DCC Ready or NOT - Lima 00 Gauge Class 59 Diesel Loco 59103 "Village Of Mells " -ARC Yellow Livery

[burtos]

HI

 

Would anyone know if the following loco could be converted to DCC running or is DCC READY in the first place

 

Lima 00 Gauge Class 59 Diesel Loco 59103 "Village Of Mells " -ARC Yellow Livery

 

I have the 59102 loco from Hornby and i have that with DCC Sound. Not sure if the Lima ones are DCC ready though from the off or need to be converted.  Than the following question would be is can they be converted to DCC running. 

Edited November 7, 2021 by burtos
update

[WIMorrison]

Why not take the top off and you will see if it is DCC Ready.

[DK123GWR]

'Can it be converted?' is a different question to 'should it be converted?' Pickup is often the Achilles' heel of Lima locomotives. On DC this isn't usually an issue, but I seem to spend more time cleaning DCC fitted Lima locos than running them. I very much doubt that they are DCC ready (based on experience of other Lima diesels, though not the 59 specifically) though they are very easy to convert if you do decide it's worth it.

[burtos]

43 minutes ago, WIMorrison said:

Why not take the top off and you will see if it is DCC Ready.

its on ebay auction at the moment and don't own it, so wanted to know before thinking of making a bid for it 

[2E Sub Shed]

RMweb poster has already done it - see here

 

converting-old-lima-diesels

[Ron Ron Ron]

I don’t think you need to investigate.
AFAIK, no UK outline Lima models from the “old Lima” era were fitted with decoder sockets.

There are plenty of videos and web pages covering the relatively simple process of installing decoders in these models.

[markw]

2 hours ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

I don’t think you need to investigate.
AFAIK, no UK outline Lima models from the “old Lima” era were fitted with decoder sockets.

There are plenty of videos and web pages covering the relatively simple process of installing decoders in these models.

The Class 67 did have an 8 pin DCC socket but did not have a blanking plug, so you have to cut tracks on the circuit board to use it

[Lemmy282]

Easy to convert to DCC, done quite a few Lima conversions. Zimo £20 decoder, Lais 'stay alive' and no need to fiddle with the pickups. Fully controllable down to barely visible crawl.

 

Nigel L

[Nigelcliffe]

11 minutes ago, Lemmy282 said:

Easy to convert to DCC, done quite a few Lima conversions. Zimo £20 decoder, Lais 'stay alive' and no need to fiddle with the pickups. Fully controllable down to barely visible crawl.

 

 

Agree with the approach.   And, if scared of soldering stay-alive wires to a decoder, then for a few quid more, add a Next18 socket with solder pads (all wiring to loco, pickups, motor, stay-alive, etc.. on this board, with options for lights, sound speakers, etc..) and then plug in the Next18 version of the £20 Zimo decoder.