Hornby Model/DCC Chip Compatibility Database?

[Nigels2000]

After a good few years hiatus from the hobby I've recently got back into things and find that DCC has matured somewhat since I was last involved. As such I am looking to get into DCC and with this in mind have obtained a Select controller and a couple of loco's and decoders.

Now I'm not afraid to hardwire decoders if it comes to it, but due to lack of time and currently knowledge I was looking more at getting hold of models which are 'DCC' compatible and then a Hornby DCC chip to fit them.

However I've found this is not as simple as it seems as loco's carrying the 'DCC Ready' logo are not all equal. Let me explain, for example I recently obtained a brand new 'Tornado' model and then during the Black Friday events a certain online retailer was selling the TTS Sound chip for 'Tornado' at a discount, so I stupidly just bought it thinking it would be 'plug and play'. Of course I've now found out it isn't and that the TTS decoder does not fit my Tornado as the one I have doesn't have the sound type tender. Of course I could remove the speaker and either run some longer leads to the tender some how and figure out a way to mount the speaker or add one of the cube speakers to the main body of the Tornado as I've seen described by some on here. I don't think this would beyond me, but the whole point is I was after a 'plug and play' solution which is what I thought I'd get it I bought a Hornby 'DCC Ready' loco and a TTS chip made specifically for the named loco I'd got. But of course its never that easy.

So to the point of this post. Does anybody know of a resource on the net somewhere that has a cross-reference of Hornby loco's to decoder compatibility?

What I'm thinking of is something like;

Loco Name ¦ Hornby Stock No ¦ Socket Type ¦ Std DCC PnP ¦ TTS DCC PnP ¦ Notes

So for example;

Cock O' The North ¦ R3171 ¦ 8 Pin ¦ Yes ¦ No ¦ Railroad version

So here you could look up the various versions of Cock O' The North and then find your version and know that for example in the above case it has a standard 8 pin socket, is compatible with the Hornby 8 pin std decoder, but not with the TTS version - or at least not without some fettling, in other words the TTS is not 'plug and play'.

If this resource doesn't exist I'd be willing to put a spreadsheet together to hold this sort of information and maintain it. But this is where you guys come into play. Would you be willing to post details in comments on this thread as to which DCC ready Hornby loco's you own and the details about the DCC socket, which Hornby Chip type is PnP etc..?

[96RAF]

A good starting point for such a database is the service sheets for each loco variant. Variant as in iteration of basic design for a loco type.

There is some hope in that all recent (say since TTS-retro kits were marketed) that all tender locos are what can be classed as TTS-Ready i.e. with the decoder socket in the tender and provision for a speaker.

Each service sheet lists the R numbers applicable but of course these sheets are not kept up to date with any certainty so some guesswork will be required to fill in the gaps.

[ColinB]

I think you will find that all Hornby locos after a certain date have provision for the decoder in the the tender unless it is a Railroad version or obviously a tank engine. In your case you just need to buy a sugar cube speaker and use that instead of the standard one.

[Nigels2000]

A good starting point for such a database is the service sheets for each loco variant.........

 

 

This is somewhere I thought of starting, but the list of service sheets available here is not anywhere near comprehensive, or at least if it is I've not found them all yet!

I'll probably start there though and add details for any loco's I've got myself, thanks for the input...

[96RAF]

Lendons has a more comprehensive set and often searching the Hornby site on R number brings up a sheet not listed in the index.

[96RAF]

This may help with the baseline listing of locos.

www.modelraildatabase.com - once you get to the main site, select the lists menu on the left to find the Hornby or other makes stuff locos.

Edit - It just occurred to me I already had this spreadsheet, originally planned to help rationalise motors across the range.

http://www.halton96th.org.uk/newmasterworkbookrhv2.xlsm

There are several tabs as you will see.

I also have most of the older service sheets on my site for download in bulk here.

http://www.halton96th.org.uk/service-sheets.html