I have a brand-new 24 year old locomotive that is command equipped. The instructions reference a Command/ Conv switch on the locomotive. There is no photo to indicate where the switch is on the locomotive. The only switches illustrated in the manual are the program/lock button and the rail sounds on/off button under the coal load near the 9-volt battery. Before I put this on the track I would like to be sure of what I'm doing. Any help will be welcome. Thank you.
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The command/conventional switch is on a Powermaster, not the loco.
Any command type loco will work in conventional mode if there is no command base hooked up. The only exception to this is the first series of LionChief, before they added the plus. Granted, LionChief is not really command, or is it?
Anyway, you should be OK just plopping it on the track and running it.
Be careful of those tiny bunch of pins on the tether plug. They only go in one way and are easy to bend.
I want this to run in command. I have a complete and functioning command system. So, what you are telling me is that I put on a track turn on the switch that sends a full 18 volts to the track it will not run away it will automatically wait for the remote to run?
Just like any other TMCC locomotive... PGM to change the ID. RUN to run it.
The motor and chassis is the same as the 1989 B6, and requires lubrication under the worm cover, and oiling of the rods, which transmits power to the forward drivers. It’ll need a lot of break in time to smooth out.
Jon 
You’ll also want to drill a 1/4” hole through the smoke unit baffle at the midpoint of the element, per Jim Barrett’s awesome article.
Or there’s probably room for a modern fan driven unit.
Jon
https://ogrforum.com/...5#153603996209980835
why? I’m handicapped and can’t use poser tools. What is the benefit?
The vertical, no batting smoke units used in the B6, 238E redux, and a few other engines tended to blow more liquid up the stack than smoke. The reason for this is the very small margin of error between under filling and over filling and thus blocking the airflow at the bottom of the baffle with liquid.
Jim’s brilliant fix was the drilling of a hole for airflow through the baffle adjacent to the element.
Jon
I have a 1668E version of this engine. I think it was the first engine ever I bought at York...
I bought mine new from a dealer along with the matching passenger 4 car set when it was released. I always liked the fact that Lionel packed 2 tire traction wheels along with the magnetraction wheels. I have only ever used the magnetraction wheels and it can pull a decent load without issue. As stated above, the smoke unit does have a tendency to split some fluid out of the stack. At some point I may open the smoke unit and add the hole in the baffle. If you do not make this mod, the engine will still smoke fine. You will just need to wipe the top of the loc down after running the smoke. Since this engine does not have a lot of intricate detail, it very easy to wipe clean. The only issue I have ever had with this loc is detecting the command signal. This engine has an lcru command board. The command board has a tuning pot to fine tune the signal reception. I guess the tuning pot can get oxidized/dirty from just sitting so long. I simply marked where the adjustment is, and rotate the adjuster back and forth and put it back to the mark I made. It then runs in command without issue. A minor problem with the older technology. In the 24 years that I have owned it, I've had to do that twice. Overall its been a very dependable loc.
Where can I find the instructions for drilling the hole for the smoke unit?
Back shop videos!
Jon
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