Hornby A1 Tornado DCC Fitting

[Peter C]

Hello all,
Having looked at the Hornby "Tornado Express" starter set, I was wondering - how would I fit a Hornby DCC Decoder in it? I'm talking about the following one:
https://railsofsheffield.com/produc...-hornby-digital-4-function-locomotive-decoder
(Sorry I can't quote it, I'm using my phone)

I was just wondering if it was a "take the engine apart" job or a "rip the tender to pieces" doodah. If anyone has this Tornado and wouldn't mind sending me the appropriate documents (loco care pages) I would be very grateful.


Thanks in advance,

-Peter

EDIT: I've had a look at the Hornby Service Sheet for Tornado (Sheet 366) and it turns out the fitting of a DCC decoder will be through taking off the engine bodyshell. Does anyone know if the models in question here have a lot of space to fit the decoder and if they are easy to take apart to do so?

 

[SCH117X]

Body removal is described in the operating and maintenance instructions https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/downloads/view/download/item/211
Its Hornbys old single screw at the front - slot tab at the rear fixing system which is somewhat long in the tooth, works okay for locos with little or no added on detail but a pretty poor arrangement for those with stacks of add ons as any flexing of the body can lead to parts breaking or dropping off. Should not be a problem with Tornado - the greater issue is ensuring the slot tab is fitted correctly when reassembling. The Hornby R8249 is a pretty basic decoder, I avoid it as I like to tweak the speed settings beyond what it is capable of, but as a Hornby designed loco I would think its should fit okay.

 

[Peter C]

Body removal is described in the operating and maintenance instructions https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/downloads/view/download/item/211
Its Hornbys old single screw at the front - slot tab at the rear fixing system which is somewhat long in the tooth, works okay for locos with little or no added on detail but a pretty poor arrangement for those with stacks of add ons as any flexing of the body can lead to parts breaking or dropping off. Should not be a problem with Tornado - the greater issue is ensuring the slot tab is fitted correctly when reassembling. The Hornby R8249 is a pretty basic decoder, I avoid it as I like to tweak the speed settings beyond what it is capable of, but as a Hornby designed loco I would think its should fit okay.

Thanks very much. Valuable info. I'll use the Hornby basic Decoder, purely because it's cheap and easy to get hold of for me. And I'm not interested in fiddling around with speed settings- I've heard it can break engines in the worst circumstances!

-Peter

 

[SCH117X]

Not heard of that being an issue - I always cap the top speed of the loco to something prototypical for it and the layout it is running on, for example a shunter capped to a slow crawl and hence I can whack the power knob to full and leave it trundling along the layout whilst sorting out the fiddle yard for example. For its features, or rather lack of them, I would not call the R8249 cheap at a list price of a penny off £21.