Help understanding this guy

All TMCC and Legacy steamers will operate without a tender, there will just be no sound of course.

TMCC and legacy tenders placed on the track alone and then powered will produce idle sounds.

The tender when placed behind a locomotive and then powered will remain silent until the loco is addressed.

My best guess is that there is a "communication problem" between the locomotive and tender. "Possibly" a loose or broken wire on the loco or tender drawbar, or a board issue.Its hard to know exactly going by a vague description and not being able to further test it.

Something as simple as connecting the loco to a different tender and vice-versa would help narrow it down to which component has the issue.

 FWIW,that seller seems to list alot of damaged locos.

Yes, I noticed that as well.  He is either really rough on them, or picks up dead ones for cheap and flips them on the site.  I'm just trying to decide if the price is worth the risk.  If it's just a bad wireless tether issue, I can fix that. But if it's more, then the cost to fix might not make the initial cost worth it.

Careful with your dealings with this seller. They are selling returned product, that has defects. They may have or have not identified all the defects. Basically this what I call "parts is parts" Be prepare to check and rebuild everything.

What I believe they are saying is it has a bad R4 board. But could be more than that.

Much more.

Yes it would be a MUCH safer buy.

I know, but for a higher cost.  I'm trying to keep it very low as my wife rather I not get anymore until after I've gotten the VL BB completely paid for.

Yes, but you may be penny wise and pound foolish.

Follow what RickO stated as it has to be a communication issue.  That locomotive has a wireless (IR) tether.  The transmitter on the engine could be bad or the receiver on the tender.  If the railsounds work with the transformer(no engine) and the engine runs, your problem lies with the serial communications.  If a board was bad in the tender, the Railsounds would not come alive on the tender without the engine.  If the R4LC in the engine was bad, the remote in most cases would not talk to the engine.

I have run into many of these situations.  Without going into details, it would be an easy fix.  The price is decent.  Any Lionel tech can fix that for you.

I've bought from this guy. I was looking for project engine I could learn from. Didn't want to practice on a $900 piece of gear! I watched it for a few weeks, saw that there was no action on it at all so I offered a little less and he took it. In my case there was more wrong than the description indicated but everything that was not described was a relative easy fix and because of that it was a good deal and a great learning experience. However you could tell the engine had been gone through by someone that apparently didn't know any more than I did!  I found connections plugged into the wrong ports, broken wires and parts that had to be replaced. That of course may not be the case with everything he's got. Final thought, with a lot of help from folks on this forum guiding me and offering advice, now I've got a great engine that works just as it should plus it was a fun project and I learned a lot.

FWIW I have that engine, bought here on the buy/sell forum. It is a great little runner and all around great performer.

If you are able to buy it at the right price and the fix is straightforward, it should be worth it.

If you had to pay a tech to diagnose multiple issues, and replace a couple of boards, it could get pricey.

Just my .02 worth.

Rod

Just make sure you run it with your Legacy system, right Rod?

I agree with Rod, the person selling you this locomotive will not diagnose the issue where you can assume it will be a cheep fix. I have lucked out, and then again purchase something like this and found that instead of an r4 board it has an r2 board in it, thus I had to throw another 80 at it and repair it... plus notice a few other damaged elements... BTW taking this engine apart... 10 lbs. of fun in a 5lb  bag...not one of those easy fixes.

I purchased the same engine from them and the smoke unit will come on and then just stop on its own as it cycles around the track, pick up the TMCC remote and I can reinitiate, then also noticed the tender was missing a bit of coal in shipping.

Lionel had issues with the wrong smoke regulator boards put in these, just like the F12e.

I bought mine for 200.00, if I did it all over again, I would have purchased from somebody here on the forum.

BTW this has a fantastic sound unit in it....

Wow, didn't think someone would dig this old thread up.  Guess I should update.

I've decided to pass on this (So if someone else wants it, go for it.).  The wife has spoken, saying I've spent too much on trains already, so no more for a while.  But she is letting me order the VL reefers at least before the train buying moratorium takes full effect.  Guess she wants me to finish doing the work around the house and to start building the layout so I have a place to run the trains before I get more.  Why does she have to be so logical?   Guess that's what I get for marrying a woman with brains in her head.

I will bid on it.  Thank you for letting us know you are going to pass.  I have found over the years that the OGR forum is the safest place to buy.  I have seen some real junk that came from that other site.  I will buy there if the poster declares any issue.

Good luck with that wife situation.

No problems with the wife.  She supports my hobby fully, well, up to the point that I spend all our money on trains anyway.  I've never been too good at saving for a rainy day while she on the other hand only saves and saves.  So between the two of us, our fiances will be in nice shape and we'll have some fun toys to play with.  What more is there to ask for?

do you have to get permission from her to post here on the forum too?-jim

That's kinda rude.  No I don't.  Nor do I really need her permission to spend money.  But because I love her and respect her I take into consideration her thoughts, feelings and opinion on things and in this case, she is right.

Mixerman,

Nice response, if you have nothing to add to the discussion Then don't . Please put your brain in gear before posting.

no sense of humor here?

John; you got it!

Rod

Interesting info posted by RickO.....leads to wondering if I can run either of these

electronics enhanced loco brands without their original tenders, but with a base LIONEL tender that only has a little sound behind either brand's engine, since I want similar tenders on all locos, and this will all work in conventional?

You can swap TMCC wirelesss tether tenders no problem. You can swap Legacy wireless tenders also, but not with TMCC engines. (The serial data is 8 bit for TMCC and 9 bit for Legacy.)

You can't use TMCC or Legacy tenders with PS-2 or PS-3 engines. Totally different animal.

Rod

we have a sense of humor, but no where in that post did it look funny.  might have added a  it would have helped.  humor is hard to convey on the internet.