@Yardmaster96 posted:.....................................I measured the scale miles per hour using my remote. I typed in 15 and clicked the center wheel once and the MTH engine began creeping along at a peaceful 15 scale miles per hour. At least that's what the owners manual said miles per hour were measured. When I ran the Lionel engine, I typed in 15 and clicked the center wheel on the remote and it took off like a train possessed.
I wasn't trashing TMCC or Lionel, I was simply telling someone else that I too had used the Base1L in my layout to run Lionel Engines and due to the mysterious autonomous engine starts, and the speed difference in visually seen miles per hour via my own two eyes, ..........
Lionel trains, even when controlled by DCS do not operate strictly in scale miles per hour. It may not make intuitive sense (as someone else alluded to above), but it is in fact patented by MTH to display speed in scale miles per hour. They will not operate in scale miles per hour, even when using a DCS remote to control them. They still work the same way they would with a Legacy or TMCC system, it's just the DCS system sends the command codes to the Lionel base.
Lionel trains have speed steps. Depending on which control system the locomotive has installed (original TMCC, Legacy, or an ERR board), there are a different number of speed steps. The lowest number of steps for original TMCC is only 32! So if you tell the engine to go to speed step 15 (which it sounds like is exactly what you did) out of 32 (almost 50% of throttle), it sure would take off! Maybe not quite "like a train possessed" as you described, but sure would be a heck of a lot faster than 15 SMPH! It would be less noticeable for Legacy or an ERR board, which have more speed steps, so 15 is a much smaller percentage of the total steps available.
What Lionel engine were you running (does it have original TMCC, Legacy, or an aftermarket ERR board?)? It sounds like you were unfairly expecting the DCS system to perform magic on the Lionel engine. While the DCS system can send commands to Lionel engines, it does not alter their operating characteristics.
-Dave
