Locomotives
I wanted a class 31 to haul the small goods train. So finding a new one on ebay with fitted sound decoder led me to purchase it.
Unfortunately, the model arrived with a drivetrain fault. A cracked axle gear meant the mechanism jams after one full turn of the drivewheels. This can be diagnosed easily:
- Remove both bogies and use wires to power the body. Check the motor runs OK.
- Replace one bogie at a time, to find which bogie causes the mechanism to jam.
- Remove the bogie causing the problem and turn the driving wheels by hand. In my case, one of the wheels could be turned continuously; the other would only turn one full turn. It is the opposite one (which when turned by hand rotes OK) that has the fault.
- Look carefully at the gear on the axle. There will be one of the gaps between teeth appears slightly too large; and it won't allow the gear to mesh with the driving gear.I was able to use a scalpel to expand the gap between teeth to prove this was the problem.
The fix is simple: order a replacement axle with gear and wheels. The axles are held in place by a removable "base" under the axles; this also holds the bogie sideframes. There is a clip at each end. With that open, the affected wheel can be snapped out and removed.
The Farish class 60 is a nicely running loco and usually operates the oil train. Because it runs regularly it is a good candidate to have a sound decoder.
The Youchoos installation guide is for a newer version of the chassis than mine, so I decided to get an MX660 decoder and follow the installation guide for the Class 57 (Guide). The steps are identical, but there is a bit more room in the Class 60!
Raw material required:
- MX660 decoder with sound file;
- Sugarcurve 6 speaker
- Lifelink PCB with 2 flat 470uF tantalum capacitors
As a hint, mark the "forward" direction of your chassis before starting. If the decoder is mounted with its "forward" direction the same as the loco, the LED settings will be easier.
I followed the steps in the guide pretty much exactly. There is more space for the speaker, and it was only necessary to file the sides away from the area above the front bogie. The chassis thickness for the bogie "+" mounting is unchanged. The decoder was attached with double sided tape on top of kapton tape. The capacitors were mounted at the back of the chassis with the lifelink just forward.
I had some 6BA solder tags; the screw that used to hold the PCB tot he lugs on the top of the chassis fitted through the solder tag in the holes where normally you'd solder wire. They made a simple pair of chassis connections.
The lighting is worth recording. There are 5 solder pads on the front & rear lighting boards marked A-E. Be aware that the boards are different widths, so they are "ended". The WHITE LED is connected between A(+ve) & C. The RED LED is connected between D(+ve) & E. So wire a blue decoder wire to A, with a wire link to D; then yellow and white wires to E & C respectively. At the front: white goes to F0f, yellow to F01. At the rear: white goes to F0r, yellow to F03. Then program CV33 to 17, CV34 to 6 and the LEDs will operate as expected.
The Farish "Castle" class steam locomotives are designed for sound installation. I (inadvertently) have two "Castles"; this one has been renumbered 5011, "Tintagel Castle".
I have sound decoders from Youchoos; they come with the sound files already loaded. Their guide for this install YouChoos N Scale Castle is simple and complete.
In this model, all the decoder and sound installation is in the tender. There is a space for a 15x11mm speaker; Youchoos supply one with a self-adhesive gasket.
The decoder is a Zimo MS581 which has built-in "keepalive" capacitors. It is a Next18 decoder, with a simple plug onto the Farish-supplied PCB - so why you have to remove the PCB in the tender first to solder the speaker wires to the underside is anyone's guess but never mind!
Once in the loco number is set in the conventional manner, and the loco is ready to go. It has good reliable pickup from all axles. The sounds really do bring life to the railway. My ambition is that "human" train drivers will drive steam excursion trains round the railway, with other traffic running under computer control in the background; the ability to whistle should add some entertainment!
My other Castle has an older MX658 decoder, but the process was identical. The MX series seems to have been superceded by the MS series; the MS581 is near identical in size to the older MX658.
I added a couple of sound decoders a while ago, and have been very impressed with how the bring the railway to life. I decided to add a diesel one and picked the Class 57.
Youchoos has a guide to installing a Zimo MX660 in the Farish class 57. Link here.: YouChoos
The guide calls for total chassis stripdown, then removing metal to make room for the speaker. I chose to file the chassis rather than grind, and it only took a few minutes. Then add decoders wires to the motor, and stick the decoder onto the top of the chassis (kapton tape then double sided tape). Very quickly I had the chassis running, with sound.
For lighting: my decoder is back to front in the chassis (I have the fan as "front") so the F0 headlamp outputs are OK for the tail lights. I've configured function output 1 as the rear headlight, and function output 3 as the front headlight. To enable these program CV33=17, and CV34=6.
Great result; I suspect I will be wanting more of these!
Finally found a solution for Annie and Clarabel. I've simply cut the running gear from the bottom of the models, and glued a chassis from a Peco 15' wagon kit underneath. It needed approx 1mm spacing so a suitable piece of PVC sheet was added too.
The wheels are not far to small in comparison, but their axles are properly detected!