I think the question I meant to ask earlier was this. Can the older Lionel steam loco’s be made to run with several different trains on the same track by installing something in the loco that will receive a signal from the command centers? Please excuse my vagueness, I am pretty new to all of this. Thanks ahead of time to all that answer. Best Regards, Jake
Hello,
By command center do you mean TMCC or the transformer control.
The answer is yes to both.
You can get boards to mount TMCC from Train America studios that will work with remote control (TMCC)
Transformer control you can still do this by keeping the trains apart at the same speed(By adding more cars to faster enginer) or by useing a block system.
So do the chips get soldered in to the old locomotives? How exactly is this accomplished? thanks, Jerry
When I installed TMCC and Railsounds from Train America, basically everything came out of the engine except the two motors and the light for the headlight. I used two sided tape from 3M to install the TAS unit on the frame of the engine. All the “chips” are already installed on the TAS board when it arrives.
The wires from the electrical pickups were connected to the TMCC board as well as the motors and lights. It isn’t that hard but you do need to read the instructions carefully.
This photo shows what is in a typical TMCC locomotive with the tender taking care of the railsounds. Everything to the left of the motor is radio boards and motor board circuitry.
You can gt command control boards from Train America as well as Digital Dynamics. You can contact the companies to discuss the options for installing command control components in a specific engine. You can get basic command control capability, sound systems and speed control.
I have had dealings wih both companies and they both have fine product lines and are very helpful.
My golly, I’ve created myself an albatross!!! I think I"ll stick with my ZW post war deal and the 1666’s that I run. The layout is roughly 10’ X 7’, and I run 7 trains on it the way it is now with blocked track and a double track that switches out automatically every other time around. I’m not sure how I did that, with 072 switches, I do not have a switch lever connect, they just switch on their own every time, tossing the train to the inside track then the outside track next trip. Two trains on the same track are done with dead track and a contactor. I have no idea of what I’m doing, but I’m having a lot of fun! Jake
Hey FRED BEAR or should I say BOWBOY,
Get yourself a new ZW,then get TMCC for an extra $100 and start to have some fun with the new stuff that is out there on the market. With those two components you can run anything made today.
laz57