Hi Martin,
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I suspect you will be able to fit the decoder.? You can be sure by checking the dimensions of the decoder and see if there is room for it.
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I THINK Bachmann has made a few changes since my Shay.? My Shay from Bachmann was their first production run.? It ran about 2 hours before the gears began to crack and rendered it useless.? At the time, Bachmann did not have a fix.? Years later, I saw someone with a Bachmann Shay that ran just fine.? So maybe they fixed their problem.? Before you invest your time and money into installing a decoder into a Bachmann Shay, make sure it is not their first generation or at least you can buy replacement gears for it.
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The basic wiring of all decoders is the same.? Some of the G-scale decoders have optional additional things you can wire.? For example, some have inputs that allow magnets in the track to ring the bell or blow the whistle.? Like I said, these are optional.? If you buy such a decoder, you can always hook them up later.
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A note for G-scalers:? I lived in an area that has twice yearly open houses and had lots of visitors each time.? My garden railroad covered my entire backyard and there were several places where the foot path was crossed by train track.? I couldn't keep an eye on all three trains, visitors and answer questions.? So it was beneficial to have the whistle and bell come on automatically to warn people that a train was coming and to get off the track.
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I have moved and no longer have a garden railway.? It is all now history recorded in my website.
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Allan Gartner
Wiring for DCC
