DCC Flying Scotsman advice please

[fiorow]

Hi all

My 3 year old grandson has a trainset all set up in my spare room (its The Pennine Express).

But hes Flying Scotsman mad, and i would love to buy him the Scotsman with the TTS sound effects.

As a novice to all of this, could anyone here explain the best and easist way for him to have the Scotman on his existing train set. I do understand we need to replaceour analogue controller for a digital one.

Many thanks

[Chrissaf]

Fiorow, welcome to the forum.

.

Although not directly related to your question. Sections 5 and 6 of my "Getting Started with Track Extension Packs" document may help to provide you with a better understanding of what is involved in moving to DCC.

.

https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/track-extension-pack-guide/?p=1

.

It will give you an overview of DCC. The Hornby DCC controllers that are available. What is required to convert your DC track to being DCC compatible. What it doesn't cover is how to convert your existing Pennine Express loco to DCC working.

.

To get the best out of a TTS loco, be aware that if you purchase a Hornby 'Select' controller (either old stock or second hand) you may need to have it updated by Hornby to 1.5 version (or later) firmware. Previous firmware versions only have limited support for Hornby TTS locos.

[fiorow]

Thank you for your reply, but i am a grandmother, a novice,and i put this post up for some simple, basic, advice.

I have seen so much info via google and im very confused by it all, hence asking for the easiest and simplest way to do this, for a novice to understand.

Thanks

[mjb1961]

Hi fiorow,,,,,,to be honest it wouldn't be cheap ,at a guess £150 for a digital contoler and the Scotsman ,,,,but that is what you would need to run dcc and dcc sound ,on top of that you will have to convert any points to dcc ,,my advice to you would be have a good search for dcc controllers ,,also it might pay to by a digital train set ,one that's cheap in the sales and then get a TTS scotsman ,,there are some good tts Scotsman bargains at the minute @ £70/£80. ,,google r3284tts,,,,,,,,

[fiorow]

Thank you.

My budget is about £150 to £200 and im worried i will buy the wrong items and it doesnt make the sounds.

He loves his train set he has now, and we have added a lot of scenery etc etc, so would like to spend the money converting his existing set to DCC and see his little face light up with the Scotsman going around it. 😀

So its the controller, the loco and items to convert the points? 

Thanks again x

 

[mjb1961]

Hi again ,,,,to convert the points ,,,HORNBY R8232 dcc point clips ,,,,,@ £2 or £3 ,,,HORNBY R3284TTS  FLYING SCOTSMAN TTS ,,@ £85.00 from Hattons ,or even cheaper if you Google the R3284TTS number ,also eBay ,and then a controller ,I use a ,,,NCE POWERCAB ,,,,@ £130.00 ,again Google NCE POWERCAB ,I bought mine from Coastal DCC ,,,www.coastaldcc.co.uk,,also eBay ,this controller is a lot more than a basic dcc CONTROLER for @ £70 -£80,I don't think you would out grow it and need to by another ,,another bit of advice ,,DONT buy your dcc CONTROLER or Scotsman from this website ,,,full price ,,,search the Internet and if you have a model train shop near ,go and see them ,,,,,also on this forum most people will only reccommend HORNBY ,,,look for other forums as well ,,,,,,anyway I hope I've helped you a bit ,,,,martin 

[Howbi]

@Fiorow......having read the previous posts you may come to the conclusion that converting to DCC just to get the sound of a steam engine chuffing for your grandson rather daunting........there is a simple solution however........TrainTech make a sound capsule which has a small button battery attached and can be dropped into a tender or a wagon.......it is activated by movement so is not on all the time wasting battery.......you would just need to undo a screw on the tender to lift the top off and then stick the capsule in on some BlueTac and replace the top, job done.......look here... http://www.train-tech.com/index.php/sound

[fiorow]

Thank you so much for your advice, its so much appreciated and a great help.

Regards x