Bachmann Diesel Switcher

[Catweasel]

I've just aquired one of these beasties and intend to convert it to DCC. Took it apart to see what's involved and found that it's split frame. Don't see any big problems there. However, I would like to fit a Loksound chip and don't know what engines these had. I assume it to be a 6 cyl. lump of the Caterpillar family . Any one know please?

[lajry]

A picture of your Bachmann switcher would be a big help in telling you which diesel sound you need to put in it. There's big differences between ALCO, EMD, FM, etc loco sounds.

[Catweasel]

I don't know much,if anything, about these loco's. It may be a scale model but may be generic.

[lajry]

Bachmann makes HO & N scale versions of this loco. You can always call or email LokSound to see what they recommend. There is also a LokSound Yahoo Group forum.

[shortliner]

Henry - This may be helpful if you can find room to fit the loksound in - it should fit into the cab <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/23832?page=8">http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/23832?page=8</a><!-- m --> the speakers are dirt cheap on ebay

[Catweasel]

Nice find mate. I've ordered 5 for investigation. It may even work if removed from it's housing altogether. It looks like a Sugarcube.

[Catweasel]

I ordered 5 of the speakers mentioned by Shortliner and got a big surprise when I tried a little experiment. I haven't cut the speaker enclosure at all and when I put a 9 volt supply across the terminals it "fired" with a much louder crack than expected. Promising.

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Last week at the Garden State RPM, a woman did a demonstration with Iphone 4 and 5 speakers in her sound engines. They sounded fantastic, and I bought one of each to test. Apparently for most diesel sounds, they are within the range of human hearing and speech, which is what cell phone speakers are "tuned" for. This lets them make much better diesel sounds than the average speaker.


That said, you might be out of luck. A "caterpillar" type engine might be close, but thats really for the 44 ton switchers, not necessarily the other industrial locomotive types. So far as I know, no one makes whitcomb/plymouth/ingersol-rand type diesel sounds. If you're not picky, then its no big deal. If you are, you might need to work for the sound a little bit.