zr2498

Now for the trailing car. Any 8 pin decoder, (non sound) should be suitable. I dug out an old ESU Lokpilot decoder which had been in a loco working fine, before it was upgraded to sound. On installation to the trailing car, it did not control the lights at all. This was without the driving car on the programming track. I checked the pick ups of the trailing car, and found poor contact on one side / one bogie. This was corrected, but no change. I tested the decoder with a Lok Programmer and it worked fine. Operating lights and the motor on the tester. But no luck on the programming track using an ECoS Command station. It would give 'error' message when reading / writing CV address, but crazily the write was actually making the change. Gave up, and installed a new Zimo MX600R. Of course I could not test this on the Lok Programmer, but it worked OK on the trailing car via the Command Station! I had given the driving car an address of 32 and wanted to have the same address on the trailing car. ECoS is over protective and will not allow this = 'conflict'. I dug out an old Black and White ECoS and set the address to 32 on the separate device. Hey presto. The 2 cars work fine with one address, saving the formation of a consist, however I did have to reverse the direction of the driving car to match the directional lighting. The Zimo decoder was a little too large to fit into the hidden compartment so a small recess was cut into the wall above the seats. The wires were disguised with black tape. So all is working but have I missed something when using the Lok Pilot.

This installation is already well described on the Roads and Rails web site, however I have added a few extra details, and there are a few mysteries which I could not resolve, even though I did eventually get it all working. This is the kit used: First job for the DMU was to service and run in, as not been out of the box since purchase. A strip down of the motor housing was needed to acces to the motor bearings. The Train-O-Matic stay alive could not fit into the end of the motor housing as supplied: The insulation was carefully trimmed off at each end. And installed. Installating the decoder without getting a kink in the ribbon cable was not easy. I found it best to first install the decoder with black tack. And then hold the ribbon loosely by covering the well with Kapton tape. The speaker was installed a little differently to R & R. I had the speaker sitting higher up attached to the motor housing with black tack. So far, so good and the sound for the driving car was good. Next will be the trailing car where the problems arose.

Hi Chris It might be worth taking a photo of the dcoder to see if it cna be recognised. Another member had a similar issue some time ago.

Thanks for posting. Perhaps one day I will attack the chassis under the small bonnet. Did you remove the chassis to hacksaw it. Stopping all of the saw cuttings getting into the works would concern me. One day I will finish getting a Unimat SL set up for milling!

This is a challenging sound installation owing to the limited space available. The priority was to install a speaker as large as possible, without any major removal of the chassis. This is the kit used: Cab and bonnets removed. The decoder needed to be hardwired as there is not enough room to use the 8 pin plug. The wiring of Heljan consists of just red and black wires, so as the PC board was removed, all of the wires were labelled. This is the speaker. The fastening lugs were removed. It fits nicely into the recess of the chassis. Decoder plug removed and wires prepared. The two function wires, and the wires for capacitor self wiring could be removed. To give more clearance above the decoder for wiring, the stub for holding the original PC Board was removed. As the PC Board had been removed, the lighting circuits needed to have resistors added to protect the LEDs. Further preparation of the decoder wiring. Wire connections step by step, removing labels as the connections are made. Final tidy up, and Kapton tape used before replacing the bonnets. It was really difficult to get the bonnet back on. The wiring down the side of the chassis has to be just in the right position. If I had another go, then channels for wiring would be made or opened up. I looked for a wiring route to add a stay alive in the cab, but not easy. I may go back into the loco to see if it could be fitted under the bonnet at the opposite end. Either milling or drilling into the chassis would be needed. So far it is running well with excellent sound. I have heard that the earlier models had problems with the pick ups, so a stay alive is still in mind.

Might be forced into buying two of the DRS 66's + a renumbering job

Next batch please: DRS 66/4 or 66/3 as used for nuclear flask traffic (Accurascale stock of course) .

Coal and Biomass hoppers have been feeling abandoned, but they will be very happy 😀 when 66779 and 66763 arrive to pull them out of the stock boxes. Better pictures of 66763 with Biomass would be appreciated.

Thanks for 'heads up'. Wrong era and no sound. Waiting for D7599. Surprised to see one up on ebay already!

Wow! Don't need to get one delivered. Just get in the car and go and see them whoopee!!

I get the impression that Accurascale do not dismiss RMWeb and are very much proactive with feedback.

Agree. He should have cleaned the contact first and tested instead of changing two variables. I have made this remark on the U-tube video but no reply as yet.

Just watched it. Entertaining, especially the songs 😀

So ..... based on the statement at York MRE, that is D7599 sound fitted 4 - 6 weeks for delivery. I should hear something from SLW next week 🤣 Confidence level about 2%

Those lamps have got to go

At least with Accurascale we know that they will get to us within a month of landing in the UK

Good luck with that!

Agree they do look nice, and it looks as though they will be catering for most variants. Hopefully delivery of these will be straight forward. That is, delivery to Bachmann and retailers, and then a speedy onward journey the customers. 🙂

Thanks. Planning to build the stone arches (Townstreet castings) both sides of the bridge, sometime this year. I'll do another photo record of the build as will be kit bashing again. Cheers

An article on this bridge construction will be published in the June and July '24 BRM magazines 🙂

And not at all fair or informative for potential purchasers who don't read the likes of RMWeb, or watch U-tube reviews.

Just read the review of the Black 5 in this months Hornby magazine. It's not a review.

I did have a look at those 8 pin USBs, but then I wondered about the current ratings?

Looks a much better design, except for loco / tender there is not gap adjustment. Personally I would prefer two 4 pin JST style plug sockets either side of an adjustable draw bar. The 4 wires to each keeps the stiffness reduced rather than an 8 pin assembly. Not sure why Hornby need the 8 pins as the firebox glow is on constant and fed from the loco pick ups I assume. However 8 pin would be better for those that want to have DCC control of firebox glow

Surely faulty products, if sent to the retailer, are then sent on to the manufacturer unless to is a very easy repair. But then, if repaired it is not 'new', and the retailer would lose out. I seem to recall Accurascale have sometimes encouraged bypassing the retailer on returns (as long as they are informed).