@Mannyrock posted:When did Lionel start putting circuit boards in their engines and tenders? I will only be using 1970s stock and earlier. Nothing modern. All old school.
Thanks,
Mannyrock
Manny, I don't recall the exact year, but it was sometime in the late 1980's.
We read here lots of threads about failed circuit boards, but outside of my own error, I have not have one of these basic (and primitive by today's electronic features) reverse unit circuit boards fail on me. They're not as complex, so there's not as much to go wrong. Just food for thought.
Everything you're hearing here in answer to your questions might sound complicated at first. For me, it was just an on-going process of change.
I was running my layout normally on AC at first. Then one day, while working on an Industrial Switcher, I accidentally shorted and ruined the reverse circuit board. It was my fault. But then I got to thinking, "well why couldn't I run the layout on DC also, so then I could add some weight to these small engines."
And because I have a bunch of small sized MPC era steam engines, I also have a stationary whistle only I took the internal whistle box assembly from a tender and mounted inside the shell of a Lionel SP caboose on the layout, which I use as a yard office. On a small layout, the whistle sound coming from a stationary billboard, or some kind of building is not all that noticeable.
For me, and other guys like Choo Choo Charlie, part of the fun is the creativity of doing things yourself. Not to mention, it does help to make the hobby more affordable.
