Following on from yesterdays modelling talk, last night I opened up the Bachmann Spectrum loco I have again. I’d opened it shortly after receiving it when I bought it to see how it looked inside and the prospects of putting a DCC chip in it. I was slightly dismayed to learn it had a solid split chassis, and little space to put a chip, not forgoing the solid metal chassis being almost impossible to isolate the wiring.

I opened it again today to have another look, and having taken it even more apart I learned two things. Firstly, it’s not as bad as it looked. there may be space to place a chip if I try hard enough. Secondly, I can isolate the motor in one of two ways – either by isolating the pickups on the wheels from the chassis, or by isolating the motor from the chassis. Both are fairly easy (could probably be done with just electrical tape), although after looking at the condition of the pickups, they may be the better option. I could also isolate both and leave the chassis neutral. The problem then is placement of the chip itself, as there isn’t a lot of space (at all) to work with. Possibly taped to the chassis directly above the motor. There is also a small space at the back that it might fit into.

When I actually put a DCC decoder in, I’ll write a more comprehensive guide as to what I’ve done.

I still need to figure out how to open the Walthers loco, and then I can work on how to put a chip in that too. It’s a 4 axle, so I’m not so worried about that one (I like 6-axle locos ;-))

I also fixed my father-in-law’s reading glasses last night. This resulted in a small burn on my thumb from touching too-hot solder… my mistake..

Mail yesterday involved a capo for my guitars, and a desoldering tool. Now I can begin working on the laptop again.. Will update later!