DCC fitting Patriot class

[jimdot]

How do I get into the tender to fit DCC

[96RAF]

According to both Patriot maintenance sheets (Railroad and Royal Scot) the socket is in the loco.

Did your loco not come with a maintenance sheet telling you how to fit detail parts, lubricate and gain access to remove the body.

[jimdot]

According to both Patriot maintenance sheets (Railroad and Royal Scot) the socket is in the loco.

Did your loco not come with a maintenance sheet telling you how to fit detail parts, lubricate and gain access to remove the body.

 I bought it second hand so no data sheet, Ihave removed the Loco body(number R375-*560) and there is just a flat bed no socket. The drive is in the tender (not working) and I can not see how to acsess it

Just looked up the numbers on your site I think its a cobbeled together Still would like to get into tender

Thank you for your help I would be still scratching my head

 

[ColinB]

From what you are saying it is a tender driven loco, same as my Duke of Sutherland. If it is a tender driven Ringfield the tender top should just unclip. You might have to help it along a bit by inserting a knife between the tender top and bottom. Be very careful though. If it is a tender driven then you need to add a DCC socket and modify the motor. The way I did it was to put the socket in the loco and then connect to the tender using the Hornby 4 way connection system. I think you will find there is very little room in the tender to fit a socket.

[Going Spare]

You should find the tender body is secured by four clips on the top of the chassis frame locating into recesses at the bottom of the tender side panels, approximately one- and two-thirds along each side.  The clips may spring apart by squeezing the front and rear of the tender body, causing the sides to bow outwards slightly.  If not, carefully use a blade between the bottom of the body and the top of the chassis, starting at one corner and working it along the side, gently prising the body outwards. 

[96RAF]

According to both Patriot maintenance sheets (Railroad and Royal Scot) the socket is in the loco.

..... I bought it second hand so no data sheet, Ihave removed the Loco body(number R375-*560) and there is just a flat bed no socket. The drive is in the tender (not working) and I can not see how to acsess it

 

Unfortunately Hornby only list ‘sheets’ for the later models. For maintenance of the earlier models you have to rely on the much more comprehensive service sheets, which usually have far more detail about the working of the model than the simple parts list provided nowadays.

 

Anyhow folk have given you a further steer about tender drive locos and you can find info about converting the various types of ringfield motor on Brian Lamberts website.

[ColinB]

If you are going to the effort of converting to DCC, one enhancement I would suggest is making the loco pickup power on both wheels. You have to be a bit careful you don't increase the "drag" on the wheels too much otherwise the loco will just slide, but it is definitely a worthwhile improvement.

[jimdot]

From what you are saying it is a tender driven loco, same as my Duke of Sutherland. If it is a tender driven Ringfield the tender top should just unclip. You might have to help it along a bit by inserting a knife between the tender top and bottom. Be very careful though. If it is a tender driven then you need to add a DCC socket and modify the motor. The way I did it was to put the socket in the loco and then connect to the tender using the Hornby 4 way connection system. I think you will find there is very little room in the tender to fit a socket.

Thank you for reply there is a 8 pin socket fitted, so am hoping just to plug & play

[ColinB]

So it looks like you are all set, don't use a Hornby decoder they are a bit suspect with Ringfield motors stall current, Hattons ones seem to have a similar issue. The reason I know this, is both sorts died when the loco stalled at a point, the back to back spacing was wrong on the front bogie. I replaced them both with Zimos and have had no further issues.