I did a Bachmann Plus GS-4 Warbaby and it was not that hard. I may not have totally removed the wheels, as I think you can sneak the motor out by just loosening the screws holding the halves together. I did not change the smoke generator - it still works like original, contacting both halves of the frame to get its power direct. As mentioned in an earlier post, I did not do the lights, other than to connect it to the decoder. I’d like to do a firebox light and Mars light, but that will have to wait. It runs fine on DCC. Heck, I did the install in a couple of hours the night before a GATS show! I usually am not under any time constraints, but I wanted it to pull my 1940s era SP heavyweight passenger train. Ran all that weekend.
I just can’t understand why it is such a problem. If the motor has the circuit board for the radio interference suppression, it could be taken off. My engine did not have that. If the motor does not run without the circuit board, then maybe a different Bachmann motor could be used in its place. I haven’t seen a Bachmann yet that had a real good motor in it. They like the little 3-pole flat pancake motors. I would be very surprised if Bachmann fundamentally changed the design of their engines to be significantly different from earlier designs. I don’t believe they are going to spend good money to change a successful design.
I took the liberty of e-mailing this topic to Tonys. I’ve always heard nothing but positive feedback from this business. Hopefully the rep’s intent was not to “blow off” space mouse but rather be helpful.
If you don’t think Bachmann TOTALLY changed their engine design, open up a Spectrum. The pancake motors are ancient history. The heavy 4-8-2 uses a timing belt drive.
I think the intent was to say Bachmann hasn;t changed much in a given line, ie, the Bachmann Plus locos are built pretty much the same way they always have been. It was also already mentioned than the Spectrum steamers are MUCH easier to convert to DCC than the older style Plus locos.
I will reiterate what has already been said - you can put a decoder in ANYTHING, given enough time and effort. Witness the picture I saw of a guy who build an HO scale SPEEDER complete with decoder. Don’t remember is that was here on on one of the Yahoo groups. Simply amazing.
I installed a Digitrax DH163 in a Bachmann Niagara 4-8-4 without problems. I recently swapped it for a MRC sound decoder. The original installation was a bit tedious but not difficult. I managed to do it without totally removing the side rods and valve gear. I found no circuit boards inside. I did, however, find one inside of a Bachman Thomas The Tank Engine. After checking around, I removed the circuit board from Thomas and let the DZ123 decoder do the work. I have had no problem with either installation.
As far as running the Bachmann engines on address ‘00’, I have a flock of them, everything from a 0-4-0 to 2-8-2s without decoders. The grandson runs them all the time on my DCC BRVRR. Some of them are 4-5 years old. Never had a motor failure. Yes, they buzz and get warm if sitting still, but no failures yet.
Remember, it’s your railroad.