Hornby Great Western Railway King Class

Scale:
HO Scale


This installation uses the following decoder:


TCS DP2X-UK Decoder Installation for HO-Scale Hornby Great Western Railway King class locomotive. It was performed by Robert Lewis of Tilehust, Reading, United Kingdom.

Here is a Hornby model of a Great Western Railway King class locomotive. The King class were the pinnacle of Great Western engineering, pulling the fast expresses from London to the West of England and Wales, they were more powerful than some of the larger locomotives built by the other 3 British regions.

To remove the body it is necessary to undo the slotted screw located under the front pony truck, if you use a thin shafted screwdriver it is possible to skew the truck to one side to gain access, otherwise you will have to remove the 3 cross headed screws between the main driving wheels to remove the whole bottom plate ( not recommended) and disturb the pick ups and driving wheel axles. Once the screw is removed, lift the body from the front, it is hooked over a metal tab just under the drivers cab, once the front is clear of the motor the body can be slid back a few millimetres to detach it from the rear of the chassis.
To remove the body it is necessary to undo the slotted screw located under the front pony truck, if you use a thin shafted screwdriver it is possible to skew the truck to one side to gain access, otherwise you will have to remove the 3 cross headed screws between the main driving wheels to remove the whole bottom plate ( not recommended) and disturb the pick ups and driving wheel axles. Once the screw is removed, lift the body from the front, it is hooked over a metal tab just under the drivers cab, once the front is clear of the motor the body can be slid back a few millimetres to detach it from the rear of the chassis.
Here is a picture of the decoder socket with the blanking plate removed.
Here is a picture of the decoder socket with the blanking plate removed.
Here is the TCS DP2X-UK installed. The installation should be tested on the test track to ensure the decoder has been fitted correctly, and then the body refitted, rear end first.
Here is the TCS DP2X-UK installed. The installation should be tested on the test track to ensure the decoder has been fitted correctly, and then the body refitted, rear end first.

Important Soldering Tip

Please do not use any flux either liquid or paste on the mother board. Over time, the acidic properties of liquid or paste flux will begin eating away at the fiberglass PCB and will damage it. Use only Rosin-core solder or no-clean flux approved for electronics use.

TCS recommends the use of Kester "44" Sn63 Pb37, .015" diameter Rosin-core solder. Kester part number 24-6337-0007.

You can order this solder from the following retailers:
Digikey - PN:KE1110-ND
Techni-Tool - PN:488SO6775

Other solder tips

When stripping wire, only strip a tiny little bit of the insulation. Strip no more than a 1/32 of an inch. When the wire gets tinned with solder, the insulation will shrink back more. Try to not expose any more wire than half the length of the solder pad at most. In no case should solder or exposed wire wire ever be outside the boundary of the the solder pad you are attaching a wire to.
Click here for important information on properly Stripping and Tinning wire