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.