Anybody out there still running Atlas 2rail TMCC engines?
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(Atlas) Two rail TMCC, require an interesting component, that allowed the signal to both rails. With DCC available, with a lot of decoder variations, TMCC never cracked this potential market. IMO, Mike CT.
@Mike CT posted:(Atlas) Two rail TMCC, require an interesting component, that allowed the signal to both rails.
Well, the component isn't that interesting, it's a capacitor. D
Carl Tuveson did a lot of work on TMCC for S-gauge.
I run 2 rail TMCC and DCS on the same O Scale layout, with multiple feeds (to follow DCS wiring protocol) and multiple loops. The two work seamlessly with each other. I don't need any extra components.
I have even run a TMCC locomotive in a consist with a DCS locomotive. After you get their speeds matched, their respective speed controllers keep them in sync just fine.
@gunrunnerjohn posted:Well, the component isn't that interesting, it's a capacitor. D
Carl Tuveson did a lot of work on TMCC for S-gauge.
You beat me to it, I was gonna say, I’ve built herds of 2 rail TMCC engines, it ain’t rocket surgery, or brain science, ……😉
Pat
I think the OP @romiller49 was trying to get a sense of how many people are running 2RL TMCC locomotives these days in O scale. Once Atlas switched their 2 rail locomotives from TMCC to DCC I think some 2RL TMCC enthusiasts converted to DCC. I was already in the process of converting over to DCC at the time. Although up until the end Weaver was still producing 2RL TMCC locomotives. Other than John Sethian and one or two other guys on this forum I don't know anyone who runs 2RL TMCC. I am in no way saying TMCC is a bad system, it certainly isn't, but it is my opinion that in 2 rail most enthusiasts found that the cons outweighed the pros.
I had one 2RL TMCC locomotive left about 6-7 years ago and I converted it to 3 rail. Now I have 1 3RL scale locomotive as it has fixed pilots and Kadee couplers. I just couldn't bear the thought of gutting perfectly good electronics.
One thing Atlas 2 rail with TMCC had was scale working coil couplers. MTH at one point was working on one. There doesn’t seem much interest now. From what I saw in a demo. The Atlas coupler worked well at uncoupling. Not so well as far as closing doing pick ups at switcher type speeds. Would have been nice to see what improvements could have been made and if these would have caught on in 3RS. Even now Lionel is coming through with ready made Kadee mounting holes. Most don’t want to give up the coil coupler and go to a transition car and run everything else with Kadee’s.
That is true. For me the coil coupler was so horrible at closing that I replaced them with a Kadee. I really wish MTH would have come up with a design that worked reliably. That would have been awesome for anyone who runs scale type couplers regardless of the number of rails.
Somewhere I have a small stash of them with TMCC. Maybe a switcher or 2?
If I had been able to find more of them when I was looking, I probably would be running all TMCC right now.
You can convert a 2-rail DC engine to TMCC pretty easily. I don't believe it will operate on DC conventional, but in conventional mode, it would run through the neutral-forward-neutral-reverse cycle sequence.
Many of us high rail S gaugers are running two rail TMCC and Legacy. I have around 25 conventional DC motored engines that were converted to TMCC/Railsounds. The steam engines have an added fan driven smoke unit (from MTH) and retrofitted electrocouplers. Some diesels have added electrocouplers. The conversions to TMCC are only complicated by the tight space in the S gauge shells.
I frequently run my Legacy and TMCC engines on AC powered conventional track, they work fine. Many Legacy and TMCC sounds, Tower Comm in neutral, crew Talk in F or R, are accessible with whistle and bell buttons. The engines sequence N-F-N-R if Legacy and F-N-R-N if TMCC. The coil couplers on the engines close better than most of the ones on the cars, but that is likely unique to S.