NYC Ft Passenger sets

[laz 57]

I purchased 2 Loinel NYC FT Passenger sets at York over the weekend. Is there any way to make one of the A units to stay in reverse and the other to stay in forward? I would like to run them fore and aft to make that set look real neat.
Thanks,
Laz 57

[wrmcclellan]

laz 57,

I am not familier with that set as most of my locos are TMCC. Most Lionel engines with the electronic e-unit have a switch that can be changed to lock the unit into forward, reverse, or neutral. Typically one gets the loco running where you want it (ie forward or reverse - do this one at a time) and then you lift the unit from the track and switch the switch to the other position (I do not know how they are labeled). If this locks the unit into the next e-unit position (this is the one you did not want - particularly neutral) then just reset the switch to normal and keep experimenting until you get the result you want.

Be aware that if these units have Railsounds - there may also be a switch to switch the Railsounds to Signalsounds (Horn and Bell only).

If you have the operations manuals - there should be a description of how to lock the units in one direction.

This should be a nice looking set. I would not have thought to buy two to get a longer train and dual powered units. And with what I saw at York last week, prices on items like your set were pretty good.

Regards

[laz 57]

Thank you, I did try that and the new set has a 'reset' on it that will switch it back to forward again. The manual says that is what happens with the unit when it is not running for sometime it will automatically switch it back. Could a repair person switch them?
Laz57

[lionelsoni]

I have a pair of MTH Genesises that I have not yet converted to e-units. They have a jumper on the circuit board that can be moved to select the default direction after being off for a while. You may be able to find such a thing on your locomotives too.

[Back2Trains]

You could probably reverse the motor leads on one unit to make reverse the default direction if there is no switch provided. I'm currently running a pair of postwar diesels back to back with both E units operating. It works great most of the time until they get out of sync and pull against each other! Then again these units start up wherever they were when they were last run.

[lionelsoni]

Jim, have you considered putting a tether between them, so that they can both run off one locomotive's e-unit? A Lionel e-unit is designed to run four motors; so there is no problem even if each has two. It can be done so that each locomotive can still be run independently, whenever you want.

Three wires, connecting the two armature brushes and the field, between the two units will do the job. You can add a fourth wire to the tether to connect the pickups and greatly reduce the chance of open circuits. To use the tether, put one locomotive into neutral, then shut off its e-unit, then plug the two together. The other locomotive's e-unit then does all the work.

[Back2Trains]

Thanks, Bob. I have thought of that but have not gotten around to doing it yet. I still have a lot of stuff that isn't running at all. By the way, these are 2023s and I'm running the horns in both units also. Gives a real nice sound.

[lionelsoni]

That's a coincidence. I run powered 2023s back-to-back also. One of my units, however, is the former dummy from the set with a motor-truck transplant. That second motor makes a big difference. My rectifier scheme requires an extra motor-field wire; and I have a coupler wire for a remote uncoupling gadget and a pickup bus, for a total of 6 wires; so I have a permanent tether strapped to the dummy couplers rather than a connector.