Cab1 vs Cab1L

The only thing you'll really notice would be no clumsy antenna I would imagine.  There are some internal improvements, but it sounds like you would not be using them.  The CAB-1L does indeed use a new base, it needs either the BASE-1L or it will also connect to the Legacy base.

And CAB-1L supports the Quilling Whistle feature!

Since he's not considering any Legacy locomotives, that would be a neat trick, I'd like it on my TMCC locomotives as well!

There is one improvement that I can think of and that is the ability to change channels. If you run at a show TMCC really only has one channel and things get really interesting when the club next to you has TMCC also. I know there were one set of alternate crystals available once back when but not now. With the Cab1L and base he could change channels and not have interference from another club's layout.

With the cab 1L would my tmcc steamer run better at the slower speeds or would the legacy make an improvement on my Tmcc engines At slow speeds?

I really prefer the Legacy system since the Cab2 has the speed steps and all of my TMCC seem to perform better using it.

Jeff, good point about changing channels, since we're going to a show with 15 or 16 layouts this weekend, that would be a factor if we still ran the old TMCC!

From what Jon Z said, the CAB-1L may help as they changed the way commands were issued.  However, I think the silver bullet would be the Legacy.  If it's a standard TMCC locomotive, the ERR Cruise Commander M will amaze you with it's slow speed performance, and it's a very simple upgrade to any modular TMCC locomotive with a DC motor.

The Cab-1L requires a Legacy base, either the #992 base from the #990 Cab-2 set or the Base-1L from the Cab-1L/Base-1L set.

From the other descriptions and the posts by JonZ, the CAB-1L will do better than the CAB-1 on Legacy/TMCC but not as well as the CAB-2.  I would like to know how an Odyssey 1 engine behaves with a CAB-1L.  They behave like crap with the CAB-1 and extremely well with the CAB-2.  I would accept it works reasonably well.

 Hi Chuck....

running the Lionel BB1's with the CAB1-L, not noticing any improvement.

Though I am using the default 32 step mode. Maybe it's better with the 128

steps but I doubt it....

If you really want to test it out we can get together as we live close enough...

Bruce..

I was afraid of that.  The difference in operation of the S-2 with the CAB-2 and the CAB-1 is pretty amazing.  I bought the engine because I saw them running when I was a kid in NY.  The engine would only work well with Odyssey turned off or when run in conventional with the TPC.  When I ran it with the CAB-2 it was like I got a new engine.  No lurch, it could creep around the track (not that I ever saw an S-2 creeping anywhere).  If the material that Lionel posted on Legacy will generate an app that would allow a tablet/smart phone to work as a remote throttle this may be moot.

Thanks!

I saw that too....I pad and smart phone running your trains.....who knew !!!!!,

Yep, I guess that kills the fencing duels.  OTOH, they usually ended up with a broken antenna or two, so maybe that's not a bad thing.

Once I put the Cab1L base in, can my old Cab1s talk to it or will they be useless? 

The CAB1 remotes will not connect to the BASE1L.

The old Cab-1s will not talk to the Cab1-L bases.  They speak a different "language."  The Cab1-Ls speak the same "language" as the Legacy bases.

So if I understand this correctly TMCC locos can be run with Cab-1L as well as Legacy but Cab -1 can only be used with TMCC.  There goes the market for Cab-1 since you can buy the Cab-1L for just a few $'s more on the secondary market.

The CAB-1L/BASE-1L is the replacement for the old CAB1/BASE1, and it also includes a few Legacy features, such as the quilling whistle.  The CAB-1L will connect to the Legacy base or the BASE-1L. 

The old CAB1/BASE1 will control Legacy equipment in TMCC mode, so it's not totally useless in the Legacy world.

Does anyone know if you can connect a TMCC Base to the Base-1L in the same manner as to a regular Legacy Base with the Y 9-pin?  That would allow both types of handhelds to be used, even if the old CAB1 doesn't do as much.

Great question Dale, I was thinking the same thing.  My inclination would be yes, but I certainly have never tried it.

The TTOS operation at the mall has an old command base hooked up to a new Legacy base, so we can use any Lionel hand held. There seems no reason why a base 1L could not be connected to a command base.

Well the reason for the question is that there are 4 different I/O paths on a full Legacy Base, and one of them is dedicated to receiving the TMCC Base signal when you connect the Legacy Y cable.  It isn't just Pin 2 to Pin 3 in the Y cable.  Do they have all 4 channels in the 1L, and is the serial output drive on pin 2 the wimpy output of the Legacy Base, or the higher current TMCC Base?

Fredericksburg, VA? If the weather doesn't suck I'm taking my 10 yo daughter. About an hour away.

Thanks John, that's exactly what I needed to know.

I think I will try hooking up both the old and new base and see if both the cab1 and cab1L work at the same time. Sounds like they will. 

Remember, you can only connect one of them to the track connection, not both command bases.  The TMCC BASE1 will just be used as a repeater for the CAB1 commands in this kind of configuration. 

As to it working in conjunction with the BASE-1L like it does with the Legacy, I guess that depends on how they did the serial port in the BASE-1L as Dale stated previously.