Z 24500 NPDC en livrée d'origine

 A while back, I purchased body shells of a Z24500 from Jouef, since the actual train set is almost impossible to find. I had the shells done to match the original livery. I then changed the body from a set I got with a livery I'm not interested in.

 

Prototypical EMU

Here are some pictures from the real thing:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/hhhumber/5474243189/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/16412147@N08/8666123100/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/plzen242/49358365702/

 

Miniature Model 

Here's what I got made for me:

Here's the set I'm going to convert:

It's the reference Jouef HJ2122. It's the Métrolor livery for the Lorraine region. The body shell came with no pantograph, so I had to unscrew them from the Métrolor  body to the other one. It was very straight forward.

I added the two ESU decoders from Train Modelisme and some figurines as well. Here's the result:

 

Videos 

Digitization of a Z 24500 Jouef

 As I'm waiting on the plates from Intefer for my RIO sets, I decided to go back to an unfinished project ...

I actually started working on this back in the summer of 2020. At the time, I wanted to also add the interior lighting and I tried to use cheap led strips. It was disappointing and ultimately led me to these later posts on that topic: here and here.

In this post, I focus on the digitization that I did 2.5 years ago, following my very initial post.

I have to test it again, since it's been 2.5 years, but I remember that the digitization part was very straight forward, so I do expect it to work again easily.

Setting DCC address for 4 engines

 

Continuing on the recent activities, I set up the digital address for 4 other models.

Mehano T285 7847 - HLD 7764

I set the address to #7764:

Roco 73664 - Traxx E 186 320-8 ECR

I set the address to #320:

This is DCC only - sadly ...

Os.Kar 1546 - BB 475410

I set the address to #7542, because there's already an identical model with address 7541:

LS Models 10071 - X 76599/76600 "Nord Pas-de-Calais"

I set the address to #7659:

AGC B 82500 Nord Pas-de-Calais from Rails Models Creation

 

The Nord Pas-de-Calais region operates two types of AGC: X 76500 and B 82500. I already covered the X 76500 here. Today, we are looking at the other one.

Prototypical engine

Here are two nice pictures:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/99535555@N07/36502080710/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/alfenaar/16115488299/

Miniature model

Similarly to the X 76500, I got my model from Rails Models Creation:

I assigned address #8259 on the ECoS:

The sound decoder is coming from train-modelisme.com: Décodeur sonorisé ESU Loksound Bastiani V5 21 pôles. The notice is available here.

Digitization of BB 22258RC from LS Models

 

This engine is a BB 22200 with the PACA region livery; you may ask "why the PACA livery while you do the north of France". Here's why:

https://lapassiondutrain.blogspot.com/2020/10/bb-22256-provence-alpes-cote-dazur-sur.html

Here are the references:

• LS Models 10436 - BB 22258 RC
• ESU LokSound V5 Sound TMC - link

Opening the BB 22258RC engine

Opening this model is supposed to be easy: no screws, just move the body away above each bogie. Except for a cable on each that is connecting the body to the chassis:

Luckily, it was pretty easy to detach those, by sliding a flat screwdriver at the top and separate it slowly from the body. It didn't seem to be glued and would come off quite easily.

Once those two cables are separated from the body, I was able to pull/stretch the body from the chassis above each bogie:

You'd think the manufacturer would provide such details, but no. Here's a link to the manual.

Installing the decoder

To install the decoder, I have to remove the dummy decoder on the left and position the speaker in the round spot on the right hand side:

Since the decoder from Train Modelisme came with the speaker soldered to the decoder, I need to unsolder those and solder the round speaker onto the main circuit board as explained in the manual:

Testing the sound decoder

And here's how it looks (sounds) now: 

And when putting everything back together:

Digitization of BB 75022 VFLI from Rails Models Creation

 

Another amazing creation from Rails Models Creation; this time it is the BB 75022 VFLI:

https://lapassiondutrain.blogspot.com/2020/05/quelques-circulations-hazebrouck-du-27.html

The base is an Os.Kar 1538 model:

Even in analog, the engine is running beautifully:

I equipped this model with an ESU LokPilot V5 decoder purchased from Train Modelisme. To open the engine, there is a small screw underneath each bogie, so 4 in total:

And a final test in digital:

AGC X 76500 Nord Pas-de-Calais from Rails Models Creation

 

In a previous post, I included a video from YouTube of an X76500 NPDC leaving the Ascq train station! I'm uber happy to now own that AGC model, with the identical numbers X 76709/76710!

The transformation was done by Rails Models Creation from an LS Models 10078 model with the sound decoder from ESU purchased from Train-Modelisme.

I had to update the names and icons of the functions on the ESU ECoS from this document, and here's the command screen:

And finally, here's how it looks - at the end I'm testing the interior lighting: