Tim123

Tender drives need as much mass as possible; removing either weight will restrict haulage capacity. Whilst the decoder may fit there will not be sufficient room for a speaker. From memory all the TTS steam speakers have round speakers and plastic sound chamber. Using the speaker without the sound chamber will result in a very tinny sound. There ought to be plenty of room in the loco boiler for a decent oblong speaker or a half spherical one - Youchoos* sells some ones designed for the smoke box / boiler. After all, it’s the end where most of the sound comes from! * usual disclaimer, no connection etc

Neither the Peckett or Barclay use “coreless” motors. The Peckett uses what looks like an N20 motor, and the Barclay has a small open framed motor. Should be ok with a feedback controller, though personally I wouldn’t use one. For me it’s DCC or a basic Gaugemaster.

CV2 controls what the motor sees as the starting voltage, so check that this is set to a value of 0. The output is a series of full voltage pulses that are varied in frequency, rather than a reduced voltage being supplied. There may be other "back EMF" settings you could change that might help. But I came to the conclusion long ago that Zimo decoders just work fine as supplied. The only Zimo CV I regularly change is CV57. This is the maximum voltage sent out in the pulses as my fleet includes some Lima locos with 9 volt CD motors fitted.

There will be an 8 pin socket, Hornby never hard-wire decoders in unless it's one of the 0-6-0 railroad Jinty / 08 etc. The X at three end of the R**** numbers says it left the factory with a decoder fitted.

The Zen218.6 is advertised as being 6 function (hence the .6 at the end). I've seen one fitted with a Gaugemaster DCC95 decoder, the cab lights were functioning correctly. It worked out of the box without any function remapping.

There's definitely something wrong with the current measurement here. Gaugemaster use thermal cutouts in their mains powered controllers. They list the part on their website - GM41 1 amp rating. So a Model D would not sustain over 2 amps for very long, maybe 3-5 seconds maximum before the power is tripped. Also having fitted countless decoders to locos from the 1960s right up to current manufacture with "coreless" motors I test them first to see the current under load and with the mechanism stalled. Very rarely do I see over 1/2 amp being drawn from steam locos. Most locos running engine only will draw around 100mA - 10th of an amp. 4 amps going through a motor would cook the windings very quickly.

Back in the day when Bachmann class 25 diesels were under £40 brand new a friend fitted the motor and bogies to a Hornby HST. I saw it running but don't know how complex the upgrade was. Sadly he passed years ago and his stock went to auction. A cheaper option would be to use the motor and drivetrain from an Athearn loco, the blue box versions sell for around £40. HO scale, so not sure about wheel diameters. Another option into use a Bachmann 158 chassis under a Mk3 coach. There's a chassis on eBay for £50 at the moment.

And that was before petrol hit £1.80 a litre

As an alternative to filing down the perimeter of the plastic wheel / spoke inserts I just removed them from my affected locos. Cut the balance weights out and glue them against the metal spokes. Repaint the wheel and the problem won’t come back. Looks ok from normal viewing distance.

Most likely it’s a copy and paste error, but has the 2-2-2 (sorry, 0-6-0) Jinty been updated with a better motor and DCC 8pin socket?

I'll have a plain glass of water, no ice thank you.

You’re on target for the prize I mentioned! You may not like it though, it’s a years pre-paid 12 month subscription to Facebook. Yes, a whole year for free. But only if you “like”, “share” and “subscribe”, whatever that lot means!

Possibly, but he'd have to bring his own ID !!!

Ok Ruff, make your full prediction right up to 24th December. If you're spot on I'll award you with a prize, but only if you like and share :-)

Yes, though I think you may need to make a slight alteration to the glazing - been a while since I did mine. Just remember to pull the buffers out before unclipping the body.

Track magic contains a by-product of the petroleum industry. Prohibited from being sent by Royal Mail, so a courier is the only way of sending it. £30 from mainland UK to Ireland is the going rate unfortunately. With customs / VAT changes the business I work for no longer sends anything “abroad” ie no Royal Mail postcode (plumbing supplies)

How much over the speed limit do you need to be before it's punishable by death?

Wonder if I’ll get my money back?

36-567A is the Bachmann Next18 decoder, RRP £37.95. Discounted priced are around £33 ish. And when you open the box it's a Zimo decoder inside! Given Zimo use the same motor drive circuitry on all its decoders and there's no lights or servo being operated then a £20 Zimo is ideal. Depends of the decoder was needed right there and then, and that there wasn't a cheaper alternative?