2-10-0 Russian Decapod Frisco -w-Doghouse-

https://www.micromark.com/Bachmann-...k1xzdUKUdqhZYdIjJUqpl_iimRKjvxU0aAmXVEALw_wcB

equipped with a TCS WOWSound® CD-Quality 16-bit 44,100Hz decoder with Audio Assist®. This decoder allows easy configuration without programming CVs as well as a Keep-Alive® device for uninterrupted operation, even over dirty track. It also features Chuffinity™ technology for amazingly diverse and realistic chuffs and a WOWSound® steam locomotive sound package that includes bell, whistle, blow down, cylinder cocks, water fill, coupler close/release, brake release and application, grade crossing quill, depot sounds, and more.

• DCC equipped
• Separately applied bell, whistle, stacks, dome, etc.
• Includes painted crew figures and detailed cab
• E-Z Mate® Mark II couplers front and rear
• Performs best on 22" radius or better curves or greater

 

I got one of these when they were first introduced for something less than $300.00. I'm not sure how good a deal the Micro-Mark offering actually is.

GS

 

Bachmann Spectrum® 2-10-0 Russian Decapod Frisco w/Doghouse #1624 - DCC WOWSound, HO Scale
Item #: 74565

List Price $599.00
Sale Price$393.99

Not sure when Bachmann Spectrum® started?
There were others sources for a 2-10-0 .
I had one, but was not Bachmann. Never purchased anything Bachmann.
I got it @ $245 on a Christmas sale at a train shop in north St. Louis County
in about 1980.

 

I have two from the first run (DCC Ready) 1632 and an undec (1618). 1618's motor seized last month. But they been run for over 15 years. Bachmann has a lifetime warranty. So I will be sending it in for repair. I just picked up the latest release 1624. I got it from Model Train Stuff during one of there sales.

They can pull 12 cars on my current layout (Atlas HO-35 Berkshire valley route track plain). And they can handle the 15" curve on the one spur going into the mill area. I have them set to the draw bar hole closest to the loco and still handle the 18" main line curves. But because of the blind drivers, I had to put a bit a clear nail polish on the Peco frogs.

I do like the WOW sound decoder. It is a TCS121 decoder with just the functions configured for Bachmann's DCC system F0-F8. You have access to 24 functions by press F8 twice to switch to the next function mapping page. The WOW decoder has good motor control and it really does have CD quality sound. The decoder is attached to a Bachmann mother board. The Keep-Alive is on the mother board. And to my surprise they used a TCS 28mm High Bass 4W round speaker.

I did a quick shopping search. Currently Micro-Mark has the second best price on them.

 

I have heard from multiple very knowledgeable sources that the TCS wow sound decoder is difficult to negotiate with manipulating CV’s.

I waited for years for that decapod to return to production to get a couple more, but the TCS system is keeping me away from the new ones, including the 1624 which I wouldn’t mind getting if not for the sound system.. I’ve got seven already, operating with Soundtraxx tsunami2-2 decoders which I’m accustomed to and find easy to adjust and customize. And I have two more DC ones in the bag, in reserve in case some mechanical failure happens with one.

Currently I have in operation the 1630 and the 1632, two decaled for Missouri Pacific, one lettered for a subsidiary road Arkansas, Texas and Southern, and two undecorated, which will probably be be decaled for the Louisiana and Arkansas if I can ever find decals which I doubt if I can.

These decapods are by far my favorite Spectrum Engine, followed closely by the 2-8-0. These two engine types handle nearly all of my traffic at present.

 

I also like the TSU-2 features and easy of configuration over the WOW. But the WOW does sound a bit clearer. And it depends on what one are configuring with the WOW. I think it is a lot easier then the one BLI with QSI I have (I need to replace it with something better). I did not have any issue with configuring a WOW. The Bachmann WOWs have a Bachmann specific function menu that is different from the standard WOW menu.
So if you are configuring the sound volumes and chuff rate, this can all be done though the audio assist menus. It talks you though setting up a new decoder. Now for things not in the audio assist menu, TCS has a online programming tool https://drupal.tcsdcc.com/4CVSteamV4 . And if you use this tool in conjunction with JMRI, I found it easy to configure CVs, but make sure you read the JRMI instructions closely.
The Bachmanns come pre-configured. But I did change the whistle, bell and set the auto toot. To change the whistle and bell on the Bachmann menu you double press F8 until you get to function page 3 then press F4 then press the F1 to rotate though the bells or F2 to rotate whistles.

The one advantage of the audio assist menu is it makes it easier to change sound levels with a layout not plugged into a computer running DecoderPro, unless you have a Blunami.

 

Decoder Pro connected to your a DDC system does make programing decoders a lot easier . But even with Decoder Pro I still configure CV by CV. This is in partly to do with the wording not matching what the CV is really used for. I mainly see this for the Digitrax SDX standard and extended pages and BLI function remap page. For SDX decoders I find myself bouncing between SoundLoader and Decoder Pro.

Since my HO layout is not connected to a computer, I found the WOW Audio Assist very handy. Audio Assist is an auditory feedback menu; it tells you the menus and features by name not CV number like the BLI QSI did. So with Audio Assist you do not have to know any CV numbers or values.
At first, I did not like Audio Assist. But after using it a few times, I now like it and I do not have to have the manual with a list CVs on hand or have to take it to the workbench and tinker with the settings with Decoder Pro.
But the Audio assist does not have all the configuration settings in it. There was only one I wanted to change. Now using CV to change the non - NMRA settings, a WOW is different than other decoders I have used. It uses 4 CVs (201-204) to configure groups of setting. (I recommend checking out the Programing tool on the TCS website. You just use a pull down menu to find the setting group you are waiting to change and then select the changes and it gives the values for the 4 CVs.) The Bachmann 2-10-0 comes factory configured. So I only used this method to turn on the auto toots for forward, stop and reverse.

I have at least one of each of currently available sound decoder for steam (But ESU). This was so I could compare the decoders a figure out which ones like. I am torn between the TSU-2 and WOW at being at the top of my list. They both have PROs and CONs.

Things I like about the TSU-2. First it has Frisco whistles, large number of sample options, 7-Band Equalizer, Hyperlight Effects. Good manual and large select of tutorial videos.

Things I like about the WOW. Great sound quality, The Automatic Chuff Calibration, Bell and Whistle Rotate Feature (Which is done via a function button. And you do not need to go into Audio Assist or a CV programmer to change whistles. What I like is as you rotate though the whistles a lady's voice gives you the whistle name before playing the sample).

So for people who are on the fence. I recommend watching the tutorial videos on TCS's website. And watch the TSU-2 configuration videos that SoundTraxx has.

Let me also add after owning this Bachmann 2-10-0 with WOW sound. I will be removing the old SoundTraxx LC decoders from my two other 2-10-0 and replacing them with WOWs.

Also the Bachmann 2-10-0 has an Easter Egg menu. I am not sure if the other Bachmanns have this.

I have a few other Bachmann steamers in HO 3x 2-8-0, 2x 4-8-2Lt, 2x 2-8-2, 4-6-2 and a 4-8-2 Hvy. Most are decorated Frisco, a few are in the process and one of the 2-8-0s is an RI.

 

I understand that the LC decoder is from the DCC Jurassic. Anything would be better.

One decoder that has aged well is the old Soundtraxx one called DCC/sound on board that Bachmann was putting in their spectrum engines about 15 years ago. They were called “pseudo-namis” in the trade because they were so close to the full tsunami of the day in features. They lacked some of the sounds of today like cylinder cocks and blowdown, and only had three whistles, but motor control could be slowed down to an ant marathon and they have the same seven band EQ that the new ones today. I still have four or five of them and don’t plan on replacing them anytime soon.

I’m sold on tsunami2-2 decoders. I’m waiting for 2-10-0 #1624 to appear used on eBay for
$200, to put a tsunami2-2 in.

 

I have two locos with Bachmann Sound Values in them. They run great and sound good. But no dynamo? (that I can find in the settings). My 4-8-2s all have or are getting TSU-2s or Blunami decoders. My Bachmann 2-8-0s all currently have Digitrax sound decoders one has SDXH166D. (These are a different animal). I am think about installing TCS D-MB1 high pin version motherboards in the 2-8-0s. These are direct replacements for the Bachmann boards in the older 2-8-0 and 4-8-2Lt. They come with Keep alive and are compatible with all EU621 decoders. So I can plug a TSU-21PNEM8 into them. This would also make a clean professional looking decoder install.

When I get a chance to will open the tender and check to see if the Bachmann board's 21 pin decoder connector has High or Low pins.

 

Sound Value is a very limited decoder, basically steam on starvation. (“S.O.S.”). . Bachmann got rid of just about every feature possible other than basic engine movement to keep the cost down . No dynamo. No dynamic digital exhaust to shut off the chuff while the engine drifts. No CV 113 to silence the engine till activated. No EQ. No coupler crash. No brake squeal. But! They did keep headlight dimming! Why?! That’s a diesel era affectation. Useless on steam engines. But then, hardly anyone knows anything about steam engines at all anymore.

When you install a Tsunami 2–2, you get all of the above stuff back plus innumerable other benefits. Like 90 whistle choices! I’m pretty picky about whistles, but there’s about eight of them on there I use all the time. You get cylinder cocks! Blowdown! At least 20 bell choices, maybe more! 10 different chuffs! Highly adjustable reverb! Engine braking! Train braking! Wheel slip! Ultra-slow switching speed option! Three different coupler crashes! Sound options for oil fired or wood fired engines! I’m on a roll, but I better stop! There’s tons more that I haven’t even tried to figure out yet!

Sound value decoders are an insult to serious steam model railroaders who want to do anything besides run the train in a circle around the Christmas tree. Replace it with anything. I myself will never use anything but tsunami 2–2 decoders. I’m even replacing some of my older tsunamis with the newer ones now.

 

Ten wheeler, what engines do you have with sound value decoders?

I have a Bachmann Mikado with a sound value decoder and I’m a little reluctant to give it up because two whistles on it, which I happen to really like, the Southern and the Crosby three chime, have been dropped from the Soundtraxx library. Even though tsunami2-2 still has whistles by those names they are not the same whistles. They are not particularly correct for the Missouri Pacific, for whom I have his engine decaled, but I like them so much that I’m having a lot of trouble giving them up.

You could really improve sounds on the layout by cutting the air pump and blower to volumes down to almost nothing. Then it’s not annoying you with background sounds while the engine is just sitting still while you’re running another one. I’ve done that and while it’s not quite as good as a complete shut off of sound with CV 113 it’s not bad at all.

 

The two I have are:
USRA 4-6-2 Grand Trunk Western repainted to Frisco.
USRA Light 2-8-2 Nickel Plate. I swapped the tender shell and loco shell with the 4027 USRA 2-8-2 DCC ready (It has a squeal in the gears when going down grade that I cannot locate the cause of.)
I plain on keeping the Sound Values in these two. I like the Sound Values. They sound great and work real good and they are not over complicated. I am still adjusting the TSU-2s.

The one with the noise gear drive is being used for the SDXH167D testing. They just put out a new dmf file on the Jul 28. I hope this fixes the chuff timing issue. The 7 series sound decoders now have sound changes with higher load (Like TSU-2 and WOW). a gentlemen on AnPRR@groups.io creates some real great project files. The SDXH line can sound real good but they have limited voices.

Also I did open the 1624s tender and it looks like the Bachmann board may have a standard 21 pin connector looking at photos of other boards. But I do not have another board to compare it to (like the Decoder Buddy) nor another 21 pin decoder to test with. I was wonder if any 21 pin decoder can be used with this board.

 

The sound value decoder in the Bachmann Pacific contains whistles that are still in their sounds library. Therefore, I’m going to eventually replace that decoder in my Pacific, a quite beautiful locomotive . Agreed, sound value is easy to manage. But. It’s easy to manage because nearly all of the ancillary sounds critical to an authentic steam operation are excluded. For now I’m keeping the sound value in the mikado because of the two whistles that have gone away everywhere else except there. But when I operate that engine, I find myself reaching to do the cylinder cocks, the wheel slip, a coupler crash, or any of the other whistles present in the TSU 2–2, and there’s nothing there. When I cut the throttle and let the engine drift, the chuff should turn off, and the wheels silently turn with rod clank. That’s not there either. No headlight dynamo sound. Plus, what they call rule 17 headlining is far from authentic . But boy! Can I ever dim that headlight, if I ever feel like it! Which, to me is a very peculiar inclusion, since most of these sound value locomotives are going to Christmas tree operations where there will never be a meet requiring headlight dimming.

Eventually,, I won’t be able to take this starvation diet anymore, and will put the TSU 2–2 into this engine.

 

Thank you Klrwhizkid. The reason why I was wondering is because TCS decoder mother boards come in two pin heights. Low pin height (non standard), this fits there WOW decoders and High pin height(standard), this is for all other manufactures. This answer may question did Bachmann use the standard height or TCS pin height.

 

Patrick that reminds me I need to do some research on when Frisco started running steam loco lights in the day time. I also need to dig though my grandfather work stuff and see if there is a MoPac rule book.

The 2-10-0 is very solid and so is the 2-8-0. But there are a few annoying "I call them flaws" in the USRA 4-6-2 and USRA 2-8-2. The 4-6-2 has a wiper issue. The wipers hang down and I have had them hang on uncouple magnets, crossings and frogs. Yet the 4-8-2 hang down but do not seem to catch on stuff. On the 2-8-2 the wipers are bent up but it is missing the smoke box weight that the 4-6-2 has. So add a few ounces of weight in the smoke box helps balance the loco. With the extra weight it pulls all most as much as my old BLI 2-8-2 Hvy for their first run.

I have too many locos, so putting TSU-2 and or WOWs in all of them would be cost prohibited. So I am just putting the nice decoders in the locos that see the most run time.

 

The hang down phosphor bronze driver pick up wipers on the Bachmann Pacific are a holdover from Bachmann’s K4. They truly are a poorly planned feature, which can snag on the least little thing if Jupiter doesn’t align with Mars. I too have one of the 4-8-2’s with those same kind of wipers. I’ve never had a problem with either one of them, but I know that it all it will take is one silly misaligned molecule somewhere for a problem to arise.