progers

The interior lights of each trailer vehicle are independently powered, and are constant on. You do not need a decoder in each vehicle to operate the interior lights. You do need a decoder for the power car, and function decoders in each driving trailer to operate head/tail lights. So for a 5 coach set = 2xfunction only in the driving trailers and 1x dcc decoder in the power car. Same for a 7 car set, and for the 14 car set I assume 1 for each power car and the 2 function only ones in the driving trailer. Access to the decoder socket is 2 small screws to remove a small blanking panel under the chassis and is common to the driving trailer and the power car. All very simple really - to dcc fit the entire train should take about 5 minutes start to finish - probably less time than putting it on the tracks! Also remember that the 3 decoders will need to be addressed together to enable the directional head / tail lighting. There is no easy option to control the interior lights - you could do it but then you would need to cut into the coach lighting circuit in each vehicle and add in a function decoder hard wired. Hope that helps clear up the queries ! Enjoy!

Having just done the fitting I can confirm that1 function only chip is needed for directional lighting in each driving trailer and your choice of decoder for the power car. The internal lights are on automatically as far as i can see - if you put the coach on the track the saloon lights come on dc or dcc. The coupling bars are not connective - ie each individual coach has its own pick ups for lighting. Sor for a 7 car set you need one dcc decoder for motion / sound etc and 2 function only for the driving car lights. Hope that clears up any queries!

Hi all - just for anyone interested i have just completed the dcc fitting for the APT at Chester Cathedral - so next time you see it it will have operating head and tail lights! The function only decoder is a doddle to fit - but you need to choose a small one if you use a direct fir 8 pin as the opening for the plug is only slightly wider than than an 8 pin plug. Much the same for the power car - if you choose a harnessed chip there is plenty of wriggle room to slot in the extra wires! Have to say it looks great and runs really well - well done Hornby.

Hi Roger - yes did the B2 - and followed the same basic route - fitted both the decoder and speaker into the cab - didn't manage the stay alive though - it runs well enough so far without though! Didn't seem to be less room though than in the W4 seemed to be just as small! BW Paul

Hi Roger - checked up last night and the article is in Hornby Magazine issue 117.

Did one of these before Christmas - a bit of filing down of the body mounting pillar under the chimney, but otherwise quite straightforward. I used a zimo micro decoder and microcube speaker and it sounds and runs great! There are a few magazine articles detailing the procedure - I think in model rail? Sounds etc for mine came from YooChoos - just a happy customer! One thing to note is that as space is very tight it is better to remove the Hornby decoder socket and hard wire - to be honest I don't think you could fit it in otherwise. Good luck!

Would be great to see Hornby re stock with the 37 and 47 TTS decoders - I can probably find room for another dozen at least!