I have a simple question, here it is: are IHC Premier Series DCC ready, DCC equipped, or able to plug in a decoder without soldering?
No, none of the IHC engines were DCC ready, and certainly not DCC equipped, with one exception – I believe the last steam locomotive they ever introduced to the US market was the 2-10-2, which was DCC ready with an 8-pin NMRA socket in the tender.
But they pulled one stupid trick that makes sound very difficult to install Even though there is provision in the tender for a round speaker, they also bring up a feeder wire from the rear truck right in the center of the speaker cutout. Why couldn’t they have moved the speaker cutout more to the center of the tender floor?
Thank you for you help, and one more question, is it possibly to convert it to DCC without soldering?
Yes - all you need is a decoder with the NMRA 8-pin plug on it. Just remove the tender shell, plug in the decoder, replace the shall, and plug the tender wire into the back of the locomotive.
But, as I mentioned, I think this is the ONLY IHC model that was DCC Ready.
I am looking at a 2-8-0 so would that need soldering?
Most likely, the 2-8-0 will not be DCC ready and will require soldering.
I have several IHC steam locomotives ranging from a 2-6-0 up to the 2-10-2, and the only one that was DCC ready was the 2-10-2.
Installing a decoder was not difficult in any of them, because there is room on top of the motor for a small decoder such as a TCS M-1.
Other than the headlight, there are only 4 wires to solder – the red, black, gray, and orange decoder wires. I left the headlights as they were and never tried connecting them to the decoder – this just means that they are always on.
Just unsolder the two wires that are presently connected to the motor; connect the red and black decoder wires to them and insulate the splice with heat shrink tubing; connect the gray and orange wires to the motor in place of the wires that were removed. Done.
Thank you for your help. I appreciate it very much.