Adding sound to my Kato Heavy Mikado

I have three of these models which are very nice both in operation and construction.  Unfortunately only one of them is chipped and it has developed an electrical short.  This being the case I have decided that it is time I take the plunge and add a sound decoder to each of these models (fortunately there is room in the tenders for a chip and a speaker).  I also want to add my own livery for the WNE.

July 2012

I have hard wired two of the three locos which has proved to be very fiddly as there is not a lot of room and I have had to all but dismantle the locos in order to isolate the motors and install the wiring.  I have added a Digitrax generic steam sound chip into one of the Mikados which, for the most part, has been successful (although the sound needs to be configured correctly).  The only issue (and it is a big one) is that the loco driving wheels are not picking up power on one side which means that the loco is not as smooth as it should be.  After careful inspection I have realised that the locomotive drivers are of the original design and the phosphor bronze pickups have worn.  Fortunately I can still obtain new drivers (of a revised design) which have now been ordered.

August 2012

The replacement drivers have arrived and two axles on the loco with the chip have been replaced - what a difference!  You might ask why only two axles...The answer is mainly laziness!  Only two out of the four axles are actually coupled and only one of these is connected directly to the motor via a gear.  I really didn't have the heart to try and disconnect the coupling rods from the remaining two sets of wheels, so I only replaced the two axles that weren't coupled - easy!  To improve haulage capacity I applied a thin smear of Bullfrog Snot to the axle that is coupled and connected directly to the loco's motor.  I found that you have to use it very sparingly and be very careful to apply it evenly, but it does make a significant difference (by a factor of 3!).

I purchased a Soundtraxx Tsunami decoder and was going to install it into one of the Mikados.  Unfortunately it is too big so will need to find somewhere else to install it.  I will be ordering two MRC generic sound chips instead.

December 2014

After much frustration I have managed to get one of the locos running reasonably well (being the one that I got running back in August 2012!).  The other two will be tackled at a later date and will both need to be totally stripped and re-assembled.  Fortunately I have enough parts!