Mistakes may damage your locomotive, controller or other accessories. Use a multimeter to make absolutely sure you have completely isolated the motor from the track before testing. Always use the Programming Track for testing. Our guides are provided for reference only, and you proceed entirely at your own risk. Unsure about something - try our DCC Conversion Service instead.

Order Your Conversion Now

This guide shows how to install DCC sound into the earlier Dapol N Gauge Class 43 (HST) models that are fitted with a 6-pin decoder socket, including:

• Dapol Class 43 43306 / 43309 in East Coast Silver (2D-019-006)
• Dapol Class 43 43311 / 43312 in Virgin Trains East Coast Red (2D-019-007)

For the newer version, check out our specific guide for installing DCC sound in Dapol Class 43 with Next18 decoder socket. Both the motorized loco and the dummy loco can be converted in a similar way, and some sound providers (e.g. Legomanbiffo) have a customized 'matched pair' version so that certain sounds (e.g. horn) come from the correct loco end depending on the direction of travel.

Step 1 - Remove Body

Gently pop the body off by pushing upwards. There is a clip holding it in at the back where the corridor connection is. The front part slides out from underneath the front light cluster.

Step 2 - Remove Factory PCB

Remove the 6-pin socket PCB by removing the two screws. Desolder the wires attached to it. There are nine wires in total, two to the motor, three to the lighting PCB and four to the track pickups. There are left/right track pickups at the front and rear of the loco, one to each bogie.

Step 3 - Modify Track Pickup Wiring

Some of the stock wires are too short, they can be completely replaced if you prefer however it saves disassembling parts of the chassis if you simply extend the existing ones. Extend the red and black track pickup wires from the front of the loco, making sure you have the correct wires as the lighting wires are the same colour. Solder them to the track pickup tabs at the rear of the loco. Remove the existing short red/black wires from these tabs, and add some new longer ones.

Step 4 - Modify Motor Wiring

Extend the red and black wires coming from the motor with orange and grey wires. If you prefer not to have a join, you can remove these existing wires and run new orange/grey wires directly from the motor.

Step 5 - Fit Next18 Socket

In this conversion, there is plenty of room so we'll fit a Next18 socket. The ESU LokSound 5 Micro decoders can be purchased with wire tails, so you can hard wire the decoder in instead if you prefer.

Solder the orange and grey motor wires to the socket, followed by the red and black track pickup wires.

Step 6 - Fit Speaker

Fit the speaker on its side at the back of the loco. Trim the wires down to length, then solder to the decoder socket PCB. If the speaker doesn't quite fit, you may need to trim the track pickup tabs so they don't protrude and solder the wires underneath instead.

Step 7 - Modify Lighting Wiring

Locate the positive common wire going to the lighting socket at the front of the loco. If in any doubt, the lighting PCB at the front of the body shell is labelled 'W' (white), 'R' (red) and '+' (common positive).

Solder a 1KΩ resistor to the existing blue wire. Solder a new blue wire to the other side of the resistor, and then attach that to the decoder socket.

Desolder the red and black wires from the lighting socket. Solder new white and yellow wires in their place, and run them along the top of the chassis to the rear of the loco, following the existing route. Solder the white/yellow wires to the decoder socket.

Step 8 - Fit Decoder

Plug your ESU LokSound 5 Micro decoder into the socket.

Step 9 - Refit Body

Refit the loco body and the conversion is complete.

Dummy Loco

The process for adding sound to the dummy loco is the same, except there are no motor wires to connect. Ensure that the red/white LEDs are wired the correct way round.

Our DCC Conversion Service