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 It lives! Tomix EF81 with working DCC provided by a TCS CN-GP. [Update 7 July 2010: The decoder failed by February. TCS advised that the CN-GP is a very delicate decoder; consequently, I cannot recommend this installation method. Currently looking for a new method of installation. Watch for future posts.]
Read Part 1.
It’s done. Well, almost. [Update 10 Jan 2010: Yep, it's done.] Anyway, it works, and that’s what counts. Here then I recount the two hours I spent last night making it work, and the year of effort that culminated in those two glorious hours. (Yes, it takes me about one year to install one decoder. No, I’m not that slow: it’s just a function of how much free time I have, and how I choose to spend it.)
Continue reading…
This has been an awful week, for reasons I won’t dwell on. But as is often the case, I attempted to wrest control over my life by relaxing with my trains this weekend. And, as is increasingly the case, this attempt led me only to frustration.
Before me are four models that have issues. [...]
I’ve lost track of how many decoders have been fried in the name of getting my Tomix EF81 converted to DCC. I’m not at all sure what happened this time; I was very thorough in checking for shorts before I put it on the tracks. And, sure enough, when I power it up, it [...]
Not with the website, thank goodness. No, today I fried another decoder. According to Arthur at TCS, the CN-GP is rather sensitive to shorting, and that’s just what I did. So, it’s off for testing and replacement! The good news is, I shorted it out during a test-fitting, and so far it looks like [...]
 Tomix EF81 “Hokutosei”
Here’s today’s subject: A Tomix EF81. This one, no. 98, is a special edition, not easily replaceable—and not DCC-ready, either. In this article, I will cover how to disassemble the locomotive—which is very easy—, and mill the frame to fit a TCS CN-GP decoder—which isn’t terribly hard.
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Well, I got my TCS CN-GP decoder in. I won’t get around to installing it until January at the earliest, but I did take the EF81 it’s destined for apart to see how much work it will take to fit it.
Let me say something about the decoder first. It’s designed to ease the [...]
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