DC to DCC Hornby R 2169 BR 4-6-2 Clan Line Merchant Navy Class

[dugdug03]

Hi All

 

I would like to convert my Clan line to dcc however I am stumped. My understanding is I need to isolate the track right wire which currently fixes to the live chassis. How would I go about doing this ? Or is there an alternative way like soldering direct to the pickups?

 

many thanks 

Edited November 19, 2020 by dugdug03
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[BromsMods]

Hopefully one of the guides here will help - https://clarahost.clara.net/www.bromsgrovemodels.co.uk/decoderinstallation4mm.htm#hornbyst

[dugdug03]

23 hours ago, BromsMods said:

Hopefully one of the guides here will help - https://clarahost.clara.net/www.bromsgrovemodels.co.uk/decoderinstallation4mm.htm#hornbyst

Thank you I will take a look.

[Rising Standards]

I haven't had a go at my Merchant Navy quite yet, but I have DCC fitted a West Country, Q1 and Black 5 that used the same system of sending current from one rail through the chassis block. In all cases I've now modified this arrangement for the sake of reliability so that the decoder or socket is wired directly to the pickups.

 

Undo the connecting rods, take the keeper plates and pickup strips off the bottom of the chassis block, and drop the wheels out for ease of handling. You should find there's a little pin on the chassis block that fits into an eyelet on the keeper plate. Cut this pin off with a dremel or even a substantial set of side cutters - it needn't be tidy, it just needs to be cut short. Next, take the eyelet out of the keeper plate. You could drill this out if desired, but the plastic is soft and as I normally have the soldering iron ready anyway I irresponsibly melt it out quickly.

 

As the other side's pickups have a proper wire connection, there's already a small hole that you can run a second wire down. Solder the new wire to the pickup strip, being careful to point the wire in the right direction to go up the hole and with a neat low profile joint so that the keeper plate won't be distorted when it's refitted. You may want a bit of kapton or insulation tape between the pickups and chassis block to be on the safe side.

 

Now that you have 2 pickup wires at the top of the chassis, you can proceed pretty well as per any other hard wired installation, just being careful to ensure that each tender pickup contact is joined to the same side loco pickup before you connect them to the decoder.