Conventional Switcher to TMCC/ERR

I have to say, if you want an A5, K-line built some amazing TMCC Railsound equipped versions of that and can be picked up for a song- no conversion required. The thing to keep in mind, an ERR control board (AC or DC) is about $90-$100 shipped, cruise is more, then sounds another $80 on top of that. Realistically, I would budget $200-$250 in just components and assign a value to my time to do the conversion. I bought a brand new in the box A5 with TMCC for $125 at the local spring show. Point being, if you have an engine that you just love and have an investment in- maybe it makes sense, otherwise, there are just some known good engines- probably fits the bill, can be had for a fraction of the cost and effort of a conversion. I don't want to take anything away from custom or "upgraded" engines, I've done quite a few myself. Even better, get yourself one of these highly common MTH engines as a baseline, and being a can motor ideal for a slow speed fine control switcher. Not to mention, there are sales of Lionel Lionchief Plus A5s at nearly every dealer before the newer Lionchief Plus 2.0 series ships much later this year or next year. Again, love my little A5, one of my favorite engines due to it's smooth and controllable slow speed yard operation,  electrocouplers at both ends, good railsounds, nice looks and reasonable price. #913 is TMCC Railsounds, the #94 by default is conventional but can be upgraded by plugging in the boards. I also should note, I first got a little carried away, immediately went for a modular ERR Cruise upgrade in my A5 to give it cruise, but the truth was, it was so smooth and geared right for yard work anyway, the Cruise control and extra cost was not required and I swapped back to just a normal DCDR and moved the ERR cruise to an engine that needed it much more for the mainline. So again, out of the box, I find the A5 perfect, and my quest to make it even better had me end up just returning it to box stock- that's how good it is.

Jetguy summed it up. A K-Line A5 with TMCC is one of the best deals out there. An ERR Cruise M tops it off for around 100 bucks and its nearly a drop in. Two chuffs but with small wheel diameter, chuff rate is more than adequate if not prototypical.

Another option is the Lionel USRA 0-8-0 with TMCC from around 2003. This has Odyssey Cruise and 4 chuffs. Can be had for under 300 bucks.

Pete

As to the what you need for a conversion, you have to know what engine specifically you are trying to convert:

Is it an AC motor or a DC can motor?

Was it already ready for an upgrade? Meaning, it has a standard Lionel style motherboard and has a 103 reverse board and you just need a R2LC TMCC receiver board and potentially upgrade from the likely Signalsounds (whistle and bell only) to full railsounds (power board and sound card pair).

Again, ERR is a great company and I like the boards they are selling and have used them on a couple of conversions. I quickly realized from a "value" perspective, this was great for that engine you already have, you love, it's expensive enough to warrant conversion. Otherwise, the typical auction and trainshow market- you might be better off shopping for something already TMCC. It's not that ERR is charging too much for the boards, far from it, it's just again, this concept of modifying an engine, the cost and labor involved, the final product, all VS what you can find out there given the turnover in the hobby. People are selling collections everyday, and for people like me just now starting off, getting engines slightly used but well taken care of at a fraction of the price- the conversion thing just needs good justification if cost is even remotely a consideration.

I'm with the group here.   If you can find a suitable TMCC locomotive, that will be cheaper than buying something and upgrading it.  OTOH, if you have a nice locomotive that you want to upgrade, and you can do the work yourself, it's probably cost effective.

I have purchased a number of MTH PS/1 locomotives at great prices and upgraded them to TMCC using the ERR products.

If you're going with steam, and you're a smoke fan, note that a PS/3 upgrade will probably be somewhat cheaper to get full function.  Also, if you want good smoke, many locomotives have mechanical smoke units, so you'll be faced with retrofitting the fan driven smoke as well.  Of course, you can do a great job with TMCC as well, and I even sell the add-on products to make it happen!

It's best to have specific makes/models in mind and what you want to end up with for this to be a useful discussion.