Are the coal tenders on lion chief plus steam locomotives interchangeable with other lion chief plus steam locomotives?
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
I can't say with absolute certainty, but I believe that they are. All that is in them is the speaker and electro-coupler, and as far as I know they all use the same connecter on the drawbar.
JGL
I've seen different pinouts on some drawbars. Experienced blown speakers.
The logic is in the locomotive, the tender doesn't determine the communications. Many of the tenders are interchangeable, but just like some of the MTH stuff, there's no certainty that all are. You need to proceed carefully...
TrainingDave posted:I've seen different pinouts on some drawbars. Experienced blown speakers.
I wouldn't doubt it, it's unlikely that they are 100% consistent. 
I did it with mine while trying to resolve a failure to operate the coupler on my Hudson engine and tender. Attached the Pacific engine to the Hudson tender and the coupler on the tender operated. I was trying to rule out a defective Hudson tender and that the problem was with the engine. I then tried with the Hudson engine attached to the Pacific tender with no success...hooked up the Pacific engine with the Pacific tender once again and it worked as it is supposed too. All of this pointed to a problem in the Hudson engine.
However, when I pointed this out to Lionel Customer Service...this is the response that I received: "Although this is good to know, when you mix the tenders you run the risk of damaging the engine or tender. They are not wired the same typically and the pin out difference can cause this damage. If this is done and damage is caused it voids the warranty."
To which I pointed out: "There is no specific disclaimer in the manuals that you cannot interchange tenders with different LionChief Plus locomotives."
So, to avoid possible damage or if you are expecting warranty work in the future...Probably best if you don't mix and match!!!
As a followup...I recently ordered replacement drawbars, as spares, when Lionel had their 50% off sale on parts...ordered both the Hudson and Pacific...and visually, in my opinion, I can see no difference???
The drawbars have 4 pins, but on some models, the coupler pins and the speaker pins are swapped. Some of them are the same, some are different.
