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explain dcc trains


stewart166

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Hi Stewart.  I'd recommend the Class 08 diesel shunters for all round performance.  I have a couple and both work extremely well at low speed but you might be hard pressed to get one with sound as they were very popular when on Hornby's shelves and were snapped up and no longer available from Hornby.  However if you google "Hornby R2903XS Clss 08 Diesel Shunter D3105 DCC Sound" you should find one available at £179.00 from a retailer who deals in Hornby stock in Manchester.  There are no Class 08 diesels available from Hornby direct unless you want to pre order a dcc ready and have a decoder and sound chip installed but that might put it out of your price range.  I don't know much about the BoBo and CoCo diesels so can't comment on them if that is the model you are looking for but again the full monty is scarce at present from Hornby

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You would be very lucky to get a DCC Sound loco for less than £170.

As far as I know, there are no TTS sound diesels, yet.

Apart from the TTS units, which are not sold separately, either, a sound chip on it's own costs £100, give or take a few pence, so that has to be added to the price of the loco.

You don't say what kind of layout you have, or if it has small radius corners. Most sound-fitted diesels, apart from the 060 shunter, will struggle with any curve tighter than a third radius one.

Regarding low speed performance, a few basic rules

1) Clean flat track.

2) Clean wheels

3) More wheels equals more pick-ups which equal better reliability.

Taken to extremes an 0-2-0 (if that were possible) only has one wheel on each side picking up power, where an articulated Garratt 4 - 6 - 2 - 2 - 6 - 4 has twelve wheels on each side.

The more pick-up points you have, the less chance of a speck of muck stopping the loco.

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There are no Diesel TTS Sound trains available yet.

 

The launch of the first diesel is expected in February, see 2015 catalogue for more details. You may have to open a listing fully to see proposed launch dates.

 

If you only have £170 and definately want diesel then you will need to wait till they are launched. You can pre-order them, I have.

 

PJ

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thank you to everyone who replied my layout is a trackmat with a yard on the side of it https://www.hornby.com/hornby-trakmat.html. if i were to get a class o8 shunter would i be able to install sound. would it be possible to chage the coouplings of a bnsf deisel loco tohornby couplings. thanks

Hi Stewart, unless you are experienced in installing decoders and sound, I would say that a class08 shunter is not the easiest model to start with, simply because there is very little room to put the decoder and speaker.  If you are inexperienced and this is your first go at DCC and sound, I would pay the extra for a ready installed loco, otherwise you might get frustrated.  It's not hard but much easier in larger diesel locos.

Ref the couplings question, your simple question is suprisingly hard to answer.  If your bnsf loco has couplings fitted in what are called "NEM pockets" then you can remove the supplied couplings and replace with ones that are compatible with your other locos.  There isn't really a standard hornby coupling, but in general they comply with NEM standards unless they are vintage models.

(NEM is a standards body in model railways, stands for Normen Europäischer Modellbahnen in original German or Normal European Modelling in English).

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See my earlier comment - clean track - clean wheels - and lots of them!

And what is a bnsf?  If it is a European loco, it is probably HO scale, which although it uses the same track dimensions, the loco's are smaller than OO, and will look silly in front of OO rolling stock.

well its american it looks like this (http://katousa.com/HO/AC4400CW/37-6444.jpg) do u know if it will be able to go around my curves and be able to take hornby couplings

 

 

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It's designed to go round 457mm (18in) Radius curves. It may or may not go round tighter curves.

It will run extremely well at low speeds. It's not a sound fitted loco. You'd have to buy the sound decoder and speaker as seperate items. From the instructions it will also need some drilling to fit a speaker.

 It would be very difficult to fit Hornby couplings to it.

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It has kadee couplers, so probably they will just unplug from the nem box, so a hornby coupler will plug in. Alternatively, fit kadee's to the rolling stock!

It says in the blurb that it is HO, so it will look smaller than OO stock. As a result, the couplers and buffers might be at different heights, though!

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Are you referring to the BNSF loco 2e0? The hole where the Kadee's fit isn't big enough to take the rest of a Hornby coupler. Because American locos are much bigger, they look the same size, or even bigger than UK locos. They don't have buffers either.

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Yes, Stewart, it's a nice photograph, but there is nothing included to give it any dimensions, such as a ruler, or a well-known item of fixed dimension like a 35mm film canister or an AA battery. Coins don't work, because different country currencies can be differing sizes.

Never mind!

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Dimensions compared.

The General Electric AC4400CW  L. 73'-2" H. 15'-6".

Class 55 Deltic L. 69' 6" H. 12' 10".

The GE AC4400CW isn't made by the B Team Yelrow.

If you buy something in the EU it's covered by EU regulations. The manufacturers warranty is a completely different thing.

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