Bmann DCC GP7s 2/3rds off list

[OldEastRR]

I don't know if they work or look good and I don't need any, but they're at MBK (limited road names).  Bachmann stuff always seems to reach a firesale price eventually, it seems like.

[Albert in N]

  Trainworld has offered them at the same price for several months.  The colorful N scale Rock Island GP-7 is tempting, but experience says "no".  This year, two of my Bachman direct current diesels (both bought new several years ago and lightly run) had motors short out, plus another with head light diode quit.  Besides I don't want DCC and use analog MRC Tech 7s.  I don't trust dual mode DCC chips for DC analog running.  Fifty bucks goes a ways toward buying a reliable Kato or Atlas diesel locomotive from the same discount internet seller.

[brokemoto]

I have fried more than one B-mann factory decoder on DC.  This has been mostly on an MRC 2400 with the pulse OFF.  I have fried one or two on the MRC 2800 which has a discreet pulse.

What is funny is that the majority of them run better without the decoder than with it.  The creep on some of them is excellent on DC without the decoder.

[peteski]

What is funny is that the majority of them run better without the decoder than with it.  The creep on some of them is excellent on DC without the decoder.

That is not surprising to me at all. A decoder operating in DC is out of its environment. The microcontroller still has to run and juggle the changing supply (track) voltage with the PWM pulses it generates to drive the motor. It is not  pretty!  I'm pretty sure that DC-compatibility was designed sd a stop-gap measure for people that were migrating from DC to DCC, so they could still operate their DCC locos on the old system, or for occasional running on DC layouts.