Hiawatha & Commodore Vanderbilt

The smoke units on my Hiawatha and Commodore SG sets needed replacement, but otherwise good and powerful engines!

NOTE: Lionel had smoke unit issues during the years they were produced, including BOTH of my JLC Challengers! 

My Commodore Vanderbilt has spent many, many hours running on the floor layout at Cal Stewart.  It has been a very reliable machine.

I seem to recall taking it apart to change the wadding in the smoke unit and also modifying it with a reed switch so that it would chuff four times per driver revolution.

Other than that, and lubrication, it has been great!

flmtrain - I thought it over and I gotta do what a father of the bride has to do.....sell his train items to pay for a wedding! I have a near brand new Commodore Vanderbilt set that NJCJOE was working on in earlier posts trying to get it to run smooth. Joe succeded and said it runs beautiful now. I would be willing to part with it for $1700. I am in Central New Jersey. Let me know.

FYI -I also have 200 Series Standard Gauge Freight Cars on ebay right now with some rare items you don't see much of like the Harmony Reefer with the milk cans insde the reefer and some TCA offerings, too!

It would be nice if the tooling on these still exists, if Lionel got it to MTH for re-issues. 

It would be nice to have a Hiawatha with cruise control!

Bruce was one of the guys I was going to suggest as a source for these sets.  He has been an active member of the SGMA and is a really good guy.

Kirk

Thank you Kirk!! What an endorcement! and RAK just reminded me- Joe installed a cruise control in the Commodore. Forgot about that one. Nice unit ready to go!

Hey Bruce,

Don't forget that it's 2012, and it's okay for the groom's family to pick up part of the bill too.  Mt son is getting married next year, and we intend to split the bill evenly between the families.  You shouldn't need to sell all your trains!!

Kirk

Hi Kirk, I parted with a bunch but I kept 2 Pipers and the American Flyer cars along with the new Olympian set, the Lehigh Valley 392E Set and a bunch of the 200 series freight. Few items on order yet, too.

 Any word on when you, Chris and the gang are going to the Toy Train Museum for maintenance and track replacement? Clem? I am trying to get Frank interested, too! I'll talk to you before then but congratulations with your son's wedding!

Putting cruise in a Hiawatha would be a no brainer. Either an ERR kit or an old TAS/EOB kit would practically install itself, since the engine is so big that the electronics are in the loco body rather than the tender. In fact, that gives me an idea - i just picked up a couple of EOB drop-in kits, maybe I should put one in my Hiawatha and get four chuffs per rev!

Southwest Hiawatha, 

I would definitely like to know more about adding cruise control.  I like to run two or more standard gauge trains on the large loop of the floor layout at train meets.  I always like to run the Commodore Vanderbilt, but if it is on with another engine, I have to really watch the speed (the Vanderbilt will speed up when I slow down the other engine and slow down when I speed the other one up, due to voltage increase/drop.

RAK

Installing cruise is pretty easy. There are two drop-in cruise setups around for TMCC - Electric RR (a subsidiary of Lionel) and EOB (Engineer On Board) by Train America Studios (no longer available at retail, but the kits can be found on the secondary market). EOB has the advantage that it will allow you to reset the chuff rate to 4 chuffs per rev, but it's harder to install and of course there's no warranty. Electric RR products have a good reputation; the company was started by Jon Zahornacky, who is now Lionel's Chief Technology Officer, and was folded into Lionel after he was hired. Their website is here: http://www.mttponline.com/  You can buy their products at a discount from an OGR regular who calls himself Boxcar Bill. His website is: http://www.mttponline.com/

I would advise checking with ERR to make sure what you need for your installation. The Vanderbilt and Hiawatha have two huge motors that pull a lot more current than the 0 gauge engines the unit was designed for. Be sure your kit will handle the current. The kits are easy enough to install - basically it just replaces the motor control board. With the ERR kit, if you want to change the chuff rate (which I think is two chuffs per rev, but I haven't run mine in a while and I'm not sure), you'll have to install a magnetic reed switch and glue itty-bitty magnets to the back of one driving wheel.

And speaking of the current draw, what are you using for a transformer? Sounds like you might need a bigger one. 

Southwest Hiawatha,

Thank you very much for the very detailed reply.  I will look into those options!  Sounds like exactly what I was looking for.

I wonder if there is anything that will work with the Digital Dynamics PS-1 upgrades for cruise control?  I have two 400E's that don't have it either.

I did add magnets and reed switches so that I am getting four chuffs per revolution, so that is done.

I am running Lionel 180 Watt Bricks for power.  One per loop.  So two standard gauge passenger trains, with lights, can really affect things, from a voltage drop standpoint.

Thank you again!

I assume you mean the DD Equalizer that allows a PS-1 locomotive to be operated by TMCC command control. I've never worked with one of these things, so I can't say for sure. The cruise control kits replace the DCDR motor control board on the regular Lionel setup. If the Equalizer uses a DCDR board, it should be possible to swap in a cruise kit - but that's not for sure and it might require some other changes, rewiring, etc. I'd suggest contacting DD - but they just went out of business, their website is gone, and the owner never had a great reputation for answering e-mail anyway. I'd say you're on your own. 

What I would do is, when you get the ERR kit for your Vanderbilt (assuming ERR confirms it will pull the amps), open up the other engine at the same time, look at the boards and connections, and see if it matches the Lionel equipment in your Vanderbilt. That will give you more to go on. You could also post over on the TMCC/Legacy board - maybe one of the gurus over there is familiar with the Equalizer.

See this thread for more information about installing cruise control in these engines.

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/d...ent/2415514336682202

Hi Bruce,

Glad to see you plan to keep a few goodies.  The TCA NTTM layout will have to be rebuilt or replaced because of planned roof and HVAC projects.  I'll keep you posted as I learn more.

Kirk

Gentlemen,

Thank you very much for the information and link for the cruise control!

Both are very much appreciated!

I just looked up the Cruise Commander M on the ERR website and it's rated at 8 amps, so it should handle even the monster motors on the Lionel Vanderbilt/Hiawatha chassis with no problem. 

STANDARDGAUGETRACK@gmail.com is Kirks e-mail for USA track.

SGMA1 is Kirk. He is president of the SGMA and co-owner of USA track.

I have several Hiawatha sets, but if someone else has one they want to sell, or knows someone who wants to sell one, please let me know.  I prefer not to sell, but will if we can't find one for Frank otherwise.  I don't want to be a hoarder!