Auscision first run V/Line N class decoder install.

    It has been a bit of time between posts, account problems and some health recovery has seen several work fronts come to a stand, which are only now starting to get back into seeing some action.

    The V/Line N class HO scale model was released by Auscision back in late 2010 with a pre-delivery price of $275 and an after delivery price of $295. A re-run is due very soon which also now includes built in sound, with the pre-order for DC still at $295 and DCC sound at $425 and includes a couple of extra liveries.

    Back in 2010 the models were only 'DCC Ready' with a motherboard and an 8 pin socket for a decoder to be installed, but the markers were operated with the headlights.

    

    I chose to install an ESU LokSound V5 58420 decoder in both my conversions along with the DCCSound sound project file and some DCCSound speakers. I also installed a homemade keep alive which slides in between the radiator grills inside the hood body. Hard wiring was chosen to allow the separation of the marker lights from the headlights.

    DCCSound have an easy to follow guide on the install process which can be found on their webpage at: https://www.dccsound.com/post/n-class-by-auscision

    First up, which such an old, never opened model, the poor quality plastic wrap had deteriorated quite badly and was also stuck to the plastic body of the models in several spots.

The poor quality plastic film which the model comes wrapped in, it has been cocooned in this for nearly 15 years.

    Here the warp has stuck to the hood around the exhaust outlet and needs a bit of effort to release it.

    

On one model it also stuck to both sides of the fuel tank, I am still mucking around trying to remove it.

    With the body removed and the cabs now free, the motherboard is removed, I also removed both crew from each cab, and the wiring replaced on the bogie pickups and decoder wired direct to the motor.

    Also the keep alive series connected super caps were slid into the hood with the radiator grill panels providing some support.

    The green and red wires, in the red rectangle, were for the headlight switch and will be used to switch the keep alive on and off to allow programming via a programming track. The DCCSound speaker is also installed at the No.1 end.

    Bogie stripped down to allow the replacement of the track pickup wires to run back to the decoder.

    Above image shows No. 1 end cab refitted and lighting now wired across the top of the speaker  which is wired 'in phase' with the decoder sitting on top of the motor plate. The green and red headlight switch wires are used to switch the keep alive which is soldered onto the uncovered pads on the top left of the decoder. The No. 2 end was completed in a similar fashion.

    My two first run N class units are now equipped to operate with the newer additions to the N class roster when the re-run models arrive, some time in October 2025.

Trainorama SAR 930 class gets a sound decoder.

    A second run Trainorama 930 class unit, 930, in South Australian Railways maroon and silver with the reflective side panels. These second run models were delivered in September 2021 for $250 per locomotive and were provided with a DCC ready 21 pin motherboard.

    With the body removed, we remove the original speakers, dummy plug and of course the crew, but only from one end as 930 is a single ended unit.

The void at the rear of the loco where the No.2 driving position would be is a good size for a homemade stay alive with six super caps.

    With the original speakers removed, a DCCSound speaker with dual drivers is installed at the No.1 end behind the driving cab and wired to the motherboard speaker pads.

    Underneath there is a three pole switch, one of the poles is modified to allow the switching of the keep alive and an extra wire is fed down through the chassis to connect the U+ from the decoder for the stay alive. This allows for the isolation of the stay alive to allow programming of the deocder.

Speakers installed, decoder fitted and stay alive in the rear held in place with a blob of hot glue.

    On the programming track being configured and then tested.

First run Powerline T class decoder swap, T 367 in Victorian Railways livery.

    I have had this 'first run' Powerline low nose Victorian Railways T class, T 367, since 2007 when they first came out and it has been hiding in its original packaging since that time and only just came out to see the light of day over the weekend, along with another Powerline T class, a V/Line high nose T, see earlier post.

    They came with a simple DCC decoder and were only $260 each back in 2007 but had a switch under the hood to change between DCC and DC mode.

    Fast forward to today, and I am finally getting close to having a functional layout and have started the huge task of checking the operation and functionality of my collection. The V/Line T proved no issue and worked and operated in the expected way via JMRI and the ProCab PowerPro setup, as per an earlier blog post.

    However, this low nose T whilst being read by JMRI would not respond to commands and was unable to be reset in the usual CV8=8 way. So, I decided to replace the OEM decoder with a DCCconcepts Zen decoder, model Z218, which I have had sitting in the parts draws since 2016.

    The body is removed by first removing the couplers and draft boxes [green circled], which are very tight in the pilot cut out, then the four body screws, two at each end [red circles]. There are no handrails bridging the chassis / body, so it makes for a pretty simple separation. However, the LEDs will jam at each end on the pilots when pulling the chassis out of the body.

    As the old type 'direct' decoder was being replaced I also replaced the power pickups off the bogies and also the leads off of the OEM LED block as these now had to reach to a different location within the body to regain connectivity. The wires came from stripping an old PC USB mouse cable down to individual wires and was of a suitable size for the new pickups.

    The bogies are easy to remove from the chassis once the wires are removed from the push on connection covers used on these 'direct' style decoders and simply push in one side of the lug and the bogie comes out freely with the drive shaft. Put the drive shaft to one side and then remove the bogie pivot and seating cap with a little force these will pop out without the need to remove the bogie coupling from the top of the gear tower. But, if your soldering skills are still being developed, you may want to strip the bogie down to reduce the heat damage from soldering on new wires to the bogie power pickup.

    The input drive worm gear is the red circle, this can be removed from the tower buy simply splitting the tower case by the clip together nature of it. Side frames and screws are in the aqua circles, and these are removed for the bogie pivot which is the yellow circle. The bottom plate is the green circle and this also clips off. These are very simple bogies to work on, strip down or reassemble.

    Partially reassembled bogie with the new longer pickup wires soldered on and the pivot reinstalled.

    The original decoder removed, and the replacement DCCconcepts Zen Z218 decoder and small keep alive was the last couple of wires are soldered to the plug harness.

    As the image shows, fitting in the Zen decoder and Keep-Alive is easy with the size comapared to the original installed decoder, and there is still enough room for a speak if you wanted to install a sound decoder. The only changes I made to the decoder function were wiring the red marker lights for each end off of Function 3 for the front red markers, and Function 4 for the rear red markers. The headlight remained directional.

    T 367 is now ready to join the roster with functional lights and power as a lead or trailing unit in a consist. Project time was about two hours to changeover the decoder.

First run Powerline T class 364 in V/Line livery.

Back in 2007 I purchased two Powerline T class locomotives, these were fitted with a DCC decoder, not sound, just DCC which allowed you to operate them on a DCC layout. The only problem with these otherwise pretty good looking models was the location of the mode selecting switch to change from DC [default as delivered position] to the DCC position. As the switch was located under the hood, or inside the body, however you like to call it. It required the removal the body from the chassis, flicking the switch and then placing the body back on the chassis.

These models were only $260 with a non-sound DCC decoder, which was the norm prior to sound becoming a must-have. Sites advertising these models suggested "fitted with a quality NCE-DA-SR decoder", however, connecting to them with JMRI software Decoder Pro shows otherwise. And it was a recommendation to replace a troublesome OEM decoder with that type...

To remove the body you are required to remove the as fitted from the factory plastic scale couplers. The model does come with replacement Kadee #5 couplers and the European style coupler in a parts bag to allow the user to fit their most suitable coupler.

The red circles are the body screws, whilst the green are the coupler draft box screws.

As the plastic whisker couplers, as delivered, are total rubbish, with the trip pin rotating around inside the knuckle and the spring falling out whilst trying to remove them, I fitted the supplied Kadee #5 couplers and centring spring into the coupler box, once I was reassembling the model.

To remove the body to flick the DCC switch, you are required to remove the couple draft box screws, remove the said draft boxes, these are extremely tight to remove out through the square hole in the pilot, and then remove the four body screws, one in each corner. If the draft box removal was a struggle, then the body and chassis separation is also a nice challenge. The front or rear LED will get jammed and also the marker light PVC tubes will also cause the separation to stick. So be careful, have a beer and a walk around outside before having another crack at separation, of the model and not the handbrake, and repeat till you finally get them apart!

Flick the switch to the right for DCC, it will be on to the left at DC, and not everyone is a fan of the left.

With the unit now selected for DCC you will notice the unit no longer emits that AC hum when placed on a DCC system. You can now program the loco address as you see fit. As I already have a later Powerline T class model of T 364 in Victorian Railways livery from 2023 with the ESU decoder, I just addressed this loco as 364.

As the unit has been it its box and never opened before, I did rotate the motor with a small screwdriver, but not the cocktail, prior to attempting to drive it.

Loco operated ok. Possibly a little noisy, but mobile phone microphones are notorious for amplifying sounds to ear bleeding levels...

The lights are simple, either on or off, and the headlight and markers operate as one and are directional if turned on.

Here's a video of the loco ramping up through all fourteen speed steps on the NCE ProCab and then back down with a clamp meter showing the current draw on the test track.

Due to the style of decoder, it has no ramp and setting to idle or changing direction just bangs it straight into the selected direction or straight to zero if idled.

Due to the size, this video is from ewechube.

Trainbuilder N class on the bench.

    I purchased this Trainbuilder N class oil burning steam locomotive, N 431, back in September 2020 and then it was sent to me via DCCSound to have a LokSound V5.0 micro decoder and speaker installed in the tender. It has been stored since that time, but now with a functional work bench setup in the layout shed I have finally been able to get the loco active and do some decoder and running tests on the rolling road.

    I did my usual things like quieten down the sound a little and also dim the lights right down.

    Image of the lights as delivered.

    And then the lights dulled down with setting them via JMRI and the function outputs with a value of 3. And the rear head and marker lights below, got the same treatment.

    N 431 running at speed on the rolling road under test. I had to take the brake rigging off and adjust some of the 'pads' as they could contact the wheels and cause very rapid shorts. I thought I had some images of the brake rigging removed, but I cannot find them now. Here is a still from a video showing the area that was shorting.

    Now this was not happening all the time, just erratic enough to be a nuisance. Anyhow, removing the brake rigging and giving it a slight adjustment before refitting has eliminated this issue now. So, below is a photo and then a video of the motion running on the rolling road now fully spark free!

    Video from my ewechube channel below:

CLP and CLF class units arrive at Glenorchy to Murtoa.

Auscision Models deliver their CLP and CLF variants.

Well after 1293 days from placing my order for two CLP and two CLF class models they arrived via Australia Post on February 4, 2025. That is three years, six months and two weeks [13 days]. The order form stated the following year, 2022, from when the order was placed on July 22, 2021. There was a tooling model photo on the order form. This is nowhere near the longest pre-order by a model company.

Looking at the model, I am unsure exactly what is going on here with the piping on the left-hand side of the cab, see the red circle below.

Prototype images so it slightly different.

I guess I can glue these up, or something similar, but it does droop and sit outside the line of the locomotive.

The below image shows CLP 17 with the pipe sitting 'out'.

The CLF models have the same issue.

Anyhow, I made a video of some changes I did to the ESU LokSound V5.0 DCC sound decoder that is fitted to these models. The models I pre-ordered were CLP-1-S, CLP-2-S, CLF-1-S and CLF-2-S.

The video is on you tube and can be found at this link:

Auscision CLF class model ESU decoder light and sound mods.

I might do a separate post with some screen shots of the JMRI pages showing the settings. Let me think about it.

Let there be light, and there was light...

June 2024 and I finally managed to get some lights installed and operational. The fitting of choice was the Pierlite 27 watt Eco LED Panel installed into the Robus metal housing.

The white Robus housings will be painted black to match the ceiling, thus 'hiding' the frames when the lights are turned on.

The lights are operational, now work can continue any time!