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TMCC conversion for 616 switcher

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  • Member since
    March 2011
  • 5 posts
TMCC conversion for 616 switcher
Posted by MtnGoat on Tuesday, May 3, 2011 4:27 PM

Hi folks:

I am a newbie here. I recently decided to re-enter the hobby after a 25 year hiatus. My first step was to purchase a mint 616 switcher, the same model i played with as a child. I was lucky to find one (it even has that wonderful smell of axel grease-ah me- memories).

Anyhoo- I want to join the 21st century of operations here, and was wondering if anyone has converted one of these pups to TMCC. I want to *operate* this baby and not let it sit on a shelf, but I've got several brand new Oddessy engines I'd like to operate with. I know there've been scads of threads about coversions- I've waded thru them all. However, there are a few things i have specfic questions on and would like the enlightened lurkdom to chime in here, so here goes...

1. I do not want to do this myself. Like surgery, I believe that jobs like this are best handled by folks who do it all the time;

2. That being said, and as I mentioned, this thing is about as pristine as they get- I don't want to  endanger my baby, if you know what i mean- while I'm not a collector but an operator, I want ths to be strictly non-invasive work here;

3. It's got the original horn - so space is tight under the hood - any thoughts about that (esp. in light of point #2)

4. How does an upgrade work with an old pullmore motor? that is, is the operational improvement that much better?

While I won't say "money is no object here", if I do this, I want it done right. Otherwise, I'll content myself of putting the other engines in the roundhouse and simply run it as it came out of the box (not ideal, but I want to be careful)

Thanks guys! This is seems to be a very knowledgeable and welcoming forum. Any insights would be very much appreciated!

P.s- I wont go into asking how one cures the bug once bitten. Alas- I feel my basement will never be the same again! LOL! Smile

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