I have a number of Bachmann Vandy tenders that I wish to put sound (and decoders) into. In particular I am looking at the VC16 and VC12 tenders at the moment.

First the VC16 tenders. I want to build at least 3 different versions for experimentation purposes:
1) Mount a Railmaster bass-reflex speaker (already enclosed in its own 'box') on the bottom frame firing out the bottom of the tender.

I'm making decisions and assembling the necessary materials to add DCC sound to some of my HO geared logging locomotives (shays, climax, heisler).  As much as I would love to use TCS WOW decoders they apparently do not support shay (not sure about climax and heisler) chuff rates without resorting to cams.  There is also no support for rod clank and other drive train sounds.

Can somebody tell me what I did wrong with this loco wiring?  I am installing a Soundtraxx 1000 DSD decoder in an old Balboa brass Southern Pacific Consolidation.  The decoder is in the tender and I have 6 wires running from the decoder to the loco.  They are as follows from left side of cab to right side of cab as you are looking at the back of the loco:

Right Rail Pickup (Red)

Motor Plus (Orange)

Function Plus (Blue)

Forward Headlight (White)

Motor Minus (Gray)

Firebox Light (Green)

Would it be safe to use a DCS200 as a booster on an N scale layout? We will have a fresh battery in all boosters and will be protected with either PM42 or PSx breakers. I was worried the 8 amps would cause problems, but would the circuit breakers set at 4.5 amps make the 8 amps safe for our scale? So far it looks like we will have 5 booster districts and the command station will be stand alone. There will be two DCS200's in the mix.

Thanks