My granddaughter loves Thomas the Tank. We picked up a non functioning LionChief Thomas Locomotive. I would like to retrofit it to run with our conventional post war AC Lionel equipment. I'm looking for suggestions for the motor and reverse mechanism I can use. A 1666 will not work because the brush plate makes it too wide to fit the motor cavity. I am not familiar with some of the more modern equipment and will appreciate any suggestions that might work. Thanks for the help.
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It is possible to put a conventional E-Unit in Thomas as they originally came this way before the LionChief era. It maybe easier just to fix Thomas as is. What is actually defective with it? Basically all there is in those is the LionChief board and the motor both of which are available.
Any of us Lionel Service centers should be able to help out.
Jim
Jim, Thanks for the reply. I don't know whether it's a board or motor failure. I suspect it's the board. In any event I would like to be able to run it with post war equipment on a conventional layout I set up for the grandkids. Your suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Jim,
I was unable to locate the PCB board for a LionChief Birthday Thomas (6-83504). Lionel list the board as unavailable and I could not find one anywhere. Do you have one? Email is djheban@outlook.com
Thanks,
Dennis
I have a LionChief Thomas that runs fine either under TMCC or conventional. Under conventional just turn the power up to full and use the LionChief controller. Restoring the unit as designed looks like the easy way to go...
You can run a LionChief engine on a traditional conventional layout. You just need constant voltage on the tracks and the operator uses the remote. If you truly want conventional Thomas operated by transformer handles, then this is a Thomas E Unit from the Lionel Web Site. $15. This should give you the Thomas Whistle.
https://www.lionelsupport.com/...ON=productPartFilter
Ron
It's also possible to just wire in a bridge rectifier which allows the DC can motor to run on AC in the forward direction only (a switch could be added to allow it to manually be reversed if desired). I've fixed a couple of them up with that setup for a public display operation and they work well.
@dennish posted:Jim,
I was unable to locate the PCB board for a LionChief Birthday Thomas (6-83504). Lionel list the board as unavailable and I could not find one anywhere. Do you have one? Email is djheban@outlook.com
Thanks,
Dennis
Sorry no Birthday Thomas boards here. It does look like Lionel has a Thomas Lionchief PCB that could be used, then get a Universal remote. Of course I think I've also seen the B-Day Thomas (or maybe the Christmas one) going for about $85 or so which may make that not worth buying the parts and a Uni remote.
Jim
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