DCC DECODERS FOR
INTERMOUNTAIN LOCOMOTIVES – August 2009
As our selection
of N and HO scale locomotives continues to expand, we hear from more and more
modelers who are curious about Digital Command Control (DCC) decoders for their
InterMountain locomotives. Although we do not make decoders ourselves, decoders
for our locomotives are available from top DCC manufacturers such as
SoundTraxx, Digitrax, North Coast Engineering (NCE),
Train Control
Systems (TCS), Lenz and others.
N Scale:
The following
table indicates our locomotive and the appropriate board replacement decoder
model numbers from each decoder manufacturer:
|
IMRC
N Locomotive |
Digitrax |
NCE |
Train
Control Systems (TCS) |
|
EMD FT-A |
DN163I1A |
NIMFTA |
No Board Replacement |
|
EMD FT-B |
DN163I1B |
NIMFTB |
No Board Replacement |
|
EMD F3 A&B, EMD F7 A&B |
DN163I1C |
No Board Replacement |
No Board Replacement |
|
EMD F9B |
DN163I1C |
No Board Replacement |
No Board Replacement |
|
EMD FP7
EMD FP9 |
DN163I2 |
No Board Replacement |
No Board Replacement |
|
EMD SD40T-2, SD45T-2, SD45-2 |
DN163I0 |
N12A0e |
IMD4 |
|
More Information: |
|
These decoders
are available from any hobby dealer that stocks DCC products.
There may be
drop-in sound decoders available from MRC that will fit in our N scale
locomotives. Note that no MRC sound decoder has been tested in an InterMountain
locomotive by InterMountain.
HO Scale:
Although no
manufacturer makes a decoder specifically designed for our HO scale F3, F7,
FP7, FP9, and U18B, the models include an NMRA 8-pin socket making equipping
these engines for DCC simple and quick. An NMRA 8-pin plug decoder from any of
the decoder manufacturers will work great as long as there are wires between
the decoder and the 8-pin plug. Please
note that a direct plug style decoder, with the 8-pins directly mounted to the
decoder, will NOT physically fit.
HO Scale
sound information:
If you would like
sound in your InterMountain locomotives we highly recommend that you purchase
our factory sound equipped version. These locomotives fully operate on DC and
DCC out of the box utilizing the very realistic QSI sound system with version 7
chip software. Version 7 chips are sound file rewritable for complete user
sound customization. For more information visit: http://www.qsisolutions.com
If you wish to
purchase our non-sound equipped locomotives and add your own sound decoder,
there are various sound decoders available such as those offered by QSI,
Soundtraxx, ESU LokSound, and Digitrax. There is a space provided inside the HO
F units for a 1.10” diameter speaker. There is a space provided inside the HO
U18B for a 1.38” L x .640” W x .277” H (approximate size) rectangular speaker.
Speakers of other sizes may possibly be custom fit to our locomotives.