Converting older engines to digital

[crg]

Hi all - I am a newcomer to the wonderful hobby of railway modelling. I have a 20-30 year old Hornby 4-6-2 'Evening Star' (power tender) and a similar 'Flying Scotsman', both in sper nick and little used. Can these be converted to digital? All advice appreciated.

Many thanks

[The son of Triangman]

Both can be made digital easily but you will need to know what motor you have in and motor stall current. Stall current should not exceed the decoders maximum current capacity.

The ringfield motor in the 4-6-2? (are you sure it's Evening Star as

Evening Star is a 9F 2-10-0 loco) is easy to convert, I suspect your loco is Morning Star a Britannia class loco, this has the same motor so should be easy to convert.

The Fylinbg Scotsman if having tender drive will also be an easy conversion. If you

have the X.03/X.04 loco drive version pleasde refer to my X.03/X.04 fitting guide in the DCC section. I will post the link in the next post.

[The son of Triangman]

https://www.hornby.com/forums/hornby-forums/hornby-digital/825/

[crg]

Many thanks. You are quite correct it is the Morning Star, tender drive. The Flying Scotsman is not tender driven, so I will assume that the instructions in your link will apply to both my engines. I appreciate your help.

[The son of Triangman]

The instructions are for the X.03/ and X.04 motor and don't apply to the ringfield tender drive drive. My guess is your A3 an X.03/X.04 powered example, the fitting to Morning Star will be different.

[Beeky]

In the Decoder Installation Guides there's an article for fitting a decoder to a tender drive Flying Scotsman (https://www.hornby.com/hornby-dcc/decoder-installation-guides/tender-drive-flying-scotsman-decoder-installation/)

Although your FS is

not tender drive, it might help with the Morning Star.

Cheers,
Graham

[Flashbang]

Hi
The Hornby guide for the Ringfield motor linked to above only applies to one specific style of Ringfield motor. There are others!
You MUST before commencing a decoder installation and after removing the existing wires from the silver coloured

motor brush strips, test the left-hand brush strip has no electrical connection what-so-ever to the metal of the motor or any wheels. If these is a connection this must be removed before proceeding, as if left and the decoder installed and DCC power

applied the decoder will immediately blow!

[Flashbang]

To help with the above, I posted my guide a couple of months ago which lists what to test and do etc..... https://www.hornby.com/forums/hornby-forums/hornby-digital/1042/

[KiwiJim]

I have just purchased a BR Class 58 Co-Co Diesel (Hornby R250)

Can I convert this to DCC. If so, any guidance with wiring will be appreciated.

Thanks, Jim

[96RAF]

I have just purchased a BR Class 58 Co-Co Diesel (Hornby R250)

Can I convert this to DCC. If so, any guidance with wiring will be appreciated.

Go here, scroll down a bit and download service sheet 137A front and back for reference...

http://www.hornbyguide.com/year_details.asp?yearid=28

This is a useful guide for the conversion...

http://www.bromsgrovemodels.co.uk/hornbycl58dccinstr.htm

Rob

[Fishmanoz]

Interesting Bromsgrove found the loco to be not wired as per 137A, which shows power pickup on one side with the non-power bogie and on the other side on the power bogie. Bromsgrove found pickups on both sides of at least the non-power bogie. 

 

In general, all locos can be converted, some easy some harder. The harder types are split chassis and Ringfields where the left motor brush connector is shorted to chassis. 

[The son of Triangman]

I agree slightly more difficult. On the older ringfields with the cast pin under the left brush contact plate, you simply lift the bit of contact plate that touches the pin away and put heatshrink on the contact. The small black union link wire is also removed.

 

Split chassis are a pain, done them in the past. They can be done but are best avoided if you can as they time consuming and can put up a battle when putting them back together.