HI rails..First I'd like to express my feelings toward the new look of our forum and give it a thumbs-up !! I never cared for those wooden dollish looking RR worker icons in the old Trainboard..the ones with the engineer hats and scarves..This new look is more mature in flavor.. My question is : When an ad for a loco on ,say, ebay states " DCC EQUIPPED " is it correct to assume it might not have 'sound' ? I.E. If it doesn't state say, "QSI or Tsunami sound on board" might I recieve a loco which has all the other features of digital command yet still lack 'sound' ? OR, as soon as ad states DCC it will always come with sound ? I bought an NCE Power Cab and am thinking of getting a second DCC loco; most likely a Bachmann Spectrum 2-6-6-2. Ad for it states DCC on board but doesn't mention sound..Could this be why it's only $239.00 and not more like $350.00 ? Sorry if this is an old subject...Thanks ,Mark
You assume correctly that it indicates a non sound DCC decoder. That does not mean the decoder is worth buying though. I always ask what decoder is in the unit before I consider it. Everyone has thier likes and disslikes. One of the major items to look out for is the older Atlas had Lenz decoders that did not function well. I have heard the newer DCC equiped locos have much improved decoders, but I have yet to take a chance on one.
Sound equipped will often have advertising on the box with the sound decoder's manufacturer in plain view. Sound is a major selling point, justifies steep prices, and the builders don't want to keep this info to themselves!
DCC equipped means just that. It has a DCC decoder. For a loco that has sound it would be something like 'DCC & Sound equipped' or 'DCC equipped with sound.
DCC and sound are not the same thing and so you are correct, if it just says DCC then it almost for sure does not have sound. It will state that it has sound if it does. Sound is becoming more typical, but it still isn't standard and probably won't be for a while yet.
Also, some listings might say "DCC Ready" which means that the locomotive can be converted to DCC with a plug in decoder chip. Best regards, Brian
Perhaps, but I think it's fine to leave it here. I take my cue from the N scale sub forum forum which is treated as a catch all for any topic as long as the thread starter models in N-scale.
Thanks for all your input on my guestion. I now know I was right ..DCC does not mean sound is included.. Too bad ,though. By this day and age you'd think all DCC locos would include sound. I mean, you go that far to install all the rest why not just add sound while you're at it...But then again, $100 more can be quite a lot for some people. And ,too, I suppose there are many who don't care for sound but just want the indepenency of digital control...Oh well.....So my Spectrum 2-6-6-2 will be closer to $350 if I want sound ..On top of that ,since it's an articulated will the sound be correct in that the chugs should/would be out of sync between front cylinders and back cylinders.
In many cases that's true. But I've seen some locos tagged as DCC Ready that simply had the motor isolated from the frame. And that was it!
ABSOLUTELY NOT! First of all, from a practical perspective, too many sound units will get loud and annoying. Not a problem with Steam, but a big problem with Diesel. A 3 unit lashup with 3 units with sound gets annoying fast. Secondly, If you want to buy a locomotive that will have every single bell and Whistle (literally) than I direct you to Broadway Limited and MTH. Or Genesis. Let them own the top end of the market. Everyone else should continue to make product for the core of the hobby and that means lower prices and variable features. It also means I can spread out my costs. Buy a DC or DCC ready unit, get the decoder when I can, upgrade to sound when I can. Detail the unit as I can. I think it's good that they keep things in a base state. That price sounds about right and typical. As for the chuff. If it is factory installed and its a sound decoder meant to go with the unit, then it ought to sync up correctly and if it doesn't you can adjust it. If it's a third party decoder, then YMMV, but you probably need to adjust the chuff on your own. If it is an articulated decoder, it should sound right, though whether it sounds like the specific 2-6-6-2 versus a different articulated is not as clear.
I think the day will come soon! There's a recent Athearn Genesis GP15 with Tsunami sound, with separate strobe light and mars light seen at an online retailer (local shop will match!) for $189.. IMO this is a very good price considering MSRP for the plain old DCC-ready Athearn Genesis. You can't get the parts separately for less.
I know this item is in the HO forum, but I once asked/commented about sound in N. I was warned away from it because of the size of the speakers. As others here have said, DCC fitted means it has a decoder. If it has sound, it will (usually) say so. Regards, Pete Davies
Welcome to the HO forums, we're always glad to have N guys stop by (It makes me feel better, because I love to go in the N forum and shoot my mouth off.
IMHO isolating the motor and having obvious wire connections takes care of most of the battle especially for the less experienced like me.
Motor isolated is something at least! Even Athearns latest RTR GP40-2's don't have the isolated motor for goodness sake! All they are are upgraded blue box diesels with installed plastic handrails and couplers, but the chassis is basically a hex drive blue box chassis. Not DCC ready at all. So while it's nice to get a DCC plug, isolated motor is still a major plus.
I've seen that myself. I bought two Athearn RTR GP38-2's some time back. Beautifully detailed shells but under the hood they were both stock blue box chassis with the motor in contact with frame. Noisy motor, sectional drive shafts, etc. Converting them to DCC was a textbook case of converting blue boxes because that's all they were. Athearn sure milked modelers on those models. I've sold both of them since and I haven't bought any more Athearn locos owing to problems with their quality control. Bad motors, bad wiring, cracked or warped trucks, handrails that break off if you breath on them, crooked grabs, etc. Of seven RTR locos I purchased four had motor and wiring issues and one actually caught fire (AC4400).
Well, when it comes to HO loco's which you have an alternative, then it is easy to sell them off. In the case of SD40T-2's, Athearn is the only game in town and quite frankly if you are D&RGW or SP modeler, Athearn did a lovely job on them with all the major prototypical details. Quite frankly my D&RGW SD40T-2's look as good or better than brass models! The SP tunnel motors as well. The hand rails are fragile so I just have to be careful. One of them came with broken handrails but Athearn sent me replacement ones at no cost (as they should). As for the blue box style chassis on the GP40-2 and GP38-2, I agree, for the cost, Athearn should have upgraded them to an isolated motor and socket. They are nice looking models but still blue box. I have two of the GP40-2's and I wouldn't mind getting the two additional numbers but I hesitate due to the DCC issue, and the fact that I have 6 Atlas GP40-2's now which are superior in many ways and include the prototypical nose signal light - too bad the plow isn't correct. I'll probably order some Athearn snow plows since they are correct, and replace the Atlas plow.
I don't know, the pure simplicity of the Athearn BB chassis is an asset. Isolating the motor is dead simple. It's about as hard as plugging in an 8 pin socket. The KISS principle on display with Athearn is why I will use them for everything I can.
