gunrunnerjohn I've converted three locomotives and I've used their Mini for a milk car. Now I can spit milk cans out all along the track, no need to wait for a unload track.
I've converted three locomotives and I've used their Mini for a milk car. Now I can spit milk cans out all along the track, no need to wait for a unload track.
If you did the corral car you could have either horse's or cows jumping out as you go down the track
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
http://rtssite.shutterfly.com/
cnw1995 Gunrunnerjohn, the milk car conversion sounds neat.
Gunrunnerjohn, the milk car conversion sounds neat.
It's pretty cool, I just did it because I wanted to try using one of the Mini-commander units. I did have a problem, but ERR stood behind the unit. It appeared to work fine with a lamp, but it would lock up when I wired it to the solenoid. Nothing appeared to help, so finally ERR had me send it back to them to look at it. Apparently, there was something toasted on the board. They thought it was grounding and changed the ground to a wire soldered directly to the truck with the pickup. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't, but the new board works fine so I'm happy.
Gunrunnerjohn, the milk car conversion sounds neat. Brutus, thanks for the photos. I've always wanted to convert my Thomas engines, but have been scared to death of breaking them since there's no room 'inside'.
Doug Murphy 'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...' Henry V.
thanks guys for all the input i think ill just box them all up and send them to err and let them do the installs as i have no hands to do it with myself thanks!
I'm doing this now on my new carpet central. I snipped the wires off an old burned out power supply. The wire strands are thin, flexible and tinned.
rtraincollector A friend also sugested which I did was if you have an old computor just sitting there as you don't plan to use but don't want to give away as the data on it you don't want anyone to get you can do as I did I took the wires from it ( they just snap out) and cut the plugs off the ends and it gave me nice short but long enough for inside the engine and it gave me the ability to color code as they are multi color wires and made it easy for me. I used red for power from middle pick-up and yellow for lights ect,ect.
A friend also sugested which I did was if you have an old computor just sitting there as you don't plan to use but don't want to give away as the data on it you don't want anyone to get you can do as I did I took the wires from it ( they just snap out) and cut the plugs off the ends and it gave me nice short but long enough for inside the engine and it gave me the ability to color code as they are multi color wires and made it easy for me. I used red for power from middle pick-up and yellow for lights ect,ect.
PS - that looks a LOT more complicated than it really was. If I didn't need a tether, it would have been a simple matter of cutting a few wires, removing the e-unit, and then attaching the wires to the board with the tiny screw connectors that are part of the actual board.
Since I need a tether, I had to add extensions to the wires inside Thomas to reach the board in the permanently (now) attached passenger car.
RIP Chewy - best dog I ever had.
I converted Thomas the Tank Engine using one of their products, the commander board. It did not have cruise on it, but was about 40 cheaper then. It was no problem and when I had a question on wiring to the old whistle board, they sent me a schematic and specific instructions - no problem at all. Due to the size of Thomas and the board, I had to put the electronics in a passenger car and add a tether, which was also no problem. For the wiring, I found an RC wire harness with thin and pliable wires that worked well and just put them in a shrink tube as a wrapper.
I agree with buckeye on the ease of doing it. Infact I'm not really electrical minded and I thought it was easy. A friend also sugested which I did was if you have an old computor just sitting there as you don't plan to use but don't want to give away as the data on it you don't want anyone to get you can do as I did I took the wires from it ( they just snap out) and cut the plugs off the ends and it gave me nice short but long enough for inside the engine and it gave me the ability to color code as they are multi color wires and made it easy for me. I used red for power from middle pick-up and yellow for lights ect,ect. All i have bought since I have started this multicolr electrical tape a cheap gun type soldering iron from lowes I think for less than $15.00. and I have bought some tiny wire nuts but its a straight forward job and first one took the longest as it was a tmcc engine and I had to replace a piece which had some reall tiny screws and nuts. But the ones i have converted in most cases it took less than 1/2 an hour once taken apart.
rtraincollector lionroar88: ERR does not perform the upgrades, you can order the parts and do it yourself, or they may have someone who they work with that could do it for you. Sorry brent but yes they do heres copied from there site The Electric Railroad Company charges $35.00 per hour, rounded down to the nearest fifteen minute increment.For example: a one hour installation will be billed at $35. A half hour installation will be billed at $17.50. Since we round DOWN to the nearest quarter hour, a twenty-five minute installation will be billed at $8.75, the same as a fifteen minute installation.Installations requiring less than fifteen minutes are free. Our mission is to help you have fun and get our products into your hands as economically as possible. Our products sell themselves and we want you to come back for more.Since there is rarely a “typical” locomotive upgrade, we have created this page as a guideline to help you select your upgrade provider, which we hope is our company!
lionroar88: ERR does not perform the upgrades, you can order the parts and do it yourself, or they may have someone who they work with that could do it for you.
ERR does not perform the upgrades, you can order the parts and do it yourself, or they may have someone who they work with that could do it for you.
Sorry brent but yes they do
heres copied from there site
The Electric Railroad Company charges $35.00 per hour, rounded down to the nearest fifteen minute increment.For example: a one hour installation will be billed at $35. A half hour installation will be billed at $17.50. Since we round DOWN to the nearest quarter hour, a twenty-five minute installation will be billed at $8.75, the same as a fifteen minute installation.Installations requiring less than fifteen minutes are free. Our mission is to help you have fun and get our products into your hands as economically as possible. Our products sell themselves and we want you to come back for more.Since there is rarely a “typical” locomotive upgrade, we have created this page as a guideline to help you select your upgrade provider, which we hope is our company!
Well that is good news then, because about 2 - 3 years ago when I was looking to upgrade my B&O Mikado they didn't do them inhouse you had to ship them to some place in Colorado...
I'm on my third ERR upgrade after two Train America upgrades, and ERR upgrades are really simple. On my third upgrade, after getting the correct wire stripper, it is even easier. Did my first test run and couplers and motors were all working as planned. Next I will plug in the LED lighting and it should work. Sound is the last thing that I will install and test.
Although there has been some debate about the use of double sided tape, 3M has some new types that are really great. (Of course my neighbor works for 3M and I get the newest and best.)
ERR Cruise is something else. My Williams FM Trainmaster can be set at minimum speed and it goes up and down the grades at that speed. I don't know why ERR doesn't have a video on their website of an engines performance anymore. They used to have a video of BEEPS.
RT is right about ERR. You also might want to check out http://www.mttponline.com/#! Just remember his photos do not have flywheels on the motors.
BTW, if you want a good lesson in how to solder they are all over YouTube.
Celebrating 18 years on the CTT Forum.
Buckeye Riveter......... OTTS Charter Member, a Roseyville Raider and a member of the CTT Forum since 2004..
Jelloway Creek, OH - ELV 1,100 - Home of the Baltimore, Ohio & Wabash RR
TCA 09-64284
lionroar88 ERR does not perform the upgrades, you can order the parts and do it yourself, or they may have someone who they work with that could do it for you.
I've done 1 AC motor conversion and 4 DC motor conversions myself. Installation is not too complicated. They are very good at responding to emails about any questions I've had on both their products and installation procedures. I wish I had done the conversions years ago, but I was concerned about my ability to do the installations. It was no problem. I am planning on adding their sound systems components in the near future. They make a good product and offer excellent service.
Matt
has anyone out there had any experience with sending there locos to the electric railroad company to have them converted to tmcc? how did they turn out and are you happy with the finished product i have several new locos i want to have done and i want to get feedback first from anybody thats had this done, to see how it turned out! thanks for your input.
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