I am new to DCC and have a question regarding locomotives. Which brands are best and are there any to stay away from? I currently have 2 decoder equipped locos. Both are Walthers Proto 2000 locos. I have an SW8 diesel and a 2-8-8-2 Y3 steam engine. I really like both engines. They both run smoothly and have really nice sound but I don’t know how other manufacturers stack up.
My layout is HO by the way.
I am glad I found this forum. There is a wealth of info here. I am looking forward to expanding my DCC roster.
I agree with Jeff…from what I have bought and used, and I have tried some of each of what Jeff described, what Jeff has depicted is the way I feel also.
The two engines you purchased are very nice. Basically you get what you pay for. So if your’e satisfied with their pricing then you shouldn’t have a problem.
Atlas is probably one of the better loco makers our there as well. The only “sound” engine I am aware of to possibly stay away from are the MRC sound decoders I believe found in most “Athearn” Genesis series locos.
Many people have also poo pooed the IHC brand of diesel engines, although their steam loco’s tend to get better reviews.
And last but not least, other people do not like the el cheapo “Bachmann” diesels that are DCC encoder equipped. But again these are cheap ($30) and you get what you pay for.
Typcially if you’re spending $65 or more for a diesel (on sale mind you, nobody in their right mind pays retail) you should be OK.
I buy from the following manufacturers with confidence in order…
1 Atlas
2 Proto2000
3 Kato
4 Athearn (non sound units only)
5 Bachmann Spectrum
There are others that are very good like BLI and such, but I don’t have any first hand experience with them.
I would also agree with Jeff, but would add Stewart and InterMtn to the list, I have a few of each and put them near Atlas and slightly above the P2k,s for running etc.
I’ll go along with the crowd that have answered so far with one exception. Don’t count out the Athearn engines with sound.
The MRC decoders they use are not as bad as advertised in my experience. I have a few self-installed MRC sound decoders, both diesel and steam, that work pretty well for my applications.
I got my grandson an Athearn 4-6-6-4 Challenger for Christmas. It has a MRC decoder in it. It runs and sound good to me. Not quite pro-typical but good enough for our purposes.
Check them out at a train show or at you local hobby shop to see if they can meet your needs. Athearn produces some unique locos. Don’t discount them without checking them out for yourself.
You need to put EVERYTHING in. DCC ready means they’ve got a plug in connector ready to accept a decoder NON SOUND ONLY mind you. If you want sound you have to install a speaker (trying to find a suitable location may be impossible for some locomotives) and decoder.
Unfortunately not. There is no standard of what “DCC ready” means. It could and should mean what the other two have stated above; however, it could also just mean that the motor is electrically isolated from the frame, or the frame is not connected to the track power, or whatever else the vendor wants it to mean. So unless it specifically says it has a socket or plug for a DCC decoder, be sceptical. See - http://www.litchfieldstation.com/lobby/u_dcc-ready.htm
Even locomotives that are DCC ready, with plug, doesn’t mean one can just plug in a decoder and go. These days many locomotives have 1.5V light bulbs. In this case if a typical decoder is just put into the plug the lights will flash brightly and instantly burn out. I know many people who have had to replace P2K bulbs for this very reason.
There are also two kinds of plugs. They are an 8-pin (two rows of 4) IC type, and a 9 pin PC side-board mount.
The only way to know for certain what a specific loco model is going to need, is to research it. Check the vendors web pages and see which plug if any the model has.
I was referring to the NEW athearn blue box series of loco’s. You can just plug a decoder in them and they will work fine. Other loco manufacturers differ of course. The not so smart ones that say DCC ready may or may not have an 8 or 9 pin plug to plug into. IMHO they are misrepresenting what DCC ready truly means and should be flogged[;)]
This truly makes it difficult for the newbie DCC guy to buy an engine and get it up and running without blowing the lights, decoder, or both.
Some of the newer Kato units come ready for sound. They have the fuel tank bored out to accept a one inch speaker. I know the AC4400’s and SD38-2’s have this option and it works well.