@Apples55 posted:Ron;
Thanks for the history. While I am nowhere as road or era specific as you are, knowing some of the history behind these engines is great. Is your Lionel version one of the TMCC engines from around 2000??? I have one packed away in the basement - it is a beautiful engine... I may just have to pull it out and give it a spin!!!
Yes, this is the 2000 engine. Lionel released only this one production run because it got caught up in the lawsuit with MTH. I would really like to see it released again with Legacy.
My engine has been modified. It came without cruise control, so I has a TAS Engineer On Board installed. The TAS EOB was a good board, although many did not like the built in slow acceleration. This was not fixable, but I do not find it a problem (engines are suppose to start slow). The one great thing about the TAS EOB board was it ability to change chuff rates between 2 and 4 chuffs/rev through the Cab1. It is neat to hear the 4 double chuffs each rev.
The biggest issue was the too-wide center drivers as they would short out on some switches. I had the drivers beveled which fixed that problem.
FYI - I became era and road specific to force me to keep my train buying under control. Since then the research has become part of my enjoyment of the hobby.
