That got me thinking about mini & micro electronics vs the larger cases.

 

The chances of me throwing it away when its cooked just easily doubled

I have had absolutely atrocious luck with locomotives!

Out of the 10 I have purchased, only 5 have made it 9 months without needing help!

 

I am not impressed with the reliability of these things at all.

Now, if I can just stop myself from buying any more of the silly things!

new trains new electronics so what happens when they fail??

 

new paper weight?

Send them to me (free of course)

 

You'll still have a DC motor in them, gut the engine except for the motor, and run DC to the outer rails and center rail.  You'll no longer have all the bells and whistles (literally) but your engine will run.

 

OR

 

Convert them to BPRC (Battery-Powered, Remote-Control) like I converted all my steamers (using a system from RCS in Australia) if you want wireless control (I have ZERO wires on my layout now).  I've converted 7 steam engines since May this year, MTH, Williams brass, and a Weaver/scratchbuilt 4-6-0.  My Williams brass N&W 4-8-4 Class J (all 14 pounds of it) runs fine on a 11.1v LiPo battery.  Right now I have no sound, but an engine with dead electronics has no sound either.

 

Of course the RC electronics will die too, but I expect there will always be something else to take its place, if not, revert back to my first suggestion   DC motors will be around for a while.

I only have two tmcc type engines and one dcs.  I have never ran them.  They came in collections with other stuff.  The idea of having an engine with the modern day features does intrigue me.  Seeing them operate at shows and club runs is awesome.  However, I am unsure how I would react to some of the electronic problems listed in these forums.  Probably like a two year old beating the floor with my fists.

I've looked at some of the basic electronic e-units and they look fairly repairable.  Once you get custom chips on the board, its a big problem.  Electronics manufacturers will often buy up all end of life chip inventory to guarantee future supply.  I'm not sure how the big three train mfrs approach that issue.  Their chips are usually copyrighted, so the third party would need a license to make replacement boards.
As long as the motors are good, you should be able to salvage the engine with an after market Elec e-unit.  However, I would be upset loosing all the other features.
I think i would approach the high end engine purchase like any other electronic item, looking at failure rates and customer service/repair centers.

P.S. all of my old Lionel postwar and mpc still work flawless and I repair them when they break. (I didn't need to mention that, did I)

NO WORRIES HERE!

 

      With all the stuff I have acquired in the last thirty years, I am the one who is most likely to fail, it would be impossible to wear out or get tired of all the rolling stock I have . Engines , if I had one or two a year fail , I would have more trouble , making it to the train room before I ran out! Bottom line don't worry about trains that might break, HAVE FUN NOW BECAUSE YOU MIGHT BREAK ! and the trains will still be there.

 

LIFE IS SHORT MAKE THE MOST OF IT AND ALLWAYS EAT YOUR DESERT BEFORE YOUR MEAL! TECHMAN  

Bob Delbridge beat me to it--but when he's out of space you all can start forwarding those free locos to me.

 

I can rip out electronics with the best of them, and then i can either wire the engine to run conventional, or convert it to radio control.

 

Jeff C

This subject comes up periodically, and I keep seeing these postings, "Help! My two

thousand dollar gee-whiz turned into a brick!".  That has scared me away from any

of the electronic stuff, BUT even the simple stuff like RMT RDC's have boards in them.

You can, of course, go back to the products of the fifties, but few of those were actually good models.   A quandary....Good scale model, or a train that runs like

old Marx??  I have said on here before it is odd that the new autos, from at least some

import sources, run trouble free racking up 100K while loaded with electronics...and

the TV's do seem to last a while...mine have....

Some guy had actually done just that on a recent episode of I Love Toy Trains I saw on TV. He wasn't converting electronic engines though, they were all older conventional units. 

 

All of my electronic stuff has been pretty reliable so far, so I can't complain. If it breaks I will probably go back with replacement electronics. Command control is a big part of the fun of it for me and also a big reason for getting back into the hobby a few years ago.

Every time I repair dead electronics I wonder if I'd be better off gutting them and running 12 VDC.....still possible.

Let me add to my statement by saying I choose to replace my PS2 electronics with BPRC, I had ZERO failures with PS2.

 

I ran my PS2 trains pretty regularly.  The folks who have failures, are they running the wheels off their trains (high mileage) or are most of the failures straight out of the box?

 

Now that I think about it, only 1 (RK Imperial 0-6-0) of the 7 steamers I have came new with PS2, 1 was converted to PS2 from Locosounds (RK 2-8-0), 1 had been gutted by the previous owner (another RK 2-8-0), 1 was only a brass chassis that I built a boiler for (Weaver 4-6-0), and the other 3 were Williams brass Crown Edition engines (2-8-2, 4-6-2, 4-8-4) with reverse boards.  So, 6 out of 7 have upgrade kits in them.

 

The only problem I've had with an engine with factory installed PS2 or TMCC was a RK NW2 that had an intermittent problem.  I traced it to a strand of wire that was periodically grounding out on the chassis when the trucks swiveled around a curve, on straights it performed fine.

 

The 2-8-0 with Locosounds didn't like cold weather.  When my layout was in the garage if it got below 50 degrees I had to turn the heater on and wait 30+ minutes for the layout room to warm up enough so I could reverse direction.  When I brought the layout indoors the problem went away.

 

Could the upgrade kits be more rugged than the factory installed systems, or are the people they're using to install them at the factory not doing it right???  Are they being rushed to produce, not properly trained, or is there a sinister plot to undermine all the train operators of the world

There are a small number of people on this board who have the skills and ability to repair the electronics. Whether the cost of the repair will make it worth doing is another matter.

If I was into running trains with electronics, I'd be certain to have my wiring set up with the proper circuit breakers and surge protectors. If feasible, I'd put surge protectors right in the locomotives and other items with electronics. (Why don't the toy train manufacturers do that?)

 

My preference is for trains without electronics, but I do have a few pieces that have them.

 

As long as there is a market for replacement parts, someone will be producing them. How many post war replacement parts are made by Lionel today? Not many, most are made by third parties. Same with electronics today. If your TMCC engine breaks, Electric RR can get running again. MTH has DCS replacements as well.

With the cost of new engines reaching into the stratosphere, you can repair your existing engine for a fraction of the cost of replacing it. If you can replace existing electronics with a diode bridge as some have suggested, you can replace it with proper electronics. It may look more complicated but its really only a matter of a few more wires. The manuals are very well done just take it a step at a time Try one a see for yourself.

 

Pete

It's not going to be an insuperable problem for all the reasons mentioned.  Just enjoy today and let tomorrow take care of itself. 

This is a point that nobody's addressed...

 

Personally, I wonder how likely it is our successors will actually care if the electronic boards in secondhand locomotives are original, assuming they do all (or most of) the stuff the original boards did. The market already is heavily slanted toward operators moreso than collectors, otherwise we'd be having heated discussions over say, the ethics of putting TMCC boards in Protosound-1 locomotives.

 

---PCJ

I have repaired many 1990's TMCC locomotives, and upgrades will doubtless be available for some time.  I think this is an issue that is being over-thought.

 

trainrat,

Surely you have a comment to add. You've been a member quite a while. 

I don't know.  What happens when your cell phone drops?

 

Been there, done that, bought a new cell phone.  There is no repairing cell phones, at least not unless you have a lot of expensive equipment. 

 

However, with the current electronics in command locomotives, most can be repaired or the electronics replaced.  I suppose at some point down the road, the whole package will become "throwaway" like so much other stuff in our society...