[neil_s_wood]

Bachmann have now announced the price on their first British outline digital sound loco. It will be 159.70 Quid which is quite cheap for a digital sound loco. Continental and American sound locos tend to sell for about 200 quid. South West Digital are selling their sound decoders for 90 quid. So if the standard loco costs 73 -76 quid this means the sound decoder in the Bachmann loco is about the same cost.

It will undoubtedly sell for less at Hattons and Rails so it is a good introduction to the world of model rail sound.

It will be interesting to see how good the quality of the sound on this loco is when it's released. At the price there is no reason it shouldn't be as the decoder is in the same price bracket as Loksound. However I have heard rumours that the decoder is only capable of two digit addressing which indicates it may not be a Loksound one. So if it isn't whose is it?

As the Bachmann system is NMRA compatible there should be no compatibility problems. It will be interesting to see how this develops.

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE Bachmann sound equiped 66 will retail for around £116.

Where from? I'd have one no problems at that price.

Initially I thought this was a good price the 160 but thinking about it if the loco is 75 quid in the first place this allows an extra 85 quid for the sound decoder. Now Loksound decoders sell for 90 Euros from Modellbahn Kramm which is 60 quid so if I can buy a sound decoder fro 60 quid Bachmann will be able to buy them in bulk for a lot less so I think 120 -130 quid top end is nearer the mark.

I'll probably get one anyway unless it's a QSI decoder. If it's Loksound I definitely will.

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE A blue Princess Coronation would make an excellent splash of colour

I'm hanging out for one of these too. I regret not buying one with the coaches a couple of years back when they were available. I put a Lenz Gold decoder in my maroon one last weekend so It's good it's operational again.

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE We dont get a bad deal in the UK we just dont adjust to change very well.
yep you got that right

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE (Sidney Sidings @ 1 Dec 2006, 10:02) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Is anyone aware if Bachmann are going to release any steam sound loco's yet?

Sid.
They have Dec/Jan on their website so maybe Feb/March

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE (Ozzie21 @ 1 Dec 2006, 12:29) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I did manage to find a blue Bachmann LNER/BR A1 "North British" the other day. It almost looks like a Caledonian blue but I may be wrong. I already have a blue Princess Royal and Blue Merchant navy which does make for very imposing model. I wonder how they would have looked in LMS Midland Red if the world had gone that way.

Ozzie21
I saw the blue Bachmann one you're taking about I've been thinking about that one.

I'm still tossing up on whether to get this class 66, which is a bit ugly but would probably go with the Caledonian sleeper coaches Hornby are going to do, or to wait on the green Deltic.

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE Simon Kholer made me laugh. I asked when were hornby going into Digital sound and he said they had not thought too much about it yet, they wanted to get 2006 out of the way first. He did however say when they eventually got into sound it would be when they could do sound chips for £20! I just laughed and Simon said, would you not want £20 sound chips? Yes I said if they were ok, but I think it will be a long time before we see that? I applaud his intention to make sound chap and available to all, though I note there was no mention of reducing the price of a class 50 down to £30 or the Britannia to £40!
That would be a fantastic development if ever it happened. What concerns me is that to do sound for 20 quid the quality would be compromised due to the amount of shortcuts they'd have to take. I guess this gives us an insight into Hornbys strategy pile em high and sell em cheap.

Thanks for the tip on the class 66. Good news that it is the loksound from SWD. I may wait a while till we see what the others turn out like.

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE SWd had the HST on display (plus 47,20,04,steam, 37) and though it was hard to hear clearly again, it was easier to hear than the Howe's 60. There is notching with the HSt and it sounds very good, I would imagine on a tailchaser it will be very impressive, particularly with twin 20x40 speakers (only one fitted today) and a chip in each loco. I don't think I will be ordering till next year when my tailchaser is built Did they say anything about availability of the HST sound decoder?

I have been waiting for this for a while. I actually gave up checking their site for it.

I'm thinking about getting a second power car for my HST as the motor is so weak, I have about seven coaches and it really struggles. I like your idea of having a second sound decoder in the second loco. I wonder how that would work for syncronisation?

Has anyone tried this?

Or is it better to just have extra speakers?

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE Neil - I wouldn't worry about synchronizing the sound between front and rear of an HST. (SWD announced the HST about a fortnight ago). When I am waiting for an HST to pass at the local crossing, each motor car sounds as an individual. The sound of an HST does seem to be quite distinctive as the engine spins up when the driver sees the green for the line ahead.

Good point, I guess I've always thought there was just one noise as with the real thing you only really hear the one your nearest. I'm more familiar with these as a passenger.

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE Syncronisation would be an issue with the HST. The HST power controller has five notches, all apart from notch one result in an engine speed increase. The power cars rev up simultaneously because when the Driver notches up in the front power car, an electrical signal is sent to the rear power car to select the same notch. There may be a very slight delay due to mechanical differences, but it shouldn't be much.
For the purposes of my HST I may just install one sound decoder and have a connection to another speaker in the rear car. It will be a hassle threading wires through six or seven coaches but it's that or another hundred quid.

I'm looking forward to getting it back into action.

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE (dwb @ 5 Dec 2006, 09:50) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>>It will be a hassle threading wires through six or seven coaches
What kind of couplings are on the coaches? If it's NEM pockets, you could switch to conducting Rocos.

David
The couplings are the big ugly Hornby standard ones. What are these conducting Roco ones? This sounds like the solution to another problem I have.

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE (dbclass50 @ 5 Dec 2006, 18:15) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Sorry to but in ;

Roco make (or used to - there were patent issues regarding the 4-pole conductive/NEM coupling, the Roco close coupler & the roadbed for the Rocoline track during recent events - I will try & get some more in the next Roco order) a 4-pole conductive coupling, good product except that it was a pain to manually couple up a rake of more than say 3-vehicles.

Another solution would be to use the Roco close coupling conversions which give you NEM pockets & use the Veissmann 2-pole conductive couplers which are based on & interchangeable with the Fleischmann Profi Coupling.
any advise or opinion on this subject would be really good so please go ahead

You don't have item numbers by any chance do you?