Morgan's Workbench

[45609]

It has been a very long time since I posted anything of note on the forum but I thought my recent work on fitting sound to some of my old loco fleet might be on interest. Encouraged by Robin (Barrow Road) and a few recent visits to the layout I have been impressed by the work he has done on sound implementation. So, I have just had a go myself and put a sound chip installation into my Stanier 8F.

The results of the bench testing are below and I have been very pleased with the results so far. In most respects the credit is due to a very nice sound project recently released by Digitrains. All I have had to do is play with the appropriate CV setting to syncronise the chuffs to the wheel revolutions. Installation was a bit of a challenge and turned out to be very fiddly as there is not much room in the loco body. The majority of the space is taken up by lead but that does make the loco a really good hauler.



Full spec of the install is as follows.

Sound project: ZS044P STANIER 8F PROTODRIVE SOUND FILE FOR ZIMO
Chip: ZIMO MX649N MICRO SOUND DECODER
Speaker: SP15X8X8 MINI TABLET 6OHM 15X8X8MM

It brings an interesting dimension to a loco that I built nearly 20 years ago. It now feels like a new model and I'm looking forward to the next trip over to Barrow Road to try it on the loaded coal train.

Cheers...Morgan

[Dave Holt]

Very good, Morgan. So, how and where did you manage to secrete the speaker and chip in an existing, weighted loco?
ps.
Better wheel arrangement and valve gear than a Compound .
Dave.

[DougN]

I agree with you Morgan. Sound changes perspective on a model which as you have suggested changes your view. I have found with a good sound install a loco can go from a rarely used one to a favourite. This could be because the loco runs better with the decoder which I think has big factor in it and then there's the sound which helps the same view.

Regards

Doug

[45609]

It was a bit of a challenge Dave but actually an easier proposition than trying to get it in the tender with interconnecting wires between loco and tender.

Anyway, 48305 is now back in traffic as evidenced by the short video below.



Cheers…Morgan

[barrowroad]

Nice sound and video Morgan certainly one of the best loco sounds I have heard.

Robin