ERR Cruise Commander Upgrade - Now with video in OP

I have found the ERR Cruise Commander upgrade to be very satisfactory.  I have installed them in several MTH PS1 steam and diesel/electric engines.  I have not had to perform this for any TMCC board replacements, but did repair a gone bad Cruise pc in a K-Line/Lionel St Fe Berkshire with ERR components.  As I stated, everything I have acquired from ERR is running great and better than the did before the upgrades.

I have an Atlas GP 35. The worst engine I ever had, several trips to Atlas still not a very good loco.  The detail and looks are great but otherwise terrible.  I have not purchased another atlas loco since. Well after installing an ERR board I have a great runner.  I wish I converted it years ago.

I am also a fan of ERR products but I am not sure how swapping out the electronics would cure arcing while running. Did you relocate the wires from the pickup rollers when you installed the CC? Atlas bodies don't leave much room for the boards and its easy to pinch a wire. If there was a short in the TAS EOB I think you would have fried the boards.

Pete

I was never a big fan of the control characteristics of the TAS EOB boards.  The lags in response were annoying.

I have to agree with Pete on the sparking, I can't see that being the EOB board.

Atlas board pictured is before EOB and does not have cruise control. Note no tach reader or flywheel tape.   There were later production models of Atlas SD35 that did have EOB. 

EOB boards were a difficult fit. I had done EOB installs in two Dash 8 40 BW models.  Later models also had (4) pick-up rollers, IMO, a great improvement.

Some of the early Atlas models had TAS SAW Gen2 mother boards, before EOB. I had trouble with (3) SAW Gen2 boards.  All were replaced with TAS EOB.  

Without cruise there was even more of an incentive to install the ERR CC.

I fried the original board (TAS EOB if I remember correctly) on my AtlasO GP35 with a Lionel KV. (That happened before I knew about TVS and fuse protection.) When I got the ERR CC board and installed it, I could see a difference in performance right away. I never got around to finishing the project other than wiring the engine up and running a skeleton, so I snagged the ERR CC to put into the SD35. I have to order two more CC's for the GP35 and another SD35. I can't wait 

(As Mike noted, this wasn't a TAS EOB board.) I looked over the board and wires as I gutted the engine and didn't see anything suspect. The most baffling part was the arcing of the middle (blind) wheels of each truck to the middle rail of the diverging route on every turnout. AtlasO had sent me new blind wheelsets, but that didn't help. I checked the play of the wheels on the axel. As soon as I wired up the CC, all the sparking from rollers and arcing went away.

After snapping the picture of the two SD35's, I put the shell back on the project locomotive, turned the dial to one, and watched it creep around the layout a couple of times. Then I loaded it up with eight cars and a caboose, turned the dial and watched the loaded locomotive creep at the same speed it did without a consist. I took the other locomotive off the layout and will start to prepare it for the arrival of its new ERR CC. I'm currently in model railroading heaven. Who knew watching a model train go so slow was so pleasing???

I was going to shoot a video this morning, but got busy and then had to leave for work. I'll get a video posted by tomorrow night.

That's great, you have hit on the reason why everything that it fits in gets cruise at my house.   With the new CC-Lite, I have been putting it in smaller stuff as well.

That is a standard Lionel TMCC/RS4.0 set up.  You can upgrade it to Cruise with just Cruise M if the RS and TMCC is functioning fine.  G  

Just loaded the video of the locomotive pulling a train. The length from front of engine to the end of the caboose is over 13 1/2 feet. You can find the video in the OP above.

So if I upgrade my 3 MTH PS-1 equipped GP38-2's with ERR boards I'll get that kind of performance?  I'm sold, as soon as I get the money and figure out which sound set to get.

Yep, you will indeed get very good low speed performance.  I've done a number of PS/1 locomotives, they're an excellent candidate for the upgrade.

I'd use the Diesel RailSounds GP7/9 series board, it should pretty closely match what it should sound like.