ERR Cruise in a Hogwarts

I had it done. I saw one on u- tube that was up graded to Tmcc. I had sound put in but I dont think you can get the sound board any more from ERC. I sent it to Cary Van Nuis at All Aboard Trains in Lacy NJ. He is a great guy and did a great job. If you search u-tube it should be there. Any how I like mine very much. Ed Powers.

You'd be surprised how much you can cram in those tenders if you work at it.

 

If, for some reason, the RailSounds Commander and Cruise Commander won't fit, you could consider the RailSounds Commander and the MiniCommander 2 as an alternative.

If you search u-tube type in hogwarts express Tmcc and you see the upgrade. #1 and #2 that's what mine does. Ed Powers.

Also yes it all will fit in the tender. Ed P.

Ed, I believe what he wants to see is how it all fits in the tender, we know that the train runs.

Oh I see. Ed P

I would personally not give up the cruise function for anything. Running an engine with cruise and one without it is like night and day to me.

I don't give up cruise for anything that it'll fit into, but for stuff like the little PARR speeder I just converted, there's no way cruise fits into that, it was a full load just to fit the tiny MiniCommander 2 board into it.

Thanks everyone for the replies.

I do want to put cruise in, I have 5 legacy locos with odessey and it is the best. I think I would give up the sounds before cruise.

Ed P. - I have watched those videos and it looks great. Do you happen to know what type of smoke unit is in there now? Or where to get one? 
I'm actually thinking on leaving the puffer unit in place...save some money and I like them but fan driven does look nice.

I'd only put the fan unit in if I could control the chuffs to sync with the sounds, I don't like the ones that just pour out smoke on a steamer like some of the early TMCC stuff.  I have a K-Line Mikado converted to PS/2 with the MTH smoke unit, it's really cool to get a volume of smoke and synchronized chuffs.

John that sounds real nice.

How/where did you get the smoke unit? Did you use another reed switch attached to the fan motor to sync the sounds and smoke?

Thanks!
Jason

Sorry - just re-read your post and I see you did a PS2 conversion. Different monster
For now, I have not made the venture to DCS.

DCS has the advantage that you can set the chuff/rev and the smoke is synchronized as well. 

 

For TMCC conversions, you need more magnets on either the drivers or pilot trucks.  For four chuffs, two on the pilot (or tender) wheels, or four on the drivers is the requirement.  The pilot (or tender wheels) may not yield exactly four chuffs per rev, but they're usually close.

I remember seeing or talking to the guy that did the video. I can't remember where he got the smoke unit. I think he mentions it in the description of the video. When Cary did mine he put the magnets on the wheels like gunrunner John states. It smokes just fine that way. The chuffs and smoke are in sync. I am a little afraid to open my tender. To show you how it's put in That's why I had Cary do the installation. Ed P.

I have an MTH smoke unit in my K-Line Mikado with the PS/2 conversion.

Hey Ed,
Thanks for the reply. I totally understand not wanting to take the tender shell off. I don't want you to jinx a fine working loco

And just so I understand, your hogwarts still has the puffer smoke unit?

Thanks!
Jason

It would appear he has the fan driven smoke, here's the video he mentioned.  At about 30 seconds in when he pulls away, that sure looks like a fan smoke unit.

 

I have the original smoke unit. Works great!!! Ed P.

If that's your locomotive in the video, it would seem that it came with fan driven smoke if that's original.

No it is not my engine !!! I found the video. And liked it so much I had my engine converted all but the smoke unit. Cary of all aboard trains could not get a fan driven one for me. So I have the the orignal in same.

Bummer, I thought it had a puffer, so I wondered why it looked like that.

Has anyone make progress on this? I am having trouble with my Hogwarts engine. It runs fine for a few laps and then slows to a crawl. Nothing is binding and everything is all lubed properly. I am concerned the e-unit may be failing. i have wanted to upgrade to TMCC anyway so now may be the time. Would love to see pictures!

 

Merry Christmas!

Patrick

My Hogwarts behaves strangely too sometimes. I think the e-unit gets over heated. 

I plan to upgrade mine to tmcc too using a MiniCommander2. (No cruise)

I'm sure a CruiseCommander will fit in the tender. 

I don't know about "progress", but there's nothing special about the set that would present any particular challenges in upgrading to TMCC/RailSounds.

I had to fix one that would slow or stop after a period of time.  It was a loose pickup roller connection.  May just want to make sure you have a solid connection from center rail to the board.  Tighten up any mounting screws.  G