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Fitting DCC to Hornby R3772 RAF Northern Rail


cowside

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In order to fit a DCC decoder I tried and failed to unclip the body of this loco using the instructions in the Service Sheet enclosed with the loco. I contacted Rails of Sheffield from whom I bought the loco. They have been helpful and replied:

**PLEASE NOTE THAT THE INSTRUCTIONS PROVIDED WITH THE LOCOMOTIVE ADVISE TO UNCLIP THE BODY FROM THE CHASSIS, THIS IS NOT THE CASE. UNCLIP THE ROOF FOR DCC FITTING**

It is easy to unclip the roof, and this exposes the DCC socket ready to use. I think it would be impossible to get at it from underneath!

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Yes just fitted the DCC chip and it works fine .I found another small problem in that the Second coach had the coupling on the wrong way round.Had to unclip it turn the it other way up to get it to couple.Are Hornby going to make a souind chip for this model 156 ?

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An update:For a new model this loco is terrible on points, particularly curved ones - where it stops and sometimes starts again, making it unusable. It seems to be based on a very old model. The problem has been solved by fitting a LAIS KungFu chip with their large stay alive capacitor added. The model is now usable.

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  • 1 month later...

Wish I had read this before I struggled getting the body off. Have Hornby issued a corrected leaflet and issued a warning to retailers?

You will notice that only four pins of the decoder are connected to the PCB. So if you wish to make use of the other decoder functions, you will either have to hardwire everything or connect the other four pins to the solder tags on the PCB.

If you just wish to use one function you should be able to use the extra floating purple wire plus the blue positive wire on the stay alive connection if one is fitted. This is what I plan to do for coach lighting. Choose a suitable low profile decoder.

One advantage of using old Lima bits is that the bogies have live axles connected to one wheel which makes pick up fitting easier. I wish all coaches had this. Modern wheels are insulated on both sides.

Inserting passengers looks tricky as I don't fancy risking removing the window moulding.

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