Would you convert to TMCC or Dummy

[darianj]

I have an Atlas D&H C-628 engine with TMCC.  I wanted to get 1 or 2 more to lash up together; but was never able to find any.  I eventually found a Weaver version on the same engine; but it's convetional.  I figured I could find a way to lash them up.

So the question is;

1 Would you convert the Weaver to  TMCC or a dummy engine

2 - Is it even possible to convert it to a dummy?  I attemted to do this, but when I started to take the motors out, I realized that they are what hold the trucks on.  So how would I convert to a dummy engine?

Thanks

Darian

[Anonymous]

I would convert it to TMCC using one of the Electric RR upgrade kits. With the ERR's 'nudge' feature you should be able to create a lash-up every easily. If your TMCC engine doesn't have cruise control I would upgrade that one with the ERR board too.

If not, how many wheels on your trucks? I have two non-powered trucks from a Williams upgrade that I would be willing to send you. Mine have 4 wheels per truck.

[ChiefEagles]

I would convert it to TMCC using one of the Electric RR upgrade kits. With the ERR's 'nudge' feature you should be able to create a lash-up every easily. If your TMCC engine doesn't have cruise control I would upgrade that one with the ERR board too.

If not, how many wheels on your trucks? I have two non-powered trucks from a Williams upgrade that I would be willing to send you. Mine have 4 wheels per truck.

I've pulled motors out of MTH [conventials] and made them dummies.  Was not familiar with Weaver.  Lionel, MTH and Atlas will allow you to take the screw out of bottom of truck and remove motor and put everything but motor back and then put in screw to hold truck together.  Weaver different?  If so, describe so we will know.  Thanks  [how we learn from others].    

[NH_Chris]

Though I have not done it yet, I too have a Weaver engine slated to become a dummy.  I simply think it is much easier to deal with a lighted dummy than with lashups under TMCC (or even Legacy, which apparently is much improved over TMCC).

 Isn't there a gear at the bottom of the motor you could remove so that the motors do not transmit their power to the wheels?

 NH Chris

[palallin]

Lemme get this straight:  when you use command control and want to run two engines together, it is easier to rip the motors out of one of them than to run them together?  To take a perfectly good engine and make a glorified boxcar out of it rather than make use of its pulling power? 

 

Tell me again why this command control stuff is so great.  The procedure for my KW is very simple:  couple together the locos and open the throttle. 

 

Long Live the Transformer!

[Anonymous]

Though I have not done it yet, I too have a Weaver engine slated to become a dummy.  I simply think it is much easier to deal with a lighted dummy than with lashups under TMCC (or even Legacy, which apparently is much improved over TMCC).

 Isn't there a gear at the bottom of the motor you could remove so that the motors do not transmit their power to the wheels?

 NH Chris

It isn't easy with TMCC I, but with Legacy it is a breeze and works wonderfully! You can only do this with TMCC and Legacy engines, not with conventional.

[Anonymous]

Lemme get this straight:  when you use command control and want to run two engines together, it is easier to rip the motors out of one of them than to run them together?  To take a perfectly good engine and make a glorified boxcar out of it rather than make use of its pulling power? 

 

Tell me again why this command control stuff is so great.  The procedure for my KW is very simple:  couple together the locos and open the throttle. 

 

Long Live the Transformer!

What happens when the E Units are set for different directions? No two engines run at the same speed at the same voltage of your two engines could be fighting one another. This is what Command Control eliminates, TMCC does it OK, DCS a bit better, and Legacy does it the best. You can not do this with a conventional engine. With DCS you have to have two DCS engines, with TMCC both have to be TMCC, with Legacy they can both be TMCC, both Legacy, or any combination of TMCC/Legacy.

[ChiefEagles]

I like Atlas.  If you have two different engines and they are not matched, Atlas speed control sences this and adjusts.  I think Legacy does the same now. 

[palallin]

Setting the e-units is a trivial exercise.  Motors running at different speeds is not an issue--how many 2-motored engines have motors running at exactly the same speeds?  (Answer:  NONE)  The differences again are trivial.  I cannot see paying hundreds and hundreds of dollars just for the privilege of ripping the guts out of a perfectly good--and very much more expensive--engine.

 

I do appreciate this kind of info, though.  Whenever someone sings the praises of CC, it is touted as the ultimate in model railroading.  Info like this demonstrates that it is nothing of the sort and prevents me from throwing away my money on it.

[dougdagrump]

I run lashups quite often at the museum using TMCC 1 with few problems, when they do occur generally they can be remedied rather quickly. But there is another aspect of TMCC/DCS that I have grown to truely appreciate, operation and control of "conventional locos" thru the use of the Lionel/MTH handheld units.

Personally, I would go for the ERR TMCC upgrade, although I am not all that fond of some of their sound upgrades, and the ERR Cruise Command.

[Buckeye Riveter]

I have an Atlas D&H C-628 engine with TMCC.  I wanted to get 1 or 2 more to lash up together; but was never able to find any.  I eventually found a Weaver version on the same engine; but it's conventional.  I figured I could find a way to lash them up.

So the question is;

1 Would you convert the Weaver to  TMCC or a dummy engine

2 - Is it even possible to convert it to a dummy?  I attempted to do this, but when I started to take the motors out, I realized that they are what hold the trucks on.  So how would I convert to a dummy engine?

Thanks

Darian

Darian.....I would convert your Weaver engine to TMCC in a heartbeat and there are two ways to do it.

1.  Purchase a Train America Studio's (TAS)  8 amp SAW Board.  The TAS SAW Board is Command Control and Railsounds 4.0 on one board.  Put this board into the conventional engine.  You now have two power locomotives than can be lashed using the CAB-1.  (BTW, when you build a lash up, you tell the engine if it is going forward or backwards.)

2. Purchase a TAS 15 amp SAW Board and a power tether.  Remove the command control from your Atlas and replace it with the the 15 amp SAW Board. Use the tether between the two engines.  (Remember the command control board you removed, re-use it to put command into another conventional engine.)

Personally, for a C-628, I would do No. 1.

Currently, I have a Williams powered engine with TMCC and Williams dummy engine.  A generous gentleman has given me a set of Williams Power trucks that fit the dummy.  If I purchase the TAS 15 amp SAW Board and tether, I will have my lash-up with four motors running from one SAW Board and a spare board to put into another conventional engine that I own or I could purchase an 8 amp SAW Board and just convert the dummy -> conventional -> command.

TAS and ERR both make the units to drop into many different locomotives.   Drop either one of them an email, and they might have a better suggestion.

[darianj]

Thanks for everyones input and advice....Looks like I'll be converting to TMCC.

Also, after taking a second, closer look at the engine (under better light) I now see where I went wrong.  I missed 2 very small screws that hold a small black piece onto the motor.  So after removing those screws, I see that I can use said piece to hold the truck onto the engine.  So let me correct myself and say that Weaver is not so different.

 

[lionelsoni]

The better the speed regulation of a motor, the harder it is to run two of them together without one's fighting the other.  With active speed regulation in the locomotives, a very slight difference in the target speed could cause problems.

Modern permanent-magnet DC "can" motors also have an inherent passive speed regulation, in that the motor wants to run at a speed proportional to the applied voltage.  But, if two locomotives are fairly close in speed, they can be gotten to share the load.

Traditional universal motors have very poor speed regulation.  (Their torque tends to vary inversely as the square of speed.)  So they work very well together, both within one locomotive (where you would expect the motors to be fairly well matched anyway) and between locomotives.  Universal motors, until very recently, were used in virtually all prototype Diesel and Diesel-electric locomotives.