Hearing the words 'free' and 'Hornby' in the same sentence is mind-blowing and rare. I wonder where the catch is, nothing is ever truly free.

I'm currently waiting for the Willie Whitelaw (with sound) set. Been airfix kit building for a while, after abandoning model railways due to moving to a small bungalow in retirement. (I'm approaching 76) but was totally blown away after watching the Hornby model world and seing the introduction of TT 120. With my wife's permission I have got to work on a baseboard and watching this I'm so excited at DCC and the free app, beautifully explained Simon. Thanks for your videos and, yes, I'd appreciate further 'tutorials' on the DCC set up.

Thanks for that Simon. Succinct and to the point review. The sound on the loco was so good it was drowning you out 😂. Fitted my N18TXS chip to my TT:120 William Whitelaw when it arrived, but have not used it yet as have decided to switch over to Peco track and in the process of changing over. Watching your video will certainly help when I get around to setting things up. Interesting that you cannot have the same profile on two devices, that’s technology for you, but like you say this is ground breaking stuff. Knowing this I think I’m with you and will set things up on my iPad. Thanks again

Looks like you had a lot of fun making this video. Thanks for uploading.

Impressively smooth speed control!

Great to hear you are more positive, this week! Great review!👏👏👏👏

Thanks for a great review Simon. One of the sound keys is labelled "Fireman's breakfast" - great attention to detail, Hornby! :)

Oh WOW, more things controlled by my phone, NICE !! I just love how my phone does everything for me in my life, no matter how small the task. What's not so good is how bad it is at being a phone to talk to people on, especially when I'm out of my town!

great video and explanation of a great system, Simon

Great video thanks...this new system looks really exciting...with so much more potential

great, lovely loco, and nice run through of everything enjoyed that

This sounds jolly miraculous!! My own system operates both DC and DCC!! My layout is a Dad’s Army layout - Walmington-On-Sea - complete with appropriate vehicles.

Outstanding! Great informative video. Keep them coming.

Ordered the 21pin sound chip and should be here Friday . That`s going into a Colas class 37 .. Thanks for the vlog , very usefull (saves me reading the instructions)😂😂👍👍

Cannot wait to try this.

Quality as usual Simon. But don’t forget the scenery 😜

When it comes to larger layouts and some sort of automation this becomes very interesting. We could steal the ETCS 2-principle and hide little RFID-transponders below the track on certain points of interest. The locos could read those transponders whenever they roll over them and send the information read via bluetooth to the central unit. The central unit gets knowledge where each loco on the layout currently moves. The transponders themselves do not need any wiring or programming. And the bluetooth connection should be fast enough to carry many of this locational data. The central unit could react by e.g. throwing a point or anything else. To solve this in a "classical way" you could use e.g. RailCom and (relatively expensive) occupation detection circuits with the ability to read RailCom-messages. The occupation detection devices have to send their informations over a relatively slow bidirectional bus to the central unit. Unless something like CAN-bus is in use many other accessory busses could be too slow.

very nice video. have a nice weekend😊

What an excellent demonstration. Well done Hornby. I am tempted to get one to try it out. I look forward to following your progress.

Hopefully other manufacturers will get their act together and make smaller decoders that will fit into n gauge locomotives. I like the Bluetooth simplicity but I do enjoy my JRMI setup. I have been looking at Simons videos from the very beginning they have inspired me and enhanced my modelling ability. THANK YOU 😂😂😂 Just started my third layout.

Great video mate

My control system for my Dad’s Army layout is the ANEModel LD101. I have both digital and analogue locomotives to control.

Great review thank you

Thanks much appreciated

Looks like a good time to get into DCC!

This looks brilliant. I've had Bluetooth glitches with the previous HM analog system but that isn't a surprise. But why are people so down on this, it has to be the most logical thing to do in this day and age? Maybe I'm biased as an RC Ship models too. Bluetooth is ubiquitous, reliable and the separation of signal and power is just good practice! I intend to try and use this on my N Gauge and ON30 locos.

Great video

Hi Simon, I know this video is 9 months old, but I've just bought one to try and found your video most instructive, so thank you for that. Oh and Simon's Shed? More like Simon's conservatory! 😃

Good news! 👍👍👍

It's brilliant! I have it on two TT120 locos. Credit to Hornby which is well deserved 👏👏👏

Thanks for the explanation Simon. About to use Android App.

Good video thanks lee

Great demo, thanks for recording it. My initial thoughts are that you can't work the layout with a friend if you have to re-pair with each phone. Surely that would be the sole benefit of logging in to the app. The huge disbenefit though seems to be if Hornby's servers are down, they stop supporting this or heaven forbid go bust. All that hardware and it will be unusable as soon as your phone dies. At least the decoders run in DCC mode, but needing Bluetooth to enable DCC mode would of course be impossible in that situation.

I'd be interested in seeing how the Legacy dongle works with existing systems and soundchips. great video

About time Hornby really took the lead as market dominant leader

Wow, very interesting! Bluetooth control has been tried over and over (by US manufacturers I think), but adding full DCC compatibility in parallel, and very cheap sound decoders, that does sound very interesting! Definitely will need to get my hands on one of those, the Next18 version does seem on the large side for N Scale, but may fit in some models. Thanks for the details!

"Im sure theyll fix that in no time at all". Simon, as a retired data engineer that phrase is similar to "Titanic is unsinkable" to mariners

Sounds great. Can’t wait for mine to arrive. It’s a game changing bargain. Lots of people have been dismissive of this Hornby system. I think they will all have egg on their faces 😂 Regards … Steve 👍

This is a really good budget option that isn’t massively limited. It’s got an additional channel to the old TTS decoders and the fact the files are free is excellent and makes it very flexible. One thing about the more expensive sound decoders, they do often synchronise brake sounds with the deceleration, if Hornby could add that feature in this would be a perfect solution.

Thanks Simon for all your videos. I was eager to install decoder and was excited right up to the point where error message displayed missing sound data and before that missing Rom. I phoned Hornby and did some resetting with of decoder with them ,still fault remains,say it may be decoder at fault. Waiting for them to email me with a remedy. Pleased to see yours went smoothly however clearly not everyone is having a good time. All the best with layout. Ian

HI Simon Great vid and it does make DCC more attractive, one question I do have is what happens if you would like to run 3 or 4 trains how would that work ?? Cheers Mark

I’m slowly replacing my 00 gauge fleet with these and also adding smoke units to them which needs a small relay to work as the decoder function output current is low the first I fitted went into my flying Scotsman that sound profile also plays Scotland the brave lol

So essentially I don’t actually need a controller? Daft question probably but I’m a newbie to the hobby and really don’t want to confuse things too much, this looks a good way to me!

Thanks for this very informative video, if I decide to go down the DCC route then I can come back and use this as a good reference. Thanks. I'm not too sure if it's that cheap, maybe for one Loco but I've ended up with 3 and hoping for the Class 08 later on in the year. So that's close to £280 then I would need to buy the transformer.

I purchased a new Lenovo TAB M11 so that I could go with HM7000. Unfortunately I could not get things to work properly. After several days of backwards and forwards with Hornby, I received this message from Hornby today (20th March 2024): It’s also worth noting if you are an Android user, we are aware of a bug whereby HM7000 decoders are appearing fresh out the box as ‘Resettable’ and no appearing under the Ready to Link section. This can be fixed by using the Force Quit function within Android settings to close the HM | DCC app, then re-open the HM | DCC app and then Restart Scan. This will then find the HM7000 decoder without the need for a Reset Code.

Hi Simon! Looks like a very interesting development for the hobby. They look a bit too large for N guage - at least for the majority of my locos - but hopefully they'll get scaled down in time! TBH tablet / phone control really doesn't appeal to me as I like the tactile feel of a proper throttle, however, I'd love an app to allow me to change CV values easily, which this system seems to provide! I await an update on how well it plays with your Z21 system with interest! All the best, Ian.

I use z21 with a digikeijs dr5000. Works great. Is this easy to migrate a whole fleet? Thanks

Are you able to adjust the cv chuff timing setting so it’s more in time with the wheel revolutions?

Have you tried the app on a tablet for more space? Can you have 2 throttles for instance or more buttons available?

Hi Simon, I wonder if this works with R8312 elink with railmaster software

Are there sound chipsets for tracks?

I have fitted 2 of these now and they have been running flawlessly via bluetooth.. One issue I have found that needs addressing is while the loco is running the sound gets lower and distorts to the point you can’t hear it…. Switch sound off for couple minutes and works again!! But going forward it’s the same quality for half the price of the overpriced DCC controllers

The best speakers for this locomotive would be a double sugar cube in the tender.

It's an interesting idea, however I'm not sure how well they'd fit in N Gauge models, though the 6-pin one at 17mm long might work for anything which doesn't need a smaller decoder (Dapol Steam engines) or a Right Angled one, the Next-18 chip at 28.5mm long would be far too big for N Gauge. Still it's something to keep an eye on, but will have to pass on trying it till the decoders are smaller (and I've only got an Android phone)

A game changer indeed. But can you operate 2 or more controlling devices (via the Bluetooth app) for more complex layouts requiring more than one controller at a time?

have you tried powering the loco from a battery.

Great video Simon I have got oo gauge in the garden how do you change number from 3 to onther number kind regards Paul

Hello simon just found your channel and wow watched most videos Im hopeing to get a shed layout but was wondering few things Whats the heat like in summer and whats it like in winter. Also is it a ship lap shed And i was worried about thiefs Where i live is very rural middle terraced house. Do you keep the cars buildings trains wagons in the shed or do you take them into the house. Many thanks

For everyone concerned about Hornby pulling the plug, charging for the app, going bust(!) etc. From what I can see you can use the app to set up a decoder with custom sounds, play around until you get it just so, then set it to normal DCC operation and it will then run forever without needing Bluetooth? You can still change the CV values on a track, etc. Without the app the only thing you won't be able to do is change the sound files, but presumably once you have that to your liking you'll never need to change it again anyway unless you move the decoder to another loco. £65-70 for a decoder with sound that you can set up yourself for any loco seems like a bit of a bargain to me? I'm pretty new to this, am I missing something?

what is the with of the table ?

I am now even more imaptient for delivery of my Easterner TT:120 set (DCC fitted)! Is the power supply you're using the one that came with the set? If so, how many locos do you reckon you can run off 1A?

New to the channel and wow this is very interesting. I am starting again after 40+ years away from the hobby. So many changes. Not seen your earlier video's but interested in your choice of scale TT:120 was there something that made you choose that? This does seem to be great value for money and I will see when I get to this point.

Q: will the app fire up after being installed _without_ an internet connection? thinking say if on a tablet with bluetooth but that uses WiFi but is it still usable without the wifi after installing it? if its not will also struggle if for whatever reason the internet connection is out (e.g. poor mobile signal or poor wifi) it does look impressive, the integration of "take a picture with the camera and use that" is nice and shows a bit of thought has gone in. and this is the first version. looks promising, would also be nice if there is eventually some method for controlling from a PC over bluetooth (e.g. laptop), for the future though - likely if Hornby publish the comms protocol to allow third parties to develop that overall though, looks very nice and good review :)

Hi Simon, The app is available for android, I purchased a 21 pin sound decoder to try but unfortunately if was DOA. Your video is very informative and I'm looking forward to receiving a replacement. Regards, David.

I would be interested to see how it works if you are using an existing DCC controller on the layout.

One of the other interesting facts is that this can be used by a Battery Powered locomotive, not perhaps so relevant formTT120. But 00 and larger scales may well find this a good cheep way to get into battery DCC. Though be interested to know the range in the garden.

How long does it take to set up

Hi Simon, This system is very intriguing, Now I know everyone will be reviewing this directly at the Bluetooth feature point of view, but it would be nice to see it from the dcc aspect. I assume you program it through the Bluetooth ( sound profile) but will it program on a dcc system? ie cv's. is the next 18 chip wired so that it will plug into a loco that has already got speakers wired up? or do we have to use their plug in speaker. will the decoder and sound work on a z21 app properly. Hopefully some of these questions will be answered as many get to grips with this new chip. I suspect that Hornby will drop their tts sound decoders in the future in preference of this system so it would be nice to know if this would work or have limitations as a dcc decoder. All the best Tony.

Can you use that chip on your shed layout using bluetooth while some one else uses the normal DCC system and the other regular DCC locos at the same time/

As the 'instructions' to the loco are not carried via the track, does that mean that the modifications recommended for electrofrog points [to increase the reliability of the track signal] are no longer necessary?

I'm not sure which came first: the chicken or the egg i.e. TT120 or the HM7000, but unless I have missed something it looks like N scale was just too small for the HM7000 DCC system which is very frustrating

Any info on point control or is it only for the track and locos

Hi, great video 👍🏼 This has me a little excited. Please bear with me as I’ve only ever used analogue and have been looking at DCC for a while. So I currently have a very basic Hornby Hogwarts Express set, DCC ready, with analogue power track and controller that came with it. I wanted to add sound, but the cost of converting to DCC put me off a little. This seems to be the answer! So would I be correct in saying, to convert to use this system, I would need to buy: A DCC power track. The recommended DCC power supply adaptor. And then the relevant HM7000 Bluetooth pack (looking at the instructions, the train I have has an 8 pin chip, I’ve not opened it up to confirm) Would that be correct? Thanks in advance for any guidance. Gary.

The sound is going half speed, is that a fault or has Simon not taken on board steam locos have double acting cylinders and an A4 with 3 cylinders has six beats per revolution of the wheels. Or can't it be set to 6 beats per revolution?

Hi Simon, I've been thinking more about the HM7000 and to be quite frank getting feed up of waiting for them to release the Android app LOL! As I know Apps are something you are familiar with, would it be possible to use a IOS emulator on a pc to use the apple app to initially set up the HM7000 decoder (updates and sound profile) then just use dcc as it's usual control. Never having owned any apple devices apart from a 1st gen nano ipod LOL! not sure if you need an apple account and if this is possible. Any thoughts would be appreciated. All the best Tony.

Not sure why Hornby launched the chip without Android support..

Hey. Thinking of buying the chip. But does it have the class 43 yet or it all steam?

Can you control more than 1 train at a time from the app? If so, how long does it take to switch from one to another?

Hi I'm a little confused at what would be providing the track power. So some sort of DDC track power is still needed I presume?

How many locos can the app connect to at once to control ? I thought Bluetooth had a limit of 7 connections, although I might be wrong.

so can it onle be usd with a hornby dcc controler i onle have the bachmann ez command

Hi Simon, I'm considering buying one of these. Do you know if you can make your own sound profiles with your own audio recordings? Thanks SoheilTrains.

this is great but could other people in an exhibition just control your models if they download an app?

I must be a bit dim, but how you operating the controls without your finger appearing?

What if there is no internet at a venue ( railway exhibitions ) ..? Or will I have to be on a plan to used it..?

Can you use these decoders on a normal DCC controller (eg Gaugemaster Prodigy 2)

How does it get power to track that in an ordinary DC layout would be dead?

Can HM7000 decoders be used in non Hornby locomotives? As I’ve heard stories of them not functioning the way they should

does the £32 package include sound ?

Can this be used on a laptop with a touch screen?

A good video Simon. However, there is a considerable cost to those who would need to buy a new smartphone (with Bluetooth)!

Hi Simon would I be able to use my mobile phone to use this system as I do the hm6000

Its a game changer for hornby, once they got people using it they will switch to a subscription model. You will end up paying a monthly fee to use the app or access sounds / features. If you think this won't happen, ask yourself why would they not do it.

Sound good but won't you need a device for each loco if you want to run more than one loco at a time on the same layout? You need to purchase another device if you only have a phone. Come and play but don't forget your smartphone or tablet.

I’m going somewhere i can get the abbreviations decoded. Feel like i’m the outsider in a schoolyard of teenage boys talking in insider code.

If you would have left this connected to the Gaugemaster controller that most people use, it would have crackled, packed up and then smoked. In my view you have soft soaped this. It says on the box TRI-MODE, it is not. You have not gone through all the Hornby controllers that there are issues with which they list in there own pdf. I guess you have covered what you are doing with this, however, not everyone will have your scenario. These decoders are smoking out all the time, not just for me, the carpet kid too and many others. The bottom line is if you pay £60.00 for the Hornby power supply you will be fine, however, if this is all you can afford then you cannot run anything else but HM7000. Hornby are no closer to solving the problems with this decoder which suggests it is hardware more than software (It has been 3 weeks plus now). The surprising thing is the Hornby TTS decoders run superbly in both analogue and Digital which considering both products come from the same company I find a little strange. Even using digital power while not blowing up, there are other issues too with this. Again, you have covered what you set out to achieve, however, people in my opinion should look at all the other reviews before purchasing. A small caveat, if any on here reading this have a Hornby HM2000 controller and think this will be great, it is Hornby, it is compatible, well, think on, Hornby say on page 16-17 of their pdf there are issues using this controller. Your videoing of your phone screen is superb, crystal clear with no reflections.

I can see folk are going out to find some old phones and see if the app works on them. And you could just keep each train with it own phone .

I'll think I'll just stick to analogue - SIMPLES!!! 😄😉🚂🚂🚂

It may be low cost but this is to draw people in. At some stage Hornby shall be charging people a subscription charge to cover the cost of the system at Hornby. Bluetooth is not free as the infrastructure needs to be looked after at the base of the system which will be at Hornby

You’re giving me good information, but with the sound chip turned up you’re inaudible!!