Castle Class TTS decoder too big.

[morairamike]

My Castle Class TTS decoder came yesterday. I tried to fit it today. My DCC ready Cardigan Castle was previously fitted with a decoder, so I thought simple, just unplug that and plug in the TTS one. So i did that. I already had a 4 wire plug/socket from Hornby and fitted that to the tender. While the body was off, i took the time to change the tender pickups from 3 on the left wheels to 2 on the left and 1 on the right. This I did by cutting the rear most  wiper and the adjoining copper strip off and turning it around and then screwing it to the chassis. Soldered a wire from the plug p.c.b. to each of the copper strips so that they connect to the decoder socket in the loco. Fitted a sugarcube speaker to the top of the ballast weights with blue tac and plugged in the plug/socket and put it on the track. All working but very quiet. Changed sugarcube for another and the volume needed turning down.

So far so good, now put the tender body back and then the loco body. BUT it won't  fit as the TTS decoder is bigger than the original one. I tried all locations but to no avail. So what's  the solution? Well simple really, fit the decoder socket and decoder in the tender. By using a longer screw and a spacer the socket can be held on top of the ballast weight using the front ballast screw fixing hole. Insulation tape under the socket prevents it from being pushed down onto the metal and shorting. The 4 way plug/socket connects the left and right loco driver wheel pickups to the tender wheels and conects the decoder motor output to the loco mounted motor. The speaker is connected  directly to the decoder sound output. Decoder is held down with blue tac. The bodies of the loco and the tender now fit correctly, All tested on the track, vol set at 3. Looking forward to more TTS decoders in the future for hopefully Praire and 2-6-4 3MT and 9F