Our club has had similar problems in the past with TMCC engines programmed with the same number, so that's not a new problem to LionChief. As far as taking turns, our club only has two mainlines, so we have to take turns anyway. I can't ever recall seeing two identical engines on the layout at the same time, regardless of how they are controlled. Well one time a guy was running a scale Turbine and I happened to have a postwar one with me, but that would hardly be considered the same...
That's a very good point about the parents buying identical train sets. I hadn't thought of that, and I would guess most parents wouldn't know. I don't know how many would buy identical sets, but that could be a disappointing Christmas morning (or whenever).
Personally I like the LionChief system though I have only limited experience with it. Our club owns a LC Thomas set (which is the only train the club itself owns) and if I am running my trains, Thomas is usually on the same loop with them. The big downfall I saw with the system when it first came out was that there was no easy way to add an accessory since the wall wart only provided one track connection. I mentioned it at the LCCA convention (last year at Indy) at one of Lionel's seminars during a Q and A session, and they told me to come back to tomorrow's session. That is where they introduced the plug and play system.
As for all the crystal ball predictions, here's mine: I would bet that in the next year or so we see a Legacy to Lionchief bridge that will connect to the base to allow the Legacy remote to communicate with Lionchief engines. Naturally it will have to allow more than 3 (perhaps 100?) engines to make it superior to the universal remote they are coming out with and to justify what I assume would have to be a more expensive device.
J White
