Model Railway Forum

hi, how can i tell when buying if a loco is engine or tender driven dcc.
would prefer engine driven over tender. info given on ebay listings rarely give this info
regards to all

Ask the seller.

trouble is half the time they don't know. received one today that was dcc fitted and listed as a very good runner. tried to run on dcc with no success nor could i change address. needless to say going back tomorrow

Hope you leave negative feedback and ask for your postage costs to be refunded.

Simplest is.... Can the loco wheels be turned by hand? If they can (They are free to rotate) then the loco is tender drive. If they wont rotate then they are locked by the gearing/motor drive, so its loco drive. But of course you need the loco to check or ask someone to check if they are unsure.

Don't forget when testing a tender drive loco you usually have to have the loco coupled to its tender to ensure you get wheel pick up - frequently loco right wheels to tender left side wheels or it can be the opposite!

will be going back tomorrow like it or not. yes, good idea i can ask that, anybody can turn a wheel ?

Perchance you might look up the specimen on Google to research the question? As I have to pay a King's ransom in international shipping, I have rolled the eBay dice quite a bit, and have not infrequently ended up with a very nice OO door stop. I have several of those. Also make good paperweights.

Some people do not care for this fellow, and are quite vocal about his Youtube Channel, but I have come to rely quite heavily upon Sam's Model Train Reviews. His analysis of what's on the market is quite unvarnished, and I am sure he gives severe pain to some of the executives of various model train manufacturers. So far, when I've heeded his advice, I have had better luck.

For vintage pieces, to which I am not infrequently drawn, Oscar Paisley's channel, under that name, does unboxing and review of new old stock Triang, Wrenn, and Hornby which I find most insightful.

I agree with Rog and Chops do some research on the item you are interested in or ask.
If you stumble on the item (by way of auction) late and not giving time to check it out then leave well alone until you know.
From what you explain, it is RTR (ready to run) loco's you are interested in and which there are plenty more available.
Kit built loco's as far as I am aware are loco driven & probably not DCC ready.

When I want a loco I scrutinize the internet to assess if it is particular to my requirement. If it's a new release the it is more than likely DCC ready which will need to comply with the NMRA standards.

Knowledge from my experience, for the usual builders, I expect to be corrected.
Mainline (80s) > Replica (90s) > Bachmann - have always been loco drive, however Bachmann only started to include DCC from the early to mid 2000s.
Hornby also switched to loco drive around the same time but not all loco's were DCC ready.

Here is a good resource that may help https://www.modelraildatabase.com/

I have a Mainline Dean Goods that I'll be selling shortly. It's tender driven and been DCCed by myself with the decoder in the loco as no room in the tender which is stuffed full of a steel weight. Runs like a dream.

thanks for the model database site. wish i had known about this months ago. would have saved me a lot of pain and suffering not to mention money.
thanks to all for your advice yet again