Lima Class 09 Diesel Shunter T1 decoder installation

Pictures and text by Robert Lewis of Tilehust, Reading, United Kingdom

Picture  09-01   Lima Class 09  Diesel Shunter (Switcher)

Picture 09-02    To remove the body undo the slotted screw at the front of the locomotive. The rear of the body is held in place by 2 lugs from the chassis which pass through the rear buffer beam. Carefully lift the body off, gently sliding backwards to clear the lugs.

Picture 09-03   De-solder the capacitor wire (1) and the left pick-up wire (3) from the rear motor terminal, then de-solder the right hand pick up wire (2) from the front motor terminal.  I have sleeved the disconnected capacitor wire just in case I want to return to normal DC operation in the future.

Picture 09-04 & 09-05  Join the red decoder wire to the right hand pick up wire, insulate the joint. Join the  black decoder wire to the left hand pick up wire and insulate the joint. Solder the orange decoder to the rear motor terminal and the grey to the front terminal.
I have left all the wires long just to allow for any future modifications as there is room within the body. I sleeved the unused wires and used short pieces of insulation sleeving to bundle them together. I also used the same method to tidy up the used wires.
Test the installation
I used hot melt glue to hold the wires to the top of the ballast weight and to hold the decoder in position. Re-assemble the body to the chassis, taking care not to over tighten the screw.