I spent most of a rainy Saturday fitting a Zimo MX645 sound decoder to the Connoisseur Jinty, a.k.a. Dobbin. Why did it take so long? I think it can be said that it all came down to the far end of the motor shaft rubbing against the top of the firebox. This morning I carefully removed a small part of the shaft (tip, using a Dremel cut off disc with multiple short cuts to prevent overheating of the shaft and therefore the delicate motor windings).

Now the motor runs the way it should. Why this happened during the fitting of the decoder I am not sure. I must have reset the gear meshing a dozen times with no improvement and as usual it took an overnight rest to produce the idea of a solution.

The actual decoder is working fine but I need to know exactly how it was "blown" because the maximum speed is much lower than running under DC and the chuff rate is 8 chuffs per wheel rotation. Admittedly the chuff rate will be different for each motor/gearbox configuration and this has to be adjusted using the appropriate CVs. An email to the retailer may answer my questions.

My DCC controller is a rather old Digitrax DCS50 "starter" set. Old because it only has a few (eight) function buttons and most modern sound chips are programmed for at least 12. I could re-map the function settings I suppose but I find programming DCC decoders a bit of a nightmare (it's like anything you only do occasionally, you have to start at the beginning of the learning curve all over again). I like Digitrax because I understand they initiated the LocoNet protocol (correct me if I am wrong) and I have invested in the necessary bits and pieces to run the controller from an old iPod Touch. The price of replacing the DCS50 is an expensive decision to have to make and deserves a lot of research.

Dobbin now has a bit of a wheeze, which I rather like.