# Never too late!



## Jeff-From-Wisconsin (Feb 16, 2016)

Greetings,

Hello my name is Jeff as you probably figured, have recently found quite an interest in trains all due to christmas and wanting a train for around the christmas tree.
Only a few days before the joyous holiday we were frantically searching for a large scale loco for the grandkids enjoyment, and this is where it got out of hand.
I found one on craigslist just 50 miles away but the sell never returned the email so though we might be out of luck.
Started searching evilbay and came upon a auction that had 4 locos with tenders and huge pile of brass track, track bed, many dcc controllers, and the list goes on and on. The only problem was it was local pickup only with 1500 miles between the trains and us. 
Auction started at $100 and I was the only bidder...... Road Trip.... WooHoo.
Thought I would keep one and sell the rest, but now having them it's hard to sell em but we would eventually like to upgrade.
The gentleman we purchased all of this from, is a retired disabled veteran who set up the trains once a year for about a month around Christmas and now with failing abilities was no longer able to assemble the tracks. :-( but they found a new home here with our disabled daughter and she is enjoying them every day.
Sorry to bore you so will end by saying thank you for having us and Happy Train-ing 

One last thing, when we purchased these 4 locos, the man mentioned 3 were converted to DCC and we do not know which ones they are or what decoders they have so we need help disassembling them to find out. We put some pics in the photo album to look at and if anyone has some knowledge of these and can help guide us through this; that would be awesome! 

Thank You and have a great day!


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## MJSavage (Dec 27, 2007)

Welcome Jeff!


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

> One last thing, when we purchased these 4 locos, the man mentioned 3 were converted to DCC and we do not know which ones they are or what decoders they have so we need help disassembling them to find out.


Jeff,
I finally found your Album with the photos.

http://forums.mylargescale.com/memb...albums-bachmann-g-scale-loco-disassembly.html

Here's one photo from the album:










These are standard Bachmann 4-6-0s, and very easy to disassemble. Just screws, no tabs that might break, nothing tricky. One of our brethren, George Schreyer, put together a website with lots of "technical tips", and one of them is an extensive list of things to know about your locos. He also tells you how to add DCC, which might help you decode the wiring.

http://www.girr.org/girr/tips/tips1/big_hauler_tips.html

Here's his section on disassembly:
http://www.girr.org/girr/tips/tips1/big_hauler_tips.html#assembly

Once you get inside take some more photos and tell us to take a look and we'll see what you got.


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## Fred Mills (Nov 24, 2008)

Never "Too" Late


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## Jeff-From-Wisconsin (Feb 16, 2016)

Thank Pete!

Exactly what we were looking for, wow really extensive and detailed. He put it in layman's terms and we need that, but at this time we don't plan on doing any modification but if we do; definitely know where to go.

The main reason is to basically see what kind of job this fella did with the install and take pics so some day when we upgrade the new owners will be able to see exactly what their getting. 
We can see from the pics with his modification that it is difficult to make thing tidy with the limited space.

I will post some pics when we get these locos ripped apart.

Thanks again Pete!


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## Jeff-From-Wisconsin (Feb 16, 2016)

Fr.Fred said:


> Never "Too" Late


Thanks Fred, usually more attentive than that. Grammar is not my strong suit.


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## Jeff-From-Wisconsin (Feb 16, 2016)

First one disassembled and no surprises, kind of figured as much as it still had the tag hang off the medallion. Brand New .... Winning



















Put this one back together and move on to the next.


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## Jeff-From-Wisconsin (Feb 16, 2016)

Totaly confused right now!

Here is a link to the original ebay listing, he only shows one train but there are 4 total and it clearly states that 3 were converted to dcc.

I always thought that DCC meant that there was a integrated circuit board wired into the loco which received signals through the track via the controller which controlled speed, reversing and other functions, with full power running to the track at all times.

When I got everything home and started sorting things out we found 3 motors in individual small ziplocks so naturally we thought these were the 3 motors he changed out when converting the locos to DCC.

Is there any way these circuit board could be in the tender? I do know that the tender itself can have it's own DCC circuit board for controlling sound. but?

This is where I am confused, we have 3 DCC controllers that came with the package and wondering how you can control a loco which does not have a receiver. Hmmmm

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mostly-Bachmann-G-Scale-trains-and-many-many-extras-/331729677761?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&nma=true&si=pgAZgFkelzPMMUK2n1i31nZXd2w%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

Any how here is the second loco and to my surprise I do not see this one being DCC converted as well.



















Guess I will put this one back together and go for the third on.


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## riderdan (Jan 2, 2014)

Someone here can probably tell you if the locos are "supposed" to have decoders and where they might be installed. I know some manufacturers do put the electronics for control in the tenders (some of the fancier Piko locos are this way) but am not at all familiar with Bachmann.

One thing you might try is setting up a single section of track connected to one of the DCC units and see what happens when you try to read/write/run the locomotives. I have a 3ft section of on my workbench wired up to a DCC unit for just this purpose (verifying decoder installs) 

Just a thought.


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## Jeff-From-Wisconsin (Feb 16, 2016)

riderdan said:


> Someone here can probably tell you if the locos are "supposed" to have decoders and where they might be installed. I know some manufacturers do put the electronics for control in the tenders (some of the fancier Piko locos are this way) but am not at all familiar with Bachmann.
> 
> One thing you might try is setting up a single section of track connected to one of the DCC units and see what happens when you try to read/write/run the locomotives. I have a 3ft section of on my workbench wired up to a DCC unit for just this purpose (verifying decoder installs)
> 
> Just a thought.


It is a good thought and I will make a test track, I read somewhere that its a good idea to add a resistor on the hot lead so blow out the circuit board in case of a wiring issue. TY

Well the third loco was wired with a DCC board as you can see it's quite a disaster.




























My OCD took over but think it's better. lol 



















I think the gentleman was mistaken and meant the one of the locos were DCC and 3 where not.

There were 3 sound decoders still in their packages amongst all the loose parts, never thought we would ever use them and sold em, still would not use them. I can see by taking a few of these apart that they are quite cheaply made and great for those on a lower budget, but for use we will sell these and pool the moneys together and buy a more quality unit, maybe something like this. Seen a youtube review on it a few months back, .... Nice

NORFOLK & WESTERN LEGACY 2-8-8-2 Y6B STEAM LOCOMOTIVE #2195










Anywho, going to disassemble the 4th unit and check under the hood but have a sneaky suspicion that there in no decoder.

Thanks for stopping by and words of advise!

Cheers - Jeff and Chelsea.


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

Jeff,
It sounds as if you are on the right track. 4 locos, 3 decoders still in packs, suggest 1 DCC engine and 3 not! (And the DCC wiring/board doesn't look any worse than George's, though I didn't look too closely as I don't run DCC.) And a speaker in the steam dome? That's a new one.



> I know some manufacturers do put the electronics for control in the tenders (some of the fancier Piko locos are this way) but am not at all familiar with Bachmann.


There's a "plug-and-play' socket spec that several manufacturers adopted, including Bachmann, and they usually put the p-n-p "socket" in the tender. 
This particular Bachmann was produced before the socket. I think the "Anniversary" 4-6-0s may have one [they are the versions with metal rods.]

Jeff - how about a Hudson instead? I have one surplus to requirements!


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## Jeff-From-Wisconsin (Feb 16, 2016)

Pete Thornton said:


> Jeff,
> It sounds as if you are on the right track. 4 locos, 3 decoders still in packs, suggest 1 DCC engine and 3 not! (And the DCC wiring/board doesn't look any worse than George's, though I didn't look too closely as I don't run DCC.) And a speaker in the steam dome? That's a new one.
> 
> 
> ...


Going to pull a tender apart just for sht's and giggles and to see how they are made doubt I will find anything.

Actually the Jle is the one we meant to post, Watched a video on it like 6 weeks ago and will be darn if I can find it again, thought it was and unboxing and review by gardentrains, at the beginning of vid they showed black Jle and then like an anniversary model exactly the same but think it was gold maybe silver; fell in love instantly. They put it on the rails and remember the announcer saying and then we added more cars and then we added more cars and then we added more cars and then we got tired of unboxing cars.

The detail is just spectacular, thought when the review went out that they were only 2k maybe they were 3k, can't remember but sold out now and only folks like yourself have them. Do remember they were packed in a wooden box and it's weight was like 70-80 lbs or something. 

Just an impressive piece anyway you look at it. will have to sell a few more toys before we can fork out 3k just for the loco and tender and that is probably only half the expense Track, controller and other goodies.

Getting up there in age now and if there is one thing that life has taught me is that if you buy junk it will always be junk. Better off waiting till you can afford the quality! Not calling Bachmann junk... ok maybe I am but just my opinion on these particular models; they most likely have an upper class that in quite nice.

I have tried to learn as much as possible about training in the last few weeks but the only thing I really learned is I know very little about training. 

Thanks for the post Pete and will be keeping you in mind.

Cheers - Jeff and Chelsea


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## Jeff-From-Wisconsin (Feb 16, 2016)

ROTFL .. just noticed I put the air tanks back on upside down on one. O Ya! lol


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

Looks good. I doubt you will find much in the tenders, except a speaker and a sound board.

If you like the Hudson, you might like to look at
http://forums.mylargescale.com/122-...sat-j1e-hudson-6-aristo-nyc-heavyweights.html


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