I have a Lionel Engine that was made in 2001. It has one of their reversing units that cycle through forward-neutral-reverse using power interruptions from the transformer. After the engine has been off for a time, the unit is supposed to reset in the forward direction. Mine does not reset, even if it has been overnight, but comes up in the next state. Am I missing something?
I don’t have an answer for you Rocco, but welcome to the forum. Give it a little time and I’m sure someone will have an answer.
[#welcome][#welcome][#welcome][#welcome]
Thanks Roger. It’s good to be here.
[#welcome] Rocco49! I know far less than Roger, but it may be more helpfull to put in your eng. model & # for the other guys who come along later. Been a bit slow here lately & be sure to check out tomorrows’ Sunday Photo! Also there’s the daily Coffee Pot ! Thanks, John
John,
I don’t know much at all! I cannot get to the box just yet, but is the model number marked on the engine somewhere? I do know that the engine was made for JC Penny’s Christmas Catalogue in 2001 which might make the model number useless. It’s a Rio Grande Hudson. What is the daily coffee pot?
Thanks!
The number is usually on the box for the item, sometimes it’s the engine number on older units, or should be on the underside of the engine. With it being a JCP item it was probably a uncatalouged set.
I’ll take a guess that it probably has an electronic E-unit, the direction control device. As I typed this I thought that the Hudson I have on a carpet loop for the grand daughters might be the same series and I ran upstairs to check it out, it behaves the same way as yours, goes in the next direction when powered up. All is normal with your engine, I guess its the TMCC, command control, engines that power up in neutal.
The post that John refers to is “The coffee pot is always on …”. It is basicly a chat room with many subjects thinly related to trains.
Thanks Roger! I appreciate the help!
Rocco
The engine in my Polar Express set behaves this way too. I posted about it a long time ago and I haven’t gotten around to getting it fixed under warranty yet. After power-off it seemed to reset to neutral with the next power interruption putting the engine into reverse. Well, the other day I deliberately powered it on and off repeatedly, waiting a long period of time between interruptions, to see if it would misbehave on cue for the repair shop. What I found was that its operation was consistent with a mechanical reverse unit! How the reverse unit saves its operating state, I don’t know unless it has non-volatile RAM in it. But at the moment I would say I don’t have a problem at all. Anyone else’s PE engines do this?
Joel
It would not be at all difficult to remember the machine state for days with a pair of CMOS flip-flops and a capacitor.