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Austrains 41 Class Diesel Locomotive

DCC Sound Installation with Lighting Modifications

Now available with our NEW Remastered Custom Sound Project

including "Full Throttle - Drive Hold" feature

About the NSWGR 41 Class Locomotive

The 41 class were a class of diesel locomotives built by British Thomson-Houston in the United Kingdom for the New South Wales Government Railways during 1953-54. In 1950 the New South Wales Government Railways ordered 10 diesel locomotives from Australian General Electric. The construction was then sublet to British Thomson-Houston with the body built by Metro Cammell, in the United Kingdom. The first loco No.4101 entered service on the 1st December 1953 with the last No. 4110 on the 10th February 1955. All were delivered painted in Verdant Green, then during the 1960s all were repainted Indian Red.


From their earliest days the locomotives were troublesome and suffered failures including overheating and fires. To overcome this problem, the radiators were relocated further to the ends of all ten of the locomotives and air ducting was modified. In addition, two had their mufflers relocated, and this modification was considered a success, but not rolled out across the rest of the 41 class. The locomotives were equipped to operate in multiples, however the cooling system layout saw radiator heat passing from the leading locomotive to the trailing one, which resulted in the equipment being removed.


By the early 1960s the twin Paxman 12-RPHL engines showed signs they were coming to the end of their useful life, a repowering option was considered. With the cost of repowering and overhauling the 41 Class being two-thirds that of a new 48 Class and repair costs over nine times greater, it was decided not to proceed with this option.

After only four short years of service, 4106 was withdrawn following two electrical fires. On April 1st, 1961, locomotive 4105 was withdrawn, followed by 4108 on the 10th September 1969. When overhauls ceased for the rest of the class in 1972 each locomotive was then withdrawn from 1973 as they suffered a major failure. The final locomotive 4102 was withdrawn on the 19th July 1975 and is the only one in its class that was preserved.

The 41 class were mainly confined to metropolitan Sydney, operating local trip workings and shunting at the Enfield yards.

DCC with Sound and Light Modifications

In March 2016, Austrains released the 41 Class Locomotives which includes an 8 Pin socket for fitting a DCC decoder plus 2 solder pads for wiring the factory installed speaker to the decoder. In DCC, all lights will operate directional.


For this DCC installation, we recommend the ESU LokSound 5 (Sound) with our remastered Custom Sound Project for the NSW 41 Class or the LokPilot 5 (No Sound) for those not wishing sound.


We offer a light modification for this 41 Class to separate the lights for a more prototypical operation

Standard factory lighting in the model has all lights “ON” in the direction of travel, requiring just 2 function lighting outputs in DCC.

Upgraded from the factory standard 2 to 6 Function lighting outputs with the DCC Solutions light modification where we will separate the headlights, white markers and red markers lights for individual DCC control to provide more prototypical NSWGR practice lighting operation when running your Austrains 41 Class model. Directional light control will still be available.

The DCC Solutions NSW 41 Class Custom Sound Project

is packed with sounds and features not found on other sound decoders

So why not get fully featured sound from DCC Solutions

Our Custom Sound Project now includes these fantastic features:

Correct Sound for the NSW 41 Class Locomotive

Our DCC Solutions Custom Sound Project comes with the Dual Paxman V12 Prime Mover Sound.

As the 41 Class Paxman engines were renowned for being rough at idling, we have incorporated this in our Custom Sound Project, so let your 41 class sit there idling and listen to how it idles...rough!! Running low, then high, then missing a bit then maybe high again or possibly low, the idle simply does not run smooth like other diesel engines.

Full Throttle – Drive Hold

This feature allows you to simulate a hard-working loaded train by pressing the F1 function button. When the button is pressed, the motor will remain at a constant speed, while the sound can be controlled independently by adjusting the speed on the throttle, so this can simulate a hard-working locomotive. This exciting feature gives the operator the ability to have the loco crawling in notch 8 or coasting at 100 km/h along the track. Release the Drive Hold function button, and you simply go back to throttle-controlled speed, motion and sound. Available only from DCC Solutions, our Drive Hold will stop your loco when you reduce the speed to zero, even while the function is still active. Your ESU factory sound or sound from other providers will not stop your loco at speed step 0 with the drive hold switched on, which can damage your model because you ran into something.

Coasting On Demand

This feature allows you to enter coasting mode whenever you want with a press of a button. Often, when coming to a stop, the throttle of a real locomotive is put into idle and the locomotive coasts to a stop. Another situation that occurs is that once a train is up to speed when operating over rolling countryside, the driver can coast to maintain a certain speed. By pressing the coast function button, the sound drops into coasting and remains there. Using the throttle speed control, you can now speed up or slow down the train, with the sound remaining in coasting mode. Press the function button to exit coasting, the sound will return to the speed that's set when exiting.

Working Brake

Press the Brake Function button, and your locomotive will come to a stop at a much shorter distance than if you were to bring it to a stop by reducing the throttle speed. Release the brake and your locomotive will move off again, or choose to have it remain stationary when the brake is released. The brake can also be used while driving to slow the locomotive up.

Brake Squeal on Deceleration

Activate this function and when you reduce the throttle speed, your locomotive will begin braking and slow up quicker as you continue to lower the throttle speed, and you will hear the squeal of the brakes. Accelerating will release the brakes.

Random Start-up Sequences with Move Off and Stopping Sounds

Now, with random start-up sequences, your start-up and shut down will not always sound the same.

As your locomotive begins to move off you will hear the sounds of brakes releasing with random speed activated wheel squeal, rail noises and other sounds. Some of these sounds are random or speed sensitive that will turn on/off automatically depending on your take-off speed. When the locomotive comes to a stop you will hear the squeal of the brakes, air releases and then the compressor will cut in automatically to fill the reservoirs with air until full and will cut out.

Remastered Horn Sounds

A new remastered NSW 41 Class Single Chime playable and short blast horn.

Random Sounds

While the factory fitted sound will only offer you 1-2 random sounds, DCC Solutions will have up to 10 random sounds that will play when either the loco is stopping or moving, to create even more realism to running your model.

And includes all these great features to make your Austrains 41 Class model drive and sound impressive

  • Dual Paxman V12 Prime Mover with rough idle NSW 41 Class Custom Built Sound Project

  • NSW 41 Class Short Blast and Playable Horn

  • Random Start-up sequences, including Automatic Hot or Cold Engine Start

  • Air and Brake Release Sounds when loco moves off and stops, including Brake Squeal

  • When the loco stops after braking, the compressor cuts in to fill the reservoir and will turn off when the tanks are full

  • Speed sensitive Wheel Squeal and Rail Noise when the loco moves off

  • Full Throttle Drive Hold - Lock the loco speed and control the sound independently to simulate a heavy loaded or empty train

  • Coasting On Demand

  • Working Brake to bring your locomotive to a stop even when Full Throttle Drive Hold is active, unlike other ESU sound files

  • Directional Coupling and Release with brake line release plus auto active shunting mode to reduce the speed of the loco

  • Stop & Drive Random Sounds including fans, compressor, rail noise, track wheel squeal, air releases and more!

  • NSW 41 class compressor

  • Wheel Squeal

  • Brake Squeal on deceleration and off on acceleration

  • Guard's Whistle

  • Manual Notching - manually control the notching rather than letting the decoder do it

  • And more (See below for full list)

  • Modified Lighting Option for more prototypical light operation

  • Low beam to High beam Headlight operation

  • Motor settings tuned for slow speed performance, perfect for shunting

  • Sound volumes tuned to specifically suit the Austrains 41 Class Locomotive Model using the DCC Solutions speaker

  • Play 10 different sounds simultaneously

  • Individual sounds slots and master sound volumes can be adjusted by the user to suit personal requirements

  • DCC Solutions "MICRO" High Performance Dynamic Speaker producing fantastic sound

  • Full function button remapping to suit your personal requirements

DCC INSTALLATION AND MODIFICATION FEATURES

Standard DCC Installation: Non-sound decoder with no lighting modifications

Premium Sound Installation: ESU LokSound 5 sound decoder with our Custom NSW 41 Class Sound Project. No lighting modifications

Premium Sound Installation and Light Modification: Upgrade to 6 Function lighting outputs with the DCC Solutions Light Modification to separate all lighting for individual function control on your DCC throttle, plus our ESU LokSound 5 Custom 41 Class Sound Project

DCC Solutions SOUND and FUNCTION Labels

Premium Sound Installation and Light Modification using the ESU LokSound 5

F0    Directional Headlights

F1    Full Throttle Drive Hold

F2    NSW Single Chime Horn

F3    High Beam Headlight

F4    Reserved (Dynamic Brakes in other DCCS Sound Projects)

F5    Coasting on Demand

F6    Brake

F7    Brake Squeal on Deceleration

F8    Prime Mover Start Up/Shut Down/Mute

F9    Front White Markers On/Off

F10  Rear Red Markers On/Off

F11  Rear White Markers On/Off

F12  Front Red Markers On/Off

F13  Directional Marker Lights

F14  Reserved (Light Mods)

F15  Fan

F16  Compressor

F17  Coupling /Uncoupling + DCCS Shunting Mode

F18  Wheel Squeal

F19  Guard's Whistle

F20  Sanding Valve

F21  Volume Fader - Reduces Sound 50%

F22  Front Headlight

F23  Short Horn

F24  Reserved

F25  Shunting Mode

F26  Short Air Release

F27  Cab Door

F28  Rail Clank

Note: The above functions are for the LokSound 5 Decoder programmed with DCC Solutions Premium Custom Sound Installation with Light Modification.

The functions and sounds will be different from any standard generic ESU Sound Files or other Sound Decoders. To learn how to use these functions, see the Info & Help page.

All functions can be reprogrammed to suit your own personal requirements.

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