A friend of mine has decided that he wants to upgrade his PS1 engines to TMCC. He not being a participant here,I told him that I'd ask around for someone to contact about doing this work. Could anybody make a recommendation?
Norm
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About the only way to do it now is with conversion parts from Electric-RR Company (www.electricrr.com) You remove the proto-1 electronics (both boards), basically stripping the locomotive to motors and lights only. The replacement control board gives you command control under TMCC, and the optional sound boards give you fairly decent, albeit generic, sounds.
Hope this helps.
The best, and pretty much the ONLY, choice is the Electric Railroad Company products. Call them and tell them what model your friend has, and they will recommend which "kit" you need to order.
OK, I'll chime in: I've done a dozen+ TMCC conversions, mostly steam. The diesels and
some electrics are generally easier, a bit, because the plastic bodies make the antenna
installation simpler.
But: most are not hard. Essentially, he would be taking out the old boards,
leaving an electronically empty tender or body, and installing the new board(s).
ERR's instructions are pretty straightforward. I would recommend calling Bill at
Modern Toy Train Parts (there's a website) and ordering a single kit. Start simple.
Start with an RS-3 or something, but steam's OK (I started there).
Read the instructions. Read them again. Go have supper. Open the loco up. Ruminate on it. Read the instructions one more time. Go to bed. Start in the morning.
Basically, it does not matter if the loco was PS1 or whatever; the old boards will go
anyway. (Certain elaborate installations may be influenced by what the loco used to
be; don't start there.) After you finish, you'll not be at anyone's mercy when you want to
upgrade something...well, no one's but Lionel's.
boxcar bill has a complete package set.TMCC with.ERRC cruze for 185.00
FWIW, Boxcar Bill does installations, and I believe he's very reasonably priced.
The basic installation of the Cruise Command (or DC Commander if you don't care for cruise control) and the RailSounds Commander. is very easy.
The places that will slow you down a bit, this usually applies to steamers.
- Positioning the chuff switch for proper sound.
- Wiring a tether between the locomotive and tender.
- Isolating the tender shell to serve as an antenna.
None of these by themselves are necessarily that difficult, but sometimes an interesting wrinkle or two comes along.
Where I probably spend more time is customizing the lighting, especially if the locomotive has markers, cab lights, backup lights, etc.
Thank you very much for the information.
Norm
There is also another forum member (bgsteam) who does this type of work. I believe he lives in Malvern, PA so he may be relatively close to you.
Making brackets to hold the new board can also slow you down. Double stick foam tape is "easy" but it will deteriorate over time. I'm swapping a sound board out of an engine I upgraded about 9 years ago and the tape has yellowed/hardened with age and will start to crumble in the not too distant future.
I've taken to making board holders out of sheet aluminum/brass/plastic to avoid having a board short out when the foam completely collapses.
Originally Posted by TrainPop:
There is also another forum member (bgsteam) who does this type of work. I believe he lives in Malvern, PA so he may be relatively close to you.
Yep, about 5 hours! 
He's in Western PA, not Eastern PA.
