Steam Engine with DCC & Sound

[Bfagan]

Anyone know of a good Steam Locomotive with DCC & Sound factory installed?  I wish Kato would make engines with sound, I like their products.

[SkipGear]

There have only been 3 done as a production model so far:

Walthers N&W Y3 2-8-8-2
 Long sold out. Still think this is the benchmark for N scale sound.

Athearn Challenger 4-6-6-4
 Originally produced with MRC decoder that many did not like. I have one with the MRC and have no issues with it, just keep the voltage below 12V. New production due sometime around the end of the year. Now equipped with Tsunami decoders.

Athearn Big Boy 4-8-8-4
 Same as Challenger, new run due late this year.

N scale steam sound is something you have to do yourself.

Y3 OEM Install -

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Digitrax sound decoder installs

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[spookshow]

I believe Kato sold a "KOBO Custom" version of their GS-4 with a sound decoder installed, but I don't see them listed on their website anymore.

As for a simple do-it-yourself install, these locomotives all come with NMRA-style DCC sockets in the tender -

Intermountain 4-8-8-2
Con-Cor 4-8-4
Con-Cor 2-10-2
Life-Like 0-8-0
Fox Valley 4-4-2
Life-Like 2-8-8-2 (second run)

Cheers,
-Mark

[coosvalley]

These folks seem to do a good job....don't know for sure..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6H_dlF2SD4&feature=player_detailpage

[SkipGear]

Roger,
 That is the Standard USRA tender in the video. Same tender that all the 2-8-0's come with.

They really need to work a little harder to get the chuff timing right. It blows the whole effect. I have seen that problem on many of their videos.

[SkipGear]

They are the same tender design. They are constructed differently. The old version didn't have the lightboard in the tender, just two pickup strips. On the old one, the water tank and coal bunker lifted out of the shell/floor of the tender. The newer design has a metal floor that is seprate from the shell. The version included with the DCC version is yet again different than the Spectrum add on tenders because the lightboard doesn't have a socket for the plug from the loco and the decoder is built into the lightboard. The height difference is in the ride height becuase of the metal floor in the newer versions.

[SkipGear]

There is no advantage adding sound to a loco that already has DCC. You must remove the existing decoder to install the sound decoder. In N, there are not any "add on" sound decoders like are available in HO.

Adding a non-sound decoder to the older 2-8-0 is easy. There is a removable weight in boiler under which all the wires are connected. It makes things pretty straight forward except for the fact that the wire color coding is backward on a few things.

As far as adding sound to the 2-8-0, it is probably easier in the older version because there is much more room inside the tender. In the newer versions, the metal floor and lightboard or DCC board, depending on the version, take up a lot more space and have the pickup leaf springs built into them. That means you must use the lightboard or completely rebuild the pickup system. It really doesn't matter too much though, any of them can have sound installed.