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Bachmann "Thomas the Tank" range with rolling eyes.

Hi All,

I have bought the following three engines (Thomas, Percy and James) for my grandson from the Bachmann HO "Thomas the Tank" range. I wish to fit DCC decoders into these. I am only wanting to control the motive aspect, so I am planning to use Lenz LE1000A single function controllers. I will ensure all engines are fully run in prior to fitting the decoder.

Does anyone know of any problems when fitting DCC controllers to these engines?

I cannot seem to find much information about them, and they are not supported by Bachmann in the UK as Hornby have the licence in the UK to the "Thomas the Tank" brandname.

Thanks in anticipation

Eddie.

Reply direct at eddiebray at blueyonder with a dot co and a dot uk

or remove the three ?s from supplied address.

Reply to
Edward Bray
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A "tank" is an armoured vehicle with a big gun, used for destroying things. A "tank engine" is a locomotive which carries it's fuel and water supplies in tanks and bunkers on it's main frame.

The possible problems in converting the "Thomas" locomotives are:

- no real provision made by the manufacturers, so fitting a decoder is a "do it yourself" task.

- lack of space (possibly)

- the need to isolate the brush holders from the chassis. and of course the basic need to identify the electrical connections required.

Regards, Greg.P.

Edward Bray wrote:

Reply to
Greg Procter

Here is a link for someone who has figured this out. I've got one I'm planning on doing soon too.

formatting link

Reply to
Ken Cameron

Many thanks for the reply, Top Man.

As it happens, I had a go at "Percy" last night (cheapest, so if I cocked it up not too much of a loss), no problem fitting the decoder, I removed the small circuit board with the resistors and capacitors on it, soldered the grey and orange wires directly to the motor and the red and black directly to the copper pickups.

Two things to watch out for if anyone else attemps "Percy", firstly, the motor has a small rivet that sticks out each side, this makes contact with the copper pickup strip as an additional contact when rebuilt, I had to use insulating tape to prevent it making contact..

The second thing to be aware of is how delicate the piston and crank arrangements are, I had to reassemble them and solder a small nipple on to the head of one of the shafts to stop it coming apart each time I tried to rebuild it. This worked a treat so I did the same on the other side as well, both to strengthen it and try to keep some balance.

Regards, Eddie.

Reply to
Edward Bray

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