Bachmann Spectrum On30 Trolley with DCC & Sound Installed

After many hours of work, here is a Bachmann Spectrum On30 Trolley with DCC and sound installed. It pretty much took an On30 sized shoe horn to get the two decoders in it but after many, many hours and some lessons learned......it can be done.

If you're new to installing DCC and sound, you may not want to pick this model as your first project. Upon careful inspection you'll find that the disassembly options for this model are very limited.

If after watching this video you are interested in converting one of these, make that decision very carefully. Removing the motor truck is basically straight forward and you can put it back on if you decide not to upgrade the model. After removing the motor truck, removing any further screws, you may find that you are in over your head and reassembly to it's original DC state is virtually impossible. I believe that the circuitry for the overhead lighting was installed prior to fusing the entire model together. Once you remove the screws and board for the lighting circuit your pretty much committed to making this a DCC project. You will be limited to working through a hole in the chassis about the length and width of a decoder and it's basically like working on a ship in a bottle.

I am by no means an expert but I will tell you that I think I have around 16 hours from start to finish into this install. I think I could do another one of these in less than half the time but I don't think that I am in a hurry to do another one.

My favorite place to buy decoders is from Paul at Southern Digital www.sodigi.com