Confused about Lionel TMCC, Legacy etc.

How about the lawyer's answer... it depends...

upon your power source(s), track wiring, block control, accessory control.

The simplest combination for Lionel equipment is a 6-32930, a ZW-C with 2 180watt Powerhouses and a 6-14295 Legacy Command set #990.

This equipment will provide you with the ability to run Conventionally, TMCC, and Legacy equipment.

Watch this Lionel video to get an understanding, that will provide a basis for your understanding. Fast forward to around 16:00 to get the operation of applying power to the track to operate conventionally or in command.

After that, it can get muddy. How do you want to control loops, blocks, accessories, switches?

How can you operate your MTH trains?

Those warrant individual discussions.

Two pieces of equipment (mentioned above) will get you going with Lionel. Also, they have introduced the ZW-L to replace the ZW-C.

Utilizing any power equipment you have will necessitate purchasing more Lionel equipment like Powermasters, TPC's etc.

I thought I'd give you a starting point. Another forumite can provide further knowledge of going from DCS to Legacy and making the two co-exist happily. I don't have any experience in that area.

Thanks Moonman, right now the layout is wired for conventional and fully functional as conventional mode. The MTH DCS section was removed and I am not sure if I will be running any of my MTH locos yet.

Under MTH DCS, I would just lay the tracks, plug in the power, TIU and AIU and was good to go.

I do not think I am going to wire any accessories, as this is a passenger layout in the big city, only passenger platforms, light posts, and some buildings that already have a seperate power source. I prefer to throw my switch tracks/turnouts via their included levers, and not via command control.

As a result, for now...my only concern is the co-existance of conventional engines with their command and control counterparts.

The sidings and spurs where these conventional locos are stored, already are isolated via block switches.

chipset, as long as your commons are connected( typically they already are through the track) somewhere on the layout, adding legacy means connecting ONE command base  wire to a common anywhere on your layout and thats it.

Switches can be thrown via track power and control box, this has no effect on TMCC/legacy.

Your blocks should have no effect either. 

The accessory, block power, and switch control components are for those who want to operate the entire layout via the legacy handheld, they are not necessary, just an option.

I control all of my blocks via toggles,all of my switches through their own controllers and all of my accessories are on a seperate transformer.

Its as easy as it gets, you could ad it to your current layout in a matter of minutes.It probably takes longer to get it out of the box than to hook it up.

FWIW

When TMCC came out I bought it to run my Lionel engines with that feature.  A few years later I bought MTH's DCS system; I connected my TMCC to it and now run my TMCC, legacy, and MTH engines with DCS. I did not want to spend the extra money to buy the Legacy system.  I can not access all of the Legacy features with DCS or TMCC, but what I do get is good enough for me. It was very easy to connect the two using the instructions in Barry's book. 

The same applies to TMCC/Legacy. You will have place your conventional engines on isolated sidings when you want to run your command engines in command mode. Remember all of these engines including DCS, TMCC and Legacy will run under conventional. No need to dispose of your MTH engines. Besides DCS and Legacy will coexist on the same track. You can run DCS and Legacy together on the same track if you wish.

Pete

So I guess the magic question would be, do I just buy the one command base per Rick, or should I use my DCS TIU in addition to the Legacy Command Base?

The lionel catalog gives me the impression that I need a bunch of items, which is why I am asking here, but sounds like I do not.

Rick, your set up sounds like mine regarding the switches.

I use both DCS and TMCC/Legacy.

DCS controls MTH, TMCC and conventional engines.  It also controls switches and accessories.  Legacy controls all my Legacy and TMCC engines.  I find the overlap convenient in case one system or the other is not connected.

If you still have your DCS, why not hook it back up?  You can run conventional engines with your remote.

We are in the process of moving and everything train is now packed (wish that was true for everything else). I currently have the MTH DCS system and will be adding Legacy sometime after the move. All I will be getting is the Legacy command base & remote (#990 Legacy Command Set - 6-14295) and connecting the 1 wire to the system exactly as RickO describes.

I don't have any conventional stuff, but one way to run it would be with the MTH DCS system through the variable outputs. Since I don't have any conventional I will leave the other methods to the experts that do, but there are other ways.

Yep, now you have it. Just add the 6-14295 to your existing equipment. Park the conventional engines on a siding, kill the siding, and power up to 18v. Run the TMCC\Legacy engines.

I would recommend being patient placing an order with your favorite dealer to get a legacy system from the next "batch" whenever its delivered.

Unless an ebay seller can state which version of the legacy system/software the set they're selling has preferably 1.3 or higher i.e. 1.4 and I think the new ones will have 1.5  or better when shipped.

The earlier software versions 1.2 and 1.0 have a few bugs in the system. While these are scarce, they're more likely to pop up on ebay with little description of what software they contain.

I've seen legacy command sets go for far more on ebay than they do new from the dealer, I suppose people either can't wait or simply don't know any better.

I saw that Rick, plus there was only 2 and one was $500 over retail!

I will probably just place a pre-order/backorder.

That's exactly what I am doing as well, waiting for the new Legacy units to become available!  Will then be ordering one from my LHS.

Chipset, if you want to run "remote control" conventional- from the handheld, you will need something to control the track voltage.  This can be done with your two TIU "variable" outputs, or you will need to buy a Lionel product for controlling track voltage.  A ZW-C or ZW-L will control 4 separate loops or blocks.  A Powermaster or TPC will control 1 loop or block.