Just found this 2/5/16 post on “TMCC Engines killing DCS signal” thread, by Marty Fitzhenry. Is this pertinent to the current discussion? The thread may be titled for engine interference, but Marty’s post seems directed at signal interference from the Lionel base. I don’t remember the exact age of my Legacy base, but it’s pretty old.
”Gary, I have the ESE engine with no issue. When Legacy first came out it was built on a similar TMCC platform of modular boards. Motherboard with an R4LC, Railsounds power board, and Railsounds audio board. Both TMCC and early Legacy shared the same Railsounds power board. Issues were noted with DCS signal. That lasted for a short time. If you pulled the Railsounds power board with the engine powered on the track the signal issue in most cases was not an issue.
That Legacy system was not around long when Lionel came out with the current RCMC board system. This board does not have any interference with my DCS signal at all on my layout. Remember all layouts are not wired the same. I have 51 of these engines with no DCS issue. I did a lot of work in the early day with the choke in engines and passenger cars.
You can try just the engine as the tender no longer uses the old Railsounds power board. The newer Railsounds Lite board has never been an issue here. Also please set your ESE engine on the track powered with a DCS engine on the same track under a signal test.. Try turning off the smoke in your ESE and let us know what you see. I have seen smoke fan motors on the edge do strange things. If you are using Gargraves track without theground rails tied together do the same test I mentioned above and using a jumper, connect both outside rails.
I get to see a few more Lionel engines than most and I am a huge fan of the RCMC board system.”
