This page describes how I installed a DCC decoder into the North Yard chassis so that I can test it and wear it in. I will be using a Digitrax DZ143 decoder, mainly because I had one available (left over from my N-scale days). It is rated for 1.25A draw by the motor with a peak of 2A. That is more than enough for the NWSL motor in the chassis.

The motor is kind of oddly wired to the chassis, because there is one set of wires (red and black) connected to the terminals of the motor, and another set of wires wired internally into the motor. Short of disassembling the motor itself, there is no way to access those wires. I decided to not do that. From measuring, I determined that the two black wires are connected together internally, as are the two red wires.

Before I started working on the chassis, I covered the open gear boxes with some aluminum foil to keep anything from falling in them and damaging the gears. I started by cutting the wires that are connected internally in the motor.

I then stripped and tinned those wires. Next, I unsoldered the wires from the motor terminals. This is shown in the next photo.

I soldered the internally-connected wires to the terminals. I don't know if this is required, but since I don't know the internal configuration of the motor, I decided to play it safe.

I then connected the two sets of red and black wires coming from the gear towers together.

The red and black wires from the decoder connect up to those two connected wires. The decoder's red and black wires take in the track power.

The orange and gray wires from the decoder feed the motor, so they were soldered to the motor terminals. This completes the basic installation of the decoder.

This decoder installation is only temporary, until I acquire the correct sound decoder. However, to avoid any problems or shorts, I trimmed off the uninsulated parts of the unused decoder wires, and used velcro to mount the decoder on top of the motor. For a more permanent installation I wouldn't mount anything to the motor case, because it might get hot, but since I don't plan on running this chassis for long durations using this decoder, it is fine for now.

The set up then allowed me to test the North Yard chassis. Like any brand new setup, at first it stammered a bit. I had to turn the throttle's knob quite a bit before it turned over the motor. I ran it back and forth on my small layout (about 16 feet). The more I ran it, the better it started to run. The decoder has the default settings, so some tweaking will be necessary to make it perform better. However, I am happy to report that the chassis ran perfectly on my layout. I have a couple of spots on the main line where the curves are a bit tight, but it sailed through it. Not a single derailment. From this little bit of testing on my layout, a flywheel appears to not be necessary, but I plan to install one anyway, in case of dirty track.