Sound, DCC & Lights!

We continued to enhance the beauty of the 0-4-0T locomotive by Life Like.  The photos illustrate the Soundtraxx Tsunami 750 light steam decoder and the mini-oval speaker.  The decoder has been placed vertically right next to the motor where the firebox would be located.  We removed the weight from the fuel tank and installed the speaker held in place by a fabricated styrene enclosure.  We installed micro bulbs for both the front and rear lights removing the large 12 volt bulb from the front and drilling out the fake plastic lense on the rear cab.  A resistor was placed in-line on the blue (+) decoder lead with white lead for the front and yellow for the rear.

We also drilled out the molded roof hatch.  It looked too bulky for our tastes so we drilled and carved a square opening and installed a piece of styrene painted black in the open position.  A bell chord was made from a stand of electrical wire.  We installed an engineer and weathered to complete the project.  Not only does it look good but locomotive No. 98 sounds great as well!

DCC Friendly Turnouts

To make your trackwork fool-proof........ Begin at the work bench.  We use Shinohara turnouts with metal frogs.  The units look good and are made well. Here we disassemble the point rails.  I drill out the fastener on the metal tie bar using about an 1/8" drill.  You don't have to be too careful.  You'll discard the throwbar.  I use a Dremel tool to isolate the frog.  Be careful when using a cutting wheel.   I use the thinest and I cut over a tie so the severed rail will have support.

Dismantle the rails from the turnout and isolate the frog.

Cement in styrene pieces so the rails will always be isolated.  The frog will be electrified to insure any locomotive will be powered through the turnout.  Once the cement dries trim the styrene to match the rails.  You'll paint the isolation points later.

Remove the point (tapered) rails, unsolder them.

Cut a throwbar from a piece of double sided copper clad stock available from Radio Shack.  I use a miniature band saw.  You will have to severe the coating to isolate one rail from the other.  Solder the point rails onto the throwbar.  use a rail gauge tool to properly space the rails.  You're almost done.

The diagram above is a clear graphic of how a turnout works diverting the path from B to C.

Here are the point rails loosely placed above the throwbar.  The point rails have been preped to solder to the throwbar...see the solder on the rail?

The point rails have been soldered to the throwbar.  The throwbar copper topping was notched to isolate the point rails from each other.  Test the separation with a current tester.  Check the throwbar for movement.  Before soldering you may want to set the throwbar on a thin piece of styrene to raise it up so the point rails will move easily across the other ties.  The top of the point rails should match the top of the stock rails.

Underneath the turnout and below the frog (single track side of turnout) the stock rails are hard wired to the inner rails of the same polarity/side. 

Underneath the turnout above the frog (toward the double track side of the turnout) the stock rails are connected to the inner rails but jumping over the nearest rail.  Make sure you get the right rail polarity with each rail.

Finish the frog by adding a thin piece of styrene, if necessary, to prevent the wheel from dropping into the frog when crossing.  The bump of some turnouts makes for unrealistic dip or bouncing of cars across the turnout.  At the gap the wheel will roll on the edge of the flange.  The styrene can be filled after gluing in place for an exact height.  Use your test truck and adjust for smooth passage.

kf