As for the specific locomotives, I think that’s been covered rather well, except that I would argue that the Bachmann connie isn’t quite the dog others think it to be. Mine’s been pulling faithful service for 7 years now. I know of many others pulling similar faithful service for their owners. True, the main driver is the Achilles’ heel, but if it splits (and again, there are many that have not), you can replace it by ordering a new one from Bachmann’s on-line parts store. (Or, upgrade to Barry’s drive. It will cost you more than the locomotive, but you’ll not ever have to worry about it again.)
Sound? If you want absolute top drawer sound, go with Phoenix. Fully customizable with features out the wazoo. Buy the board, buy the computer interface, and you can tailor your sounds to your heart’s content. The PB9 works with any kind of control, while the P5 is specifically DCC compatible. (Then, there’s the P5T interface which allows you to control the P5 via non-DCC systems.) The Phoenix will give you the most flexibility in terms of allowing you to choose your particular brand/type of controller.
The next option in terms of sound would be the QSI “Magnum” board. This is an integrated sound and control board for DCC control. QSI is a close second to Phoenix in terms of sound. Like Phoenix, you can get their programming software and computer interface, and completely customize sounds for your locomotive. It’s not like “the old days” when you bought a “Rio Grande #455” sound system and were stuck with whatever sounds were loaded on the chip. Both the Phoenix and QSI systems have ever-expanding sound libraries from which you can daisy-pick bells, whistles, air pumps, etc.
If you go with the QSI board, your choices for control are a bit more limited. QSI is a DCC-prototocol board, so if you want to run it off of batteries, you’re going to have to use either the Airwire or NCE G-wire controller, and hook the QSI to the G-wire receiver. I use the word “limited” only in terms of the specific throttles you’re able to use, not in functionality. The QSI/G-wire combination is arguably the most full-featured system out there. The only downside is that to access the higher-end functions, you’ve got a bit of a learning curve in terms of programming the system to overcome. Not insurmountable–and here again, the computer software/interface makes life much simpler.
Other (far less expensive) sound systems can be found from Dallee, MyLocoSound, and others. I’ve not heard them, but most users seem to think well enough of them. They’re not as full-featured or programmable as the higher-end ones, but that’s to be expected.
Frankly, unless you know right off the bat that you’re going to want the high-end control that DCC affords, I’d investigate a control system based on two criteria: quality of sound and user interface. The majority of higher-end control users want control over the speed, direction, bell, whistle, directional headlights, and maybe a few extra accessories. Pretty much every system on the market (Aristo’s Revolution, LocoLink, RCS, G-scale Graphics, Airwire) give you that. Each has its own unique user interface, and since that’s how you’re going to be running your trains, you want it to make the most sense to you personally, and be a comfortable as possible. Dollar-wise, they’re all fairly competitive with each other. It doesn’t make a ton of sense to me to sacrifice comfort and intuitiveness to save a few bucks, so go with what feels best to you.
Later,
K
