Folks The spectrum is on the right. The original, is on the left. That's a Lenz Gold Mini with room to spare, in the tender. So I think you could add DCC to either. The 2 tiny screws in the floor, hold a plastic plate, to the metal floor, thus insulating the contact strips. I'll have to be careful soldering... The only 2 drawbacks I saw were. 1) you either have to find your exact road, or repaint. The shel are 2) the stock has the better coupler. I think the spectrum coupler box is mounted to the metal underside, in such a way, that a good coupler might be a challenge. The pickups and decoder space. The coupler comparison The shell comparison I think a patient person could modify the shell... but I bet decals are MUCH easier. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Keep alive, I think so. Speaker... by the time you put in a mini decoder, and a sound decoder.... I don't have the experience. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
You could, but I would choose the SPECTRUM because it is all wheels live and has needlepoint axle pick-up. The design on the front live truck on the stock tender is such that it creates a tremendous amount of drag on the locomotive. You will get better pulling power from using the SPECTRUM tender. Optimum contact is a must on steam be it DC or DCC. I do not use DCC, but my understanding is that optimum contact goes double for DCC. Be you a DC or DCC user, it is always important to keep in mind Miranda's Maxim as explained by ke: "The poor performance of many N scale steam locomotives is almost always directly attributable to poor electrical contact". The more contact that you have, the better. The stock coupler is, in fact, better and is closer to correct height. There are two solutions. A. Use the draft gear on the SPECTRUM tender but substitute a UniMate for the B-mann dummy knuckle coupler. UniMates come in three lengths, so you can use one appropriate to the curves where the locomotive will work. B. Substitute a MT 2004 for the B-mann dummy knuckle coupler.
