BLI-2245 PRR K4s 4-6-2, #1139 question

[Kurt]

does anyone know if i have to use DCMASTER for sound when running it in DC mode? Will I loose all sound if I use some other power pack?

is it worth an added $70 to get it in cast metal instead of plastic?

thanks in advance for any help.

Kurt

 

[bnsf971]

You don't have to have the controller, it will run with sound on straight DC. Things like bell and whistle will not be available.

 

[Espeefan]

Read your manual. Sometimes the whistle is available if you flip the directional control back & forth rapidly. Depends on the decoder board, but you will not have access to all of the features without DCC and only the ones the DCMaster allows you to access if you go that route. If you are going to put a lot of money into sound equipped locos you might want to reconsider DCC. A starter system isn't that expensive, and you'll get more bang for the buck out of your sound equipped stuff.

 

[Y3a]

YES! More weight is better.

 

[tootnkumin]

The DC Master is not a power pack in itself but wires in, in between your P/P-controller and the track. It only works with BLI Paragon2 or the earlier BLI Blueline models so that you have the non-automatic sounds available. Engine sounds, brake squeal, compressor will work without it with any DC controller. It also allows you to adjust the CV's in the BLI loco/s so you can alter things like the volume of the sound or setup locos in consist (e.g. running locos tail to tail). In the case of the older Blueline locos which were DC+sound/DCC ready, you could run them with non-sound DC locos by adjusting one of the CV's (haven't got the instructions to hand at the moment) to Zero so that the loco didn't have to go through the sound start-up sequence first. This option doesn't appear to be available with the Paragon2 system.

Unfortunately the DC Master can't be wired into a Cab contol DC system where the Cab is a remote controller not actually passing track voltage through itself.