Legacy setup of Lionel A-B(superbass)-A sets ?

Nope, that's the way they intended them, that's why the special controls to turn off the crew talk and separately the bell/horn.  I recently acquired an A-B-B-A consisting of a powered A (with sound), powered B (with sound), the SuperBass B (with sound), and a dummy A.  They are truly impressive sounding with three of the four having sound.  I program them all to one TMCC ID.  I leave the horn/bell on because I think the horn from all three is fantastic.

Oh i bet 3 units sounding is awesome.   Thanks GR-John!

One question... if you program all three with the same ID, what will that do in terms of the directional lighting???

The trailing A is configured to turn on it's headlight when you're in reverse, remember it's unpowered.  All the lighting (there ain't much for an F3) works properly with a single TMCC ID.  The B-Units just have a reverse light.

The one oddity in the lighting is when you're going forward, the reverse light on the trailing A-Unit is on, I was amused by that.  If that annoys you, just pop the shell and unplug it.

You basically need the superbass b units anymore since they've dialed the lead a units sound down to a whisper. Even at the loudest setting its to low. I have the Norfolk southern. ABBA set, and I'm thinking of adding sound to the powered b, or the other powered A, or getting a different sound board because this is the 2nd Lionel item where the sound is below any other locomotive I have.  You could always give them a seperate I'd and build a train too.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

The trailing A is configured to turn on it's headlight when you're in reverse, remember it's unpowered.  All the lighting (there ain't much for an F3) works properly with a single TMCC ID.  The B-Units just have a reverse light.

The one oddity in the lighting is when you're going forward, the reverse light on the trailing A-Unit is on, I was amused by that.  If that annoys you, just pop the shell and unplug it.

Programming each unit with an individual I.D.  and setting its forward direction on the remote,should get the lights to change correctly.

At least, thats how it worked on my old TMCC RS5 F units. This also allowed activating the electrocoupler on the B unit by individually addressing it.

1. Program each with their own engine ID
2. Create a train with all 3 of them, setting the rear A direction opposite the lead A
3. Uncheck the crewtalk for the superbass B in the train creation screen to avoid double talk
4. Have fun

All the lights work correctly when doing this and I get engine and horn sounds from Lead A and Superbass B.

I have the Burlington Northern set.

@tom21pa posted:

You basically need the superbass b units anymore since they've dialed the lead a units sound down to a whisper. Even at the loudest setting its to low. I have the Norfolk southern. ABBA set, and I'm thinking of adding sound to the powered b, or the other powered A, or getting a different sound board because this is the 2nd Lionel item where the sound is below any other locomotive I have.  You could always give them a seperate I'd and build a train too.

I don't know what you have, but the volume on all three of my sound pieces on the F3 A-B-B-A I have is plenty loud, there is no "dialed down" sound.  My powered B came with sound, so three of the four units have sound.  I toyed with the idea of adding sound to the trailing A to have sound in all of them, but really, it would be overkill, they're deafening as it is!

@RickO posted:

Programming each unit with an individual I.D.  and setting its forward direction on the remote,should get the lights to change correctly.

At least, thats how it worked on my old TMCC RS5 F units. This also allowed activating the electrocoupler on the B unit by individually addressing it.

Of course. the way Lionel has been cutting corners lately. Maybe it doesn't work that way anymore.

Rick, the new versions come with individual switches to enable/disable couplers, crew talk, and horn/bell.  All of this was to enable seamless running assigned to a single TMCC ID. Also, the trailing A-Unit is configured to run in reverse, it's lights and coupler react properly using the same TMCC ID.

I believe that Lionel got a lot of pushback on the complexity of setting up an MU configuration for these sets and addressed the issue with a simpler setup.  Of course, one benefit is it frees up a lot of TMCC ID's, my four unit set would consume four TMCC ID's if I set it up as an MU.

I have a smaller Alaska set than Scott - the AA set and the 4-car passenger set with the StationSounds car. I must agree with Scott, it is a great looking set.

That being said, unless I am missing something, I think I must respectfully disagree with Gunrunner in this case. First, and most importantly, in the current run of F7’s, both A units are powered. Second, the instructions (page 12) recommend each unit - including any B units - be assigned separate ID’s. 

Apples and oranges Paul.  I have a powered A and B, the SuperBass, and the unpowered A.  Both B units have sound and include three extra switches to turn off crew talk, whistle/bell, and the rear coupler.  They were SPECIFICALLY designed to be able to run as one TMCC ID.  Yes, you can certainly do an MU configuration with them as well, but unless you want to control individual engines in the group, there's no real benefit.

I'm big on creating trains on my layout in my remote, which is why I use unique IDs. If you create a train with Legacy engines and then also add a Legacy Stationsounds car into that train when you activate sequence control for the Stationsounds car will also be affected by this and trigger the correct sounds.

I also have a breakdown B TMCC unit that I must address specifically so I can't use a blanket TMCC ID for it.

@gunrunnerjohn is correct, in most cases you can just use one ID, but it's probably more personal preference than anything.

I was just trying the scenario BNSF-Matt was talking about, but I was trying to add the ABA consist to the train under the single ID. That didn't work. The A units wanted to go their separate ways and crew talk ignored the switch setting (ie, it was always on).

So.... i gather that if I want to use Sequence Control coordinated with the diner car (as a defined Train), I need separate ID's on all units. If not, much more convenient to have all under 1 ID and switch back and forth between the diner/engine consist using the ENG button's toggle to last used ID feature.

I have never added a multi-train single ID to an actually Train ID before, but sounds like the Legacy software doesn't like that setup.

@ScottV Just set it up for whatever's easier for you to enjoy them. I prefer unique IDs because I can control the settings on each one and I'm in no danger of running out of the 99's ID anytime soon.  The train mode also gives you access to the train-link function so you can hit one button and go between your train and your stationsounds car.

This is my Santa Fe Legacy F3 ABA setup in my Legacy remote.

Image 1 shows the ABA with ID 27 being the lead, 26 is the Superbass B, and 28 is the Rear A unit. If you check the Superbass unit you can see the icon for crewtalk is disabled (missing the icon on top of it) you do this by selecting the engine in the train build and hitting the soft keys at the bottom with speaker being general sounds and the mic being crewtalk.

Image 2 is just scrolled over to show the Stationsounds car in the train.

@BNSF-Matt  Thanks for pix!  .... i never paid attention to the buttons at the bottom of the Train build screen!  ... so much for my attention to detail. 

I can only imagine different production years.  I just took mine out, plopped them on the track all programmed as 1 (haven't gotten around to changing them), and they ran perfectly.  The switches for sounds and couplers all functioned exactly as intended, and the trailing A-unit lights were managed properly.

@gunrunnerjohn  same for me: they just fine running as an "engine" on a single ID which is great until you want to build a train.  I think that's what Lionel intended in their design.

However, everything goes awry when I try to add that ABA unit as a single ID "engine" to build a Train with my StationSounds diner. I'd love for that to somehow work, but I'm guessing the Legacy software can't handle that scenario.

I suspect they want you to be running as a "train" for the train build.  Of course, you can just add the single "engine" to your Train and then add the SS Diner, I'm sure that will work just as well.