In this case, the engine compartment floor has been cut away to provide soundcard access and holes have been drilled to let the speaker sound out. The battery was stuck to the passenger compartment floor using double sided tape and it was painted the same colour as the interior to make it virtually invisible. The soundcard input wires were soldered to the motor terminals.
For both of these railcars, the two tone horn was selected.
It is necessary to organise an electrical pickup from the track or from the motor for the soundcard. In this case, the railcar is DCC ready and so the soundcard M1/M2 terminals have been connected to the 1 and 5 pins of the DCC blanking plug.
The speaker was installed into the railcar roof. The rear half of the speaker is actually empty. Therefore we cut back the rear of the speaker and shaped it to fit closely into the internal roof line. This made it less visible and it was glued in place
You may want to paint the battery and other components matt black before installation so that they are not noticable from outside. The floor of the engine compartment was cut away to give easy screwdriver access to the soundcard adjustments.
Once the soundcard settings have been set for the type of railcar then you are ready to go.
Another example is the Hornby GWR railcar shown below.
Diesel railcars have lots of internal space for a soundcard but extensive windows make it important to ensure that it is invisible.The ideal place to install the battery, soundcard and speaker is below the floor in place of traction weights. This keeps the interior clear for detail and makes it easy to access the soundcard to make adjustments without having to remove the body. The example below shows a Hornby "Bubblecar".
