A friend asked if I'd look at his K-Line K-25303 Santa Fe "Black Bonnet" F-7 A-B-A units with TMCC, RS4 and K-Line's Speed Control.
There were several different configurations of K-Line F units over the years, and this one has both A units powered (total of 4 vertical motors with flywheels), smoke in each unit (total of 3 smoke units) and a 10-pin tether that runs between all three units. To do this, the units share a single R2LC in the lead unit, but have separate K-Line Cruise Control boards in each powered A unit.
If you're familiar with K-Line's Cruise Control boards, you know where this is going.... the Cruise board in the rear unit (the one without the R2LC) has failed, but the one in the lead unit appears to be OK -- at least for now.
I can see a few different repair options:
1) Ideally, one would replace both K-Line Cruise Control boards with ERR Cruise Commander M's. However given the cost ($300+ just for the boards - I'm not sure he wants to put that kind of money in these) and the fact that Commander M's are unavailable right now, this option doesn't seem all that great.
2) Just replace the bad Cruise board with an ERR Cruise M, and wait for the K-Line Cruise board to fail in the lead unit, which is a likely possibility. And given that the speed control mapping is probably different between the two units, this could even put more stress on the K-Line board. Not a great option, either.
3) Remove the motors from the rear A unit, and run the set with just the lead unit powered. Wait for the remaining K-Line Cruise board to fail, which is likely inevitable, and reassess options when that happens.
4) Replace both K-Line Cruise boards with standard Lionel DCDR motor drivers without speed control as a much lower-cost option of #1 above. (Has anyone driven two DCDRs off one R2LC or driven four motors with one DCDR?)
There are pros and cons to each of the above, and I'm curious if anyone has found themselves in a similar situation and what was done to resolve it
Thanks!
TRW
