Converting the Hawthorne Village Confederate Express to DCC & Sound

[loco_guy]

Does anyone have experience in converting the HO SCALE Hawthorne Village Confederate Express to DCC and Sound.

I would appreciate any links that show how to dis assemble the train so I can get to the motor wires and put the decoder in the tender and atttach wires to the motor control.

Anyhow, any help would be appreciated.

[ACY]

I took a quick look at a photo of this locomotive and it appears the tender does not have electrical pick up. A second thing is that this locomotive does not lend itself to DCC and Sound. You can add DCC but adding sound is not really the best idea in my opinion. This locomotive isn't exactly the best quality.
If you want to add DCC, you will need to isolate the motor, and add power pick up to the tender, drill out holes for the speaker if so desired, and then add wires to go between the tender and locomotive. Then you can install the decoder, speaker and baffle in the tender.
I myself couldn't justify spending $150 to add sound to this locomotive but at the end of the day it is obviously your decision.

[loco_guy]

ACY,

Thanks for the quick response.

I got the whole train set and some buildings, figures, people, lighting. etc for $180 - so it can stay a DC only addition to my layout.

In contrast I managed to pick up a DCC decoder with sound for my PA unit NYC proto 1000 for $25 on amazon - so you can tell I don't want to spend money unless its justified.

I'll do the convert on the proto 1000 and leave the Confederate Express in the past :-)

Nice board - glad I joined.

[ACY]

Well it all depends on what sound decoder and speaker you buy, you get what you pay for, I suppose you could get a cheaper one but it may not be very accurate or be as good of quality. If you want to add the sound, don't let me stop you, I just said what I would do in your situation.

[loco_guy]

ACY,

It was a cheap decoder but with a speaker. I have never done a DC to DCC conversion - so its more of a project than a mission.

The price point makes it easy for me to do the conversion and if it all ends up in a sad smoldering mess then I ain't ruined a high price decoder like an ESU Loksound. 

Thanks for the advice on the Hawthorne train.

[Len]

The loco in the Hawthorne Village set is the basic 0-6-0/2-6-0/2-6-2 loco "with liight and smoke". I suggest disconnecting the smoke unit, as they can get hot enough to soften the plastic of the boiler, causing it to sag.

I used double sided carpet tape to stick a Z-scale decoder to the inside of the cab roof on one of these once, so installing a mobile decoder can be done. Without better power pick up, I didn't think it was worth the effort to mess with sound.

If you really want sound, considering the hassle and cost involved, you'd be better off picking up a Bachmann 'Sound on Board' ALCO 2-6-0 and repainting it to match the set. You'd also have a much better locomotive.

Len

[dwbum]

I purchased the Bachmann 0-6-0 about a year ago and modified; removed the smoke unit and added as much weight as I could find nooks and cranies. I carried all electrical vie new wire to the tender which I installed pick up trucks from Bachmann 2-6-0. Then installed a back up light on the tender (LED) and a Digitrax DCC decoder.
The loco runs like a charm. I probably will install a Tsunami 750 light steam decoder in the future.
It was a lot of work, but kept me busy. By the way, I also modified the front beam and installed an operating Kadee coupler.
Don

[loco_guy]

DON,

Thanks for the reply.

You sound like someone who has a lot more experience than me in doing the DC to DCC conversion. I don't think I am at your level yet - so I'll just keep this in mind.

As I said in previous posts I am a newbie in DC to DCC conversion and don't want to make any costly mistakes.

It's amazing how many replies I have had in such a short time - my typing fingers are working like crazy to keep up.