I was informed by one of the hobby shops that I deal with that Lionel now has the upgrades available. Unfortunately the Lionel web site, which I can’t stand, had no info on them. Has anyone heard anything?
Doug
Boy, you said a mouthful Doug! Lionel’s site is so strange, isn’t it? They have a store but when you choose say, diesel engines, there’s nothing for sale. And it’s a nightmare to navigate.
But to answer your question, no, the upgrades are not available as of yet. They probably ARE READY, but aren’t released yet. But that is only a guess.
And I thought I was the only one that thought Lionel’s web pages were strange!
If you really look at their pages closely, specifically the heading you will see a train approach the Hell’s Gate Bridge, cross the bridge and head into a tunnel.
This great graphic has a minor problem in that the train is under the bridge not on the bridge!
Then of course you can’t find anything on their web pages and even with high speed access to the internet, several pages load slow, i.e. the pages with dealer names and locations.
I’m not sure what exactly you are looking for but Train America Studios & Digital Dynamics both have upgrade kits and R2LC boards.
I’ve had products from both and they are very good.
Off topic also, I too find the Lionel site hard to navigate. Regarding the Hell Gate Bridge issue, isn’t the prototype a two level bridge with trains running below the roadway. I think Lionel has just deleted the road section.
Pete
Thanks for the info on TA and DD but the last time I checked they were also backlogged with orders for upgrades and were more or less taking care of inhouse upgrading needs before shipping kits.
Will Lionel ever get their act together ???
Last Wednesday, I placed a relatively good sized order with Digital Dynamics. The following Monday, my complete order was on my doorstep.
Digital Dynamics is sold out of dummy boards for the next couple of weeks, however, the full motor drivers and Railsounds boards are currently in stock.
Just a questions about upgrades… I have several older Lionel engines that I am thinking about upgrading. If anyone has done it, how difficult was it and were you happy with the results?
Bob
I installed a Digital dynmics TMCC board with no sound in a Railking F3. The installation was simple and it runs fine.
Diesels are easier than steam. There’s plenty of room inside the shell and the antenna can be taped to the inside of the shell.
The antenna presents a problem on steam engines. Usually the handrail is insulated from the boiler and used as the antenna.