCC conversion, that depends if it is a new engine or an older one. The older spectrum diesels had no provision for DCC. If you have one of those a conversion would involve milling out the frame to fit a decoder and isolating the motor from the split frame while getting wires to it without shorting across the narrow gap. On the newer spectrums though, DCC is just plug and play. As long as you find the proper decoder it will plug right into a socket inside the engine and thats it!
From checking this model out it lists it as being DCC ready. Not sure if it is a 8 pin or nine pin plug though. Look at the parts diagram in the box. It should at least show the plug. Personnally, I have been pleased with all of my Bachmann engines.
#86027
Product Name: Bachmann GE Dash 8-40CW BNSF - Spectrum
Brand: Bachmann
Description: This wide-cab style locomotive was originally offered by General Electric as an option for the Dash 8-40C, later becoming the standard for their series of contemporary freight locomotives.
Features include:
• DCC ready
• die-cast frame
• precision balanced motor and flywheel assembly
for quiet operation
• 5-pole, skew wound motor
• machined brass flywheels
• directional lighting
• finescale detail parts
• RP25 wheels
If you have a newer Bachmann Spectrum product, it will have an 8-pin DCC socket in it. The documentation that came with the locomotive should tell you how to open it up and install a decoder. Until you get it open, you won’t be able to tell how large a decoder will fit. A TCS T-1 with a separate short wiring harness will fit into most DCC ready diesels.
Despite gtirr’s comments, Bachmann products have improved drastically over the past year or so. They have had to improve their quality to remain competitive with Proto 2000, BLI, Kato, Atlas, etc.
Thanks for the help
Sulax1212,
You might check with the manufacturers of decoders (Lenz, Digitrax, etc) to see if any of them make a decoder specifically for your loco, or have installation/modification instructions.
As for the Bachmann reputation - yes they did make some “toy” trains that were not very good, but I really like my Bachmann Spectrum 4-6-0, and I have an old (got it when I was 7) diesel that is still one of the best pullers on my layout. It was in storage for ~20 years, and it ran fine right out of the box.
Andrew
Again, sorry as I am new to this but i have been trying to disassemble my engine to actually see the motor. Is the plastic screwed on or glued or is it a slide mechanism to remove the shell?
With regards to the DCC ready Spectrum models, I see that several web sites suggest the need to cut one leg on a yellow capacitor on the PCB. Is that a recommended practice? Hopefully so, as I just did that on a 3 truck Shay I put a Digitrax decoder in.
I am not sure exactly how your loco comes appart but your instructions sould tell you what to do or what screws to remove. I have 3 good spectrum steam locos and one not so good one but the tenders all have screws holding them together. some locos have a body that simply snaps into place (Kato) others there are screws underneath (Proto 2K) and some you have to take the coupler boxes out to release the shell (Athearn) but there are many other ways that the body could be held on so get the little foldout that came with your loco out and read what it says on shell removal.
Good luck
I was instructed to do this by tech support at NCE when I was having problems with slow speed operations on a Spectrum 2-8-0 equipped with an NCE decoder. Solved the problem nicely. It is my understanding that the capacitor is in place to cut down on RF interference and is installed to satisfy European regulations in this area.
I am not sure if this proceedure is necessary for all decoder brands and types (different brands use different BEMF strategies) but I have been told that it won’t hurt anything to cut the capacitor leg.
If you go to Digitrax.com, they have a drop down that lists which of their decoders will fit a particular make & model. Once you have that if, you can surf the web and find whoevers decoder you wi***o use that is equal.
Anybody who says Bachman Spectrum is junk has no idea what they are talking about. Are they the same quality as Atlas or Proto 2000? Obviously not, but you DO GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR, for someone starting out in this hobby there is nothing wrong with them especially for someone on a buget. I have been in this for most of my life but intensly for the last 5 or 6 years I have 3 or Bachman engines and they run fine. As far as Equipping them with DCC you DO NOT have mil the split frames trust me I have wired them my self. If you want to know more about Bachman and the correct way to wire them e-mail me.
any engine can be dcced if done right.
Thank you WOODLAND GAP for your answer here. I just purchased a Bachmann Spectrum 4-8-4 Loco [item # 82121] DCC equiped. I liked the fact it was already DCC ready and I did not have to do anything to it. All I need now is to build my layout for this engine. After reading some of the coments – I was afraid I had not made a ‘wise decision’ to add this to my colection.
Larry
Ok heres a clntcher for you pros. I picked up an Undecorated Bachmann Dash 8, I took it apart to see about a decoders. It has a light board but no drop in for the decorders it has seperate wires which run to the light boards. These are held in by the plastic clips like Lifelike used in their proto 2000 locomotives before Walthers like early years. So in short what decoder do you think I should get for this locomotive?
Some of you guys are being a little rough on Bachmann, no? I have an old (30 yrs) bachmann engine that still runs and I only cleaned it once. No, it’s not a Kato or Stewart or BLI but some of those companies aren’t even 30 yrs old. LOL! Seriously, the standard bachmann engines don’t run as well as some others but you can’t beat the reliability! I do not have any Spectrum engines, but they look great and I have been thinking of the Spectrum 4-6-0 for my new layout. Just my opinion.
Now, now! I have one of the original (1988) Bachman Specturm GP-30s and I installed DCC in it with no “milling”. I just ran the wires to the right places, soldered, programmed and it’s still running after all these years.
It is a never ending thing that is really bothering me. A new person asks about his first locomotive and is told “it’s junk” “go out and spend more and then maybe you can be a part of this hobby” “although I don’t have DCC, ABC brand is the best, the rest is junk”
I am so glad this isn’t a automobile forum. We’d be telling 16 year old new drivers “if it ain’t a rolls, its junk. yeah it costs a couple hundred grand but its worth it, why buy a Chevy now just to have to junk it when you can afford the rolls?” Along the same lines, how many people would walk up to a neighbor who wants to show off his new car and say “nice piece of junk you got there”? Why do we do it here?
Why can’t we be a little more polite? Yes, Bachmann isn’t the best out there by far. But there has been many favorable reviews here of their newer engines. Do they run as smooth or look as nice as a BLI or Atlas? Nope. But can you get a BLI or Atlas with DCC installed for a couple of twenties? Nope. Given the price point, the newer Bachmanns are, from what I’ve read, good equipment. For many people they are good enough. Isn’t that what is important?
Ok everyone can stop worrying I found the DCC plug in my Dash 8 now all I gotta do is buy a decoder and paint up the shell