I have a few engines that do not have TMCC that I was thinking of adding TMCC too. I have heard talk on this board about doing it and was wondering if it is easy to do. One of the engines is a Pere Marquette Berkshire and it has Railsounds but is not TMCC. It is made by Lionel. Not sure of the model number yet because I have not received it but am buying it off a guy online. I am not running anything TMCC now but I want to in the future. When I do make my permanent layout I will be making one loop for conventional engines but this one and a few others I want to run in command control. What are my options?
I have added TMCC to non TMCC engines. Here’s the scoop:
- Send one engine to Train America and have them install the board(s).
- When engine returns home, open it up and realize the installation is fairly simple.
- Order another board or two from TMCC. (Tell them what you got and they will tell you what you need.)
- With the instructions in hand and your previous TMCC engine as an example, put the board in yourself.
Hint: Two sided tape comes in real handy.
About how much did it cost to get the boards and whatever else you needed to covert them. How much did it cost for them to install it?
I’ll let the horse’s mouth do the talking. Here is the web pages for Train America. The second one is an old page, but tells you what tools you need. If you call them ask for Phil. Tell him you are electonically challenged like I did and he will guide you through your order. Personally , I think their web page is too technical for the first timer, but they can deal with that.
This all depends on the engine and features you are upgrading…
I had a Berkshire upgraded, cost was $110.00 for the board, $75.00 labor, and shipping to and from the shop.
It is nice, but I’m not particularly found of the tach strip… if I do another it will be with the Electric Railroad Tachless Upgrades.
Brent
I upgraded 3 last year using Digital Dynamics . It’s alittle harder on the diesels, because of the size constraint. But the steamers are not hard at all, provided you can splice wires, solder, and read instructions.
Tim
Wow
This thread is 2 1/2 years old.
And Tim, that seems to be getting more and more difficult for people to understand these days.
But newer news [:O], how new can you get??? Marty E just did an upgrade to a Polar Express with RR Electric boards and got EOB type cruise and they were cheap, compact and easy.
and you can keep the air whistle!
.
You might want to wait until Lionel offers their TMCC II-Legacy upgrade boards.
When installed, it will work with both TMCC I and TMCC II-Legacy, as well as providing
all the additional features of a Legacy locomotive.
You may have a fairly long wait, though. Perhaps a year or more.
However, upgrading to a TrainAmerica’s EOB (Engineer On Board) or Digital Dynamics TMCC board (and their various anomalies), is your only option, at present.
Personally, I’d wait, if I were you.
.