I have a friend (really, honest) that is looking to get his grandchildren started with a Thomas set. Is there any Thomas equipment that is DCC or DCC ready?
You can cram DCC into the Bachmann stuff. But to be honest. Its garbage. I bought a Thomas and Henry for my son. They run horrible, and I'm not even exaggerating. Its no fun for children when the stuff only works for a few minuets and then needs repair. If you can find one cheap. Remove the moving eye function, it helps a lot. But the lousy/tiny open frame motor overheats all the time. OK enough of my ranting. I have no experience with the Hornby stuff, but I think that's the only other option. I have tried to find a Thomas for a while, but they are hard to come by.
I generally agree with euromut. The Thomas line is really toy train quality and you will have to run at high speeds to keep them going. Think slot car speeds. There are some examples of DCC conversion on YouTube and the TCS site, but it's not plug and play. The low weight of the smaller locomotives (Thomas, Toby, James, Percy) reduce traction and connectivity so there's a lot of jerkiness and stopping. The little kids love it because it's just like they see on TV or videos, but it's a bit frustrating to keep them running. I've had the grandsons' four locomotives on my workbench for "tweaking" and repairs including soldering joints, adding weight, and adjusting the pickups to provide some consistency in operations. I can't speak about Henry, although he's bigger, there should be fewer problems. You could try asking in the O scale or Large scale forum as there might be a better experience for the larger editions. Good luck!
