New Bachmann G Scale Dash-9 unboxing

[Ron_B]

My new Bachmann CSX Dash-9 arrived today so I figured I would share some pics of the un boxing and the new engine.

A few observations,
The packaging is way better than Aristos, it comes double boxed with the loco box surrounded in foam.

The Loco is securely held in the styrofoam inner container, and extra care appeared to have been taken to ensure no damaging of the handrails and and ditch lights, the loco had no wiggle room in the styrofoam.

The hand rails come already installed.

The manual is very detailed and it comes with complete exploded parts diagrams including part numbers for all the parts that make up the loco, hopefully those parts will all be available.

It comes with smoke fluid and an extra PCB board that appears to plug into plug and play socket to allow for hard wiring to a DCC board with screw terminals without having to pull out the PNP board.

Here are a bunch of pics.

[Ron_B]

Here are the pics of the manual and parts diagrams.

[Ron_B]

Here are the New main board, smoke fluid, accessories, and the PNP adapter board.

[Ron_B]

Here are a couple of videos of new engine unboxing and running.

New Bachmann G Scale Dash-9 Unboxing

New Bachmann G Scale CSX Dash-9 first run!

[Pete_Lassen]

So far I have heard nothing but good reviews of this great new(old) locomotive. Should shut up all the B’mann is junk fools!!!

[Devon_Sinsley]

Looks like a nice loco. I have always like the dash 9. See so many of them on the BNSF line and it always looked like a handsome loco for a Dino burner.

[JRad (Jon Radder)]

Nice that they kept the same socket and adapter as the C-19 and K-27. I’m not a 1:29 guy any longer, but it’s great to see them bringing back some of the Aristo line.

I just wish they would re-run some of the Fn3 line. I wonder if they have any idea what models like K’s and C-19’s are bringing these days. Not that I would be buying, but for the market health.

[Ray_Dunakin]

I didn’t know Bachmann was making “diseasels” now. Nice that they’re filling the void left by Aristo. I hope they don’t forget us steam fans.

[Ron_B]

Did anyone make pnp DCC + sounds cards for the bachman socket if so then they should work with these new ones.

[rich413 (Richard)]

Thank you Ron B for your time and review. Jon I think that Bachmann is testing the water if this goes over well you may see more G scale.
Richard B

[Ron_B]

quick question, can you use Aristo qsi magnum decoder in the Bachmann socket, has anyone tried it?

[Pete_Lassen]

@Ray_Dunakin

didn’t know Bachmann was making “diseasels” now

Ray they purchased I think all of the AristoCraft molds , or the rights to use them , I believe Kader still actually owns the molds.

[Stan_Ames (Stanley Ames)]

Ron

There have been several truly PNP boards for the Bachmann socket. Corrently there are only 2 in the market, one from Phoenix and one from Zimo. I do not believe the Phoenix one has enough amps for the Dash-9. Several others have indicated it is their plans but until it i in the market I take a cautious wait and see.

Each locomotive comes with a PNP board that has wires. These can be screwed into most DCC sound boards, The main requirement is that the decoder must have both a + and - connection (most do)

Hope that helps.

Stan

[Ron_B]

Ok thanks, Zimo is basically on backorder forever according to Joanne, and Phoenix is MIA, so I ordered another TSU-4400 and will use the adapter board.

I do have an old QSI Aristo decoder but don’t want to risk it going up in smoke if the bachmann socket in this new engine has any wiring issues.

[Ron_B]

Well tried out both the QSI decoder and the Digitrax DG583ar directly plugged into the Bachmann socket.

Good news neither the Loco or cards went up in smoke . They both controlled locomotive direction and headlight/taillight on off and direction operation in the correct direction, regardless of the NMRA/Large-scale switch position.

Now the weird stuff, the cab lights and maker lights and smoke unit do not work with these cards installed no matter the switch position and any input of function keys I tried. I even tried flipping the safetylight switch on pcb on/off with no effect.

I didn’t wire up the sound yet so don’t know if that works yet, will get to it tonight.

If I remove the cards and put plug back in everything works correctly on DC.

I don’t have my TCU-4400 yet so I can’t wire up the adapter board yet and see if everything works with it.

I’ll mess around with it some more later tonight and let you know if anything changes.

Ron

[Ron_B]

Ok did some more testing first using the pnp socket and QSI board and was still unable to control the additional lights or smoke unit, even when using the assigned function keys in QSI manual F11, F12 with light switch on.

The only way I got them all to work including the smoke unit was to jumper the individual wires for smoke and other lights from the pnp adapter boards J2 socket outputs and J1 smoke output to the ground terminal on the QSI adapter board. Then the switches turned them on and off (the ditch lights, cab light, maker boards, and safety light are either all on or all off, the HL and RL still were controllable by the HL button on the hand-held as long as light switch was turned on)

As for sound I unplugged the speaker from the main PCB an directly into the QSI board and it worked correctly, side note the Factory speaker sounded great and had good volume and bass.

I also noted when using the pnp adapter board and wiring all the J1 outputs into the corresponding inputs of the QSI adapter board the engine and HL/RL operation was reversed (when the QSI board is plugged directly into pnp socket they worked correctly)

So unless someone makes a dedicated plug and play board for this engine the best solution, allowing maximum control of all the lighting functions and smoke will be to use the pnp adapter and a full featured DCC + sound board with screw terminals.

[Stan_Ames (Stanley Ames)]

Ron

Please see my other messages on this topic.

QSI made two types of decoders one for the Bachmann locomotives with all the pins connected and one for the Aristo locomotives with none of the extra functions connected. They did this because they found that there were Aristocraft locootives that had random power connections to J2 and a smoke function that they did not support.

Revolution Train Engineer decoders have sockets for the extra function but you must manually connect these to the solder pads on the Bachmann locomotives for these functions to be controllable.

I have no direct experience with the more recient Digitrax decoders but expect the same thing.

While there have been several truly plug and play DCC sound decoders for Bachmann locomotives, currently there are only two in the market currently. One by Zimo and one by Phoenix. I have both.

I do have concerns that the 4 motor Dash 9 has the potential for more current draw that the Phoenix is designed for.

The main reason for the current lack of true PnP decoders is that since 2007 Bachmann only released one locomotive every few years with the socket and Aristocraft is no longer around. Thus the market was small.

Lately this has changed due to the release of several new locomotives with the socket. I fully expect more choice in the market in the comming year. Until then, the best option for the Dash-9 right now other then the Zimo PnP decoder is to use any sound decoder that has both a + and - connection and connect it the the plug in board with wires attached. This board is supplied with each locomotive.

One other comment. The switches on the Dash-9 work as follows. In the On position the device in the socket controls the function. When the switch is Off the function is off no mater what is in the socket.

You can change this by making connections to the solder pad between the desired function and ground If you make this connection the corresponding switch can be used to turn on and off the function no mater what is in the socket.

Hope that helps

Stan

[rich413 (Richard)]

Ron B have you checked the gauge on the wheels?
thanks rich

[Ron_B]

Well it appears these motor blocks are like my other Dash-9s, Plated wheels, no D cut axel, non adjustable axel.

Here are the pics, with measurements, be careful with the motor block attachment screws they are flat and strip very easily. The motor block does have a peg on top so you can’t put it in backwards.

[Ron_B]

Here’s a quick video of the QSI installation, using the Bachmann pnp socket.

Bachmann Dash 9 DCC installation.