Is Lionel more serviceable than MTH

MTH's parts has been a huge issue for awhile. THere have been many threads and much heated discussion about their problems. Some people get lucky and gets parts in a reasonable amount of time, others wait for months. I know my local repair guys loathes working on MTH because it takes him months to get the simplest parts. They really need to acknowledge they have a problem and get on it.

Many will tell you to "Give Midge a call" but one she doesn't deal with dealers just the consumer.  And besides anyone who works in a parts department should be just as capable of getting parts to a customer as another person in the same department. Midge is a great asset to MTH, but she is not the solution to their parts woes

Thanks Chris, I don't want to start a tread on MTH is Better than Lionel. I want to make sure I will get the most of my choice;   part of my worries  is not the delay but the proprietary side of the thing, I'm use to N and HO scale and their DCC decoders, if I can't find a X brand decoder,  I just purchase an Y one. On the other end, I don't have a huge inventory of Engine, I may considerate purchase only MTH PS3 and run them in DCC and convert the one I own. So if something happen with a PS3 board and I can't have a part, I will replace it with a regular DCC one and a Sound decoder, of course it's costly but I don't throw away a $ 1000 + engine. 

Now there's an idea.

Your dealer should be able to order the MUX board on line and get it with in 6 weeks or so.  Probably a dealer/tech who has one in stock you can find on line.

As far as converting, you can do that with O also.  Anything can go back to a simple conventional setup or be converted to TMCC or DCS.

I think many of the parts problems are lazy dealers and tech that don't know how to work the system and or don't.  Not all the problems, but many of them.

Is your tech sure the MUX board is the problem, did he test your boards on a bench tester?  Did he test the tach reader?  Normally that signal is just a pass thru to power the tach reader.   G

From what I see, neither Lionel nor MTH are supporting their products with parts for more than just a few years. Perhaps economic realities, combined with today's demand for trains with many unique parts make stocking parts for the long term unfeasible.

My solution is to stay with older product.

So if something happen with a PS3 board and I can't have a part, I will replace it with a regular DCC one and a Sound decoder, of course it's costly but I don't throw away a $ 1000 + engine.

Well there's nothing stopping you from DCC'ing your current engine and I highly doubt that a PS3 engine will be a "plug n play" conversion if the PS3 stuff goes bad.

 I ask because in a year I have to replace 3 MTH boards, so I'm thinking to purchase only Lionel next time.

Well which is it? In 6 hours you went from Lionel to DCC and then you bring up the propietary nature of O Gauge??

I want to make sure I will get the most of my choice;   part of my worries  is not the delay but the proprietary side of the thing,

??

This board is not listed in the parts drawing so they have to look at it at MTH, aside it's not the dealer who find the problem it's me;  the 2 diode on the board are burn. The board was not screw in the engine so at a moment the board trace under touch the metal body of the engine, of course after the warranty expire. 

EDIT : I the thing is not screw but clip on a plastic retainer 

If the hobby was Plug n play " I will not find it interesting ;  aside it's quite simple to remove all the MTH electronic and replace it with a QSI Titan sound decoder, this is way more easy than mill a N scale frame to install a sound decoder 

AG-0000059 Engine MUX Receive board.  G

at the back it said R2MRA  it's on a premier Hudson 

This is a standard item, I gave you the part number to use to order with MTH

I suggest that you call MTH (410-381-2580) and talk to a tech. Tell the tech what your local repair person said:

the girl is too busy and it's not sure I can have this board

Ask them to comment on the local repair person's statement. Judge the repair guy's statement and the tech's response to get an idea as regards whether your repair guy is being straight with you. Then, see if you can order the part from MTH directly.

I have had no problems getting parts for my MTH equipment. I call them and get the parts in a few weeks.  The MTH people have always been friendly and very helpful. I sorry for your experience, but I find another store for tech support and service.