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Austrains 442 Class Diesel Locomotive 

DCC Sound Installation

Now available with our NEW Remastered Custom Sound Project

including "Full Throttle - Drive Hold" feature

About the NSW 442 Class

The 442 class are a class of diesel-electric locomotives that were built for the New South Wales Government Railways between 1970 and 1973. A total of 40 locomotives were built by Alco's Australian licensee AE Goodwin and Comeng, Auburn. The 442 Class were used on both main freight and passenger service in NSW and when they entered private ownership they have operated across all of Australia. They were nicknamed Jumbos, due to their 1971 delivery coinciding with that of Qantas' first Boeing 747 aeroplanes. The 442 class are identical to the South Australian Railways 700 class locomotive.


The 442 class were built to replace the 1951 built 40 class locomotives. The first 442 was completed in October 1970 but was rejected due to rough riding concerns during testing. It took a further 5 months for changes to be made to the bogie design and it being passed for service. The first 442 finally began service on 29th March 1971 and operated mainline services across the state. In 1985, locos 44223 to 44227, 44229 and 44230 were fitted with V/Line radios to allow them to operate services through to Melbourne. This stopped in 1987 with those locos fitted being sent to Melbourne to have the equipment removed. By the end of their careers, all were based at Broadmeadow Locomotive Depot and mainly operated on the North Coast and Main North lines.


Following the delivery of new 82 and 90 class locomotives, most were withdrawn in 1994. In December 1994, nineteen were sold at auction to private operators. A locomotive shortage saw an additional six reinstated by FreightCorp in late 1995 and were used as shunters in Sydney, with the last of them withdrawn in March 1998. The only to be preserved was 44211 and is operational.

In 2001, five of the 442 class locos were overhauled and returned to service as the JL class. A further 12 were remanufactured and reclassified as the GL class between June 2003 and October 2004. The original Alco 12-251C engines and AEI generators were replaced with fully overhauled GE 7FDL-12 engines and alternators.

DCC with Sound 

In 2003, Austrains released the 442 Class locomotive which includes an 8 Pin socket for fitting a DCC decoder but was wired incorrectly.

The model has operating 12 volt incandescent bulbs for headlights, which in DC/DCC will operate directionally.

In 2014, Austrains released a 2nd run under their new "BASIX" range name, which still had the incorrectly wired 8 pin socket and bulbs for headlights which in DC/DCC will operate directionally.


For this DCC installation, we recommend the ESU LokSound 5 (Sound) with our remastered Custom Sound Project for the NSW 442 Class or the LokPilot 5 (No Sound) for those not wishing sound.

Our Custom Sound Project is NOT the Generic sound file from ESU and Auscision.....It's Better!

And it does contain prototypical recorded sounds.


Add LED headlights to the Austrains 442 Class

Here at DCC Solutions, we offer a lighting upgrade for the Austrains 442 Class to replace both bulbs with LEDs.


The DCC Solutions NSW 442 Class Custom Sound Project

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

especially factory fitted sound

Factory Fitted Sound only offers you the very basic sound 

So why not get fully featured sound from DCC Solutions

Our Custom Sound Project now includes these fantastic features:

Custom Built NSW 442 Class Sound Project

This is not just a basic factory sound project but a completely custom-built sound project by DCC Solutions that contains recorded sounds with customised sound programming plus extra features that will make your NSW 442 Class Austrains model a uniquely, impressive driving and sounding loco that will turn heads! 

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.

Working Dynamic Brake

Apply the Dynamic Brakes and the Prime Mover will wind down to idle and slow up, then the Dynamic Fans engage to assist with cooling. Reduce the throttle, and the decoder's dynamic braking logic will reduce your speed faster than normal. Disengage Dynamic Braking and the primer mover will return to it's notched speed and the fans will turn off.

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

New remastered NSW RVB Hurricane 5 Chime Series playable and short blast horn.

Included are the remastered NSW Nathan P5 and M5 horns, as some 442 may have carried these horns at some stage of their service.

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.

Manual Notching

For those who really want to drive their train and manually control the notching rather than letting the decoder do it.

And includes all these great features to make your Austrains 421 Class model drive and sound impressive

  • ALCo 12-251C Turbo NSW 442 Class Custom Built Sound Project

  • NSW RVB Hurricane 5 Chime Short Blast and Playable Horn (Additional Nathan P5 and M5 included)

  • 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

  • Proper Working Dynamic Brakes: When activated, automatically slows down with Dynamic braking, cooling fans operate 

  • 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 442 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 442 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 High Performance Dynamic Speaker producing fantastic sound

  • Full function button remapping to suit your personal requirements

  • This Sound Project is also suitable for other brands of 442 Class Models

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 442 Class Sound Project-No light modifications

Premium Sound Installation and Headlight Modification: Upgrade the headlights to LEDs plus our ESU LokSound 5 Custom 442 Class Sound Project

Sound Installation Speaker: Single Speaker-DCC Solutions Grande. Twin Speaker-DCC Solutions Hurricane Twin Short.

DCC Solutions SOUND and FUNCTION Labels

Premium Sound Installation using the ESU LokSound 5

F0    Directional Headlights

F1    Full Throttle Drive Hold

F2    NSW 442 Class Horn

F3    High Beam Headlight

F4    Dynamic Brake

F5    Coasting on Demand

F6    Brake

F7    Brake Squeal on Deceleration

F8    Prime Mover Start Up/Shut Down/Mute

F9    Reserved (Light Mods)

F10  Reserved (Light Mods)

F11  Reserved (Light Mods)

F12  Reserved (Light Mods)

F13  Reserved (Light Mods)

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  Manual Handbrake Ratchet Set/Release

F24  Spitter Valves

F25  Manual Notching

F26  Notch Up / Short Air Release

F27  Notch Down / 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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