Lionel TMCC Crane and Boom Car Verses the New Legacy Versions in the 2014 Catalog

The new ones look fantastic. I hope they fixed the errant deployment support arms. That was my only beef with the older cranes.

I am not sure what new features they could add but cannot wait to see them.

I have a santé fe and NYC crane with a shared boom car which I may sell and upgrade to Legacy.

I would go with the 2014 issue for the warranty on the set.

 

Steve, Lady and Tex

I too am interested how the Legacy equipped version will be better/different than the TMCC version.  Nothing in the description of the new Legacy cranes sets it apart from the older TMCC versions.

I also wondered what they changed.  It seems it's basically a re-issue, perhaps with some audio enhancements?

Contact Lionel.  Based on some of the threads posted on other questions, they seem to be rather forth coming on answers.

I was thinking the same thing and the only enhancement I can think of is maybe a qwilable whistle? Other than that I don't really see what else they could do to it?  I have the black M.O.W version.

I have the black MOW one as well.  Seemed like a good choice, I can be from any road name.

 

The catalog description mentions quilling whistle but I can't see anything else new. I frankly doubt that they have changed the support arms mechanisms as they are just part of the hardware, which looks likely to be recycled. I have gone in for the SP version however - prototypical paint scheme not to be resisted.

Just the quilling whistle isn't enough to get me to take several hundred dollars loss on my like-new MOW set, I think I'll keep it.

 

I suspect these are targeted to folks that don't already have one.

I hope they did not miss the boat to fix the support arms.

 

 

 

The support arms are not all that useful in the real world as you have to manually retract them.  I did the suggested fix and all of mine will deploy, but in truth I don't use them.

 

If they automatically retracted, that would be cool, but you still have to put the stands under them to make them actually functional.

 

Marty,

 

I did contact them via email and they asked what catalog and page number for the new 2014 Crane and Boom Cars.....

 

So, I doubt I will get any technical differences, but could be surprised.

 

My M.O.W. Crane had a rough pulley at the end of the boom. My dealer played with it awhile, and finally I fixed it myself. Drilling out the boom and pulley installing a Race car bearing, that I got from my LHS. I rewound the drum with new thread and all is well! I think that  this is one of the best pieces of equipment that any model railroad manifacturer has made to date. Just my opinion!

I kinda like the sounds of the boom cars with steam engine & whistle better than the diesel engine & horn set. I believe the PRR is one of the roads with steam.

 

The Bethlehem crane looks pretty cool, though.

 

Many years ago, I combined Beth Steel with PRR on a HO layout I had. Not a steel facility, but a Bethlehem Steel shipyard  .... like they had in Wilmington Delaware ... where they built amphibious landing craft with Dravo during WWII for the Pacific. I had HO landing craft I built from kits (not the actual correct type of landing craft, but I fudged it). 

 

I never use the outriggers.

 

Good luck.

I bet its just a TMCC crane with a memory module

 

That is exactly why I bought mine.  Not giving up mine either.

I have the first run Pennsy.  The steam sounds are great.  I had quite a bit of problem with it at first, but finally sent it to Lionel and it works great now.

I'm betting the only real difference is the Legacy radio board and possibly the quillable whistle in the sound boom car.

 

Still, for those that don't have one, this is another chance to get one.

 

I'm betting you're right Paul.  It'll be interesting when it hits the street if there is anything else.

 

For the expense of tooling something like this, I'm betting the mechanics will be the same, which only leaves some audio goodies I would think.

 

I have only one issue, The Outriggers.  I have the ATSF, Original first issue. It made a trip back to Lionel to be re-string. It performs well, everything works, except sometimes

the outriggers won't stay in...Is there a fix...Please send to my email if you know of some suggestions....Thank You.(llevin64@yahoo.com)

Larry, look at the last page of the attached PDF.

 

 

Thank You Gunrunnerjohn, this is cool. This Crane has a world of parts...Is there a particular way to turn this in a position so as not to mess the strings up?

Thank You very much.

Thanks John, this will fix my temperamental outriggers as well.

They could add smoke; but it would be a very small smoke unit.

Scott Smith

That's how I fixed mine, but I rarely fire them.  After you deploy them, you have to manually stuff them back in.

 

 

MTH makes a really small HO smoke unit that would be perfect for such a task.