1st test of new cruise commander install in Pecos River hudson

Very nice.  I have that same loco and went EOB and TMCC a number of years ago.  PRB was ahead of it's time,I think.  Even today it's details are on par with current offerings.

I considered selling mine and entertained a couple of offers,but have decided to keep it.

Good luck with yours.  Very nice.

I wish that Pecos John would come out of retirement and do a couple of steamers--he has the right ideas.

Norm 

I have the same engine.   I put a MTH PS/2 kit in it.   Love it!

 

I agree Norm, PRB was very ahead of it's time with this engine.   I showed this engine to Mike Wolf once and was running it around Marty's layout trying to put the bug in his ear on what scale modelers want.  

Great job!  I have this one as well, but have yet to to upgrade it with TMCC.  It's actually on my list of projects.  Can I ask what you used to trigger the chuff rate?

 

Thanks,

 

Nick

 

Nick,

 

Two magnets on a tender wheel using the included reed switch from the cruise commander kit.

 

Ron

Thanks Ron.  I knew some were offered with sound but I wasn't sure what was used for a trigger.  The 2 magnets is surely the way to go to get as close to 4 chuffs as possible.  

In my cruise commander upgrade I was able to use four magnets on the center driver of my Hudson.  Perfect chuffing.

 

Anyway nice job, love how smooth cruise commander is.

Gary, I don't recall how many wires there are from the engine to the tender on these models but typically I see 4 on conventional models.  Did you run an extra wire or wires to connect the sensor to the board in the tender or was there something already there?  Mine is not accessible currently to look at.  Triggering off the drivers is naturally the way to go for perfect chuffing so that is the way I will go if it isn't too big of a PITA.  2 on the tender wheels sure gets close though depending on the driver diameter versus tender wheels.

 

Thanks,

 

Nick

 

I removed a EOB motherboard I never got to run very smooth.  Due to the extra wires the tac reader needed I had two tethers.  The original eight pin and a two pin tether.  I kept it the same and used the two pin for the reed switch.  I could of gotten away with just the main eight pin tether if I had put John's Super-Chuffer board in the engine instead of the tender.  Don't know why I didn't think of that sooner So really all you need is a eight pin connector/tether.

 

Check it out here.

 

 

       
       
I have one that came with sound.... its worse than the MPC "mighty sound of steam" but I bought it for the detail. I'm eventually gonna have Alex M upgrade it to the new ERR sounds with GRJ's board with LED lighting and an MTH smoke unit. I was thinking about buying another one, just a different version because they look so nice.

The two magnets on the tender wheel yield perfectly timed 4 chuffs with the correct size magnets. I was trying some large ones that need to be cut in half to avoid an occasional double chuff. I used the original 5 pin connector for the engine to tender interface and it works perfectly. the fifth pin is empty and could run the headlight switch. I didn't hook it up cause I don't care whether the headlight turns off.

 

I may never run smoke in it. It has tons of lead in the boiler and I think that is partially why these run so  smooth. I added 2 rail prototype wheels on the engine truck and they really add to the look.

 

I want to pick up the early version of this hudson as well.

Thanks for the video!   Nice Loco!  I like you smooth parallel track curves.