Jump to content
 

Hornby loco drive Princess none DCC ready conversion


MikeHunter
 Share

Recommended Posts

I did an extensive search for a fitting guide for this locomotive, and didn't find one anywhere so here is my guide:

 

The loco in question is R2225 Princess Arthur of Connaught in LMS maroon. The loco is loco drive, but not DCC ready. Mine was bought new, but has sat unused for several years. This is how I did the installation, usual caveats apply that you need to wire it properly to avoid damage to the loco or decoder.

 

I had an 8 pin Hornby decoder with a damaged pin, so used this, cutting off the pin mounting to reveal the wires, and cutting back the insulation on the 4 wires I would need. wrapping the others in insulation tape.

 

Now to the loco:

 

1) Tested the loco on DC it was running well

2) Opened the loco body by removing the large screw underneath the chassis near the front

2) removed the metal weight which is screw attached and fits under the boiler in front of the motor. There didn't seem much room for the decoder anywhere else, much though I hate taking out weight. The third photo shows the position I used for the decoder. There is plenty of space without the weight.

3) cut and removed the wires to the tender draw bar, and removed the suppressor, couldn't easily leave this in as it was wired directly between the motor and the track pickups.

4) Cut the black wire through the chassis which goes to the motor - soldered the track end  to the appropriate decoder wire, and soldered the other end from the motor to the correct decoder wire.

5) for the none insulated side, the track wire to the motor was attached to a screw on the top of the chassis in front of the motor. I removed this, and soldered the appropriate decoder to track wire in its place. 

6) I then had to wire the remaining decoder to motor wire to the other side of the motor. (The red wire in picture 2, I reused one of the original wires, soldering it to the correct decoder wire). As this attaches under the motor, its much more easily done by unscrewing the motor from the chassis, soldering it on, and reassembling.

7) The loco was then ready for the programming track, and worked straight away. Job done!

 

Then disaster, when reassembling the body, the the plastic thread in the front of the body broke, meaning that I couldn't reattach the screw. Beware, this may just be just a weakness in my particular model, or could be a weak design. 

 

As I use Kadees I then undid the bottom of the tender chassis, removed the coupling, and replaced with a Kadee of the right length. - Its exactly the correct height fortunately.

 

There, job done (apart from the annoying screw thread damage. Probably just cost myself a new Lizzie when it comes out, but this is a very good model. The biggest weakness is the rear pony truck, not fixed like on the real locos and latest Hornby designs as on the Duchess, but as I have tight curves, its much less prone to shorting on points.

 

 

Princess_Arthur_of_Connaught.jpg

wires to motor.jpg

chip wired and positioned.jpg

Edited by MikeHunter
  • Informative/Useful 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...