Sound and light on an N-scale SNCF Artrain ABJ3 unit

So, adding sound and light is always fun! This time for a French old man from the SNCF: the ABJ3 in N-scale from Artrain.

The ABJ3 model

This model is from Artrain, a brand from Transmondia, a well known French N retailer that used to be in Paris. It uses a base of Tomix motorized units, with a customized French body on top. Since the Japanese motor units are well known for their reliability, that’s a good sign

Under the hood

The model (or rather the Tomix Chassis) has a typical, straightforward and clean construction. But no digital interface. I’ve chosen to add a Doehler & Haass Next18 adapter, this way, I’ll always be able to swap the decoder if needed in the future.

The conversion

I decided to go for an ESU Loksound Micro v5 decoder, just because ESU has a free sound project for an SNCF DMU that’s close enough to the ABJ3 (you can have a look at my ESU Lokprogrammer review here). I also decided to add some capacitors (about 400uF in total); to ensure flicker-free sound.
Oh, and of course, I added interior lighting as well!

I won’t detail everything this time, but here are a few pictures:

The result

I’m quite satisfied with the result on this ABJ3, I don’t have that much SNCF rolling stock. What do you think?