Lionel 6-38055 Santa Fe 4-8-4 Odyssey

You should be able to find the information on the Lionel website.

Richard

It is a TMCC locomotive with Odyssey.  I have had these until being replaced with the Legacy version.  It is a good solid running TMCC locomotive.  Do you have a question about it?

Like Richard stated, it is on the Lionel site.  6-38055.

Marty,

I was just wondering what owners experienced with this engine. I saw a used one for sale;  was looking for some quality "history".

This is one of the best steam locomotives with TMCC.    Lionel did a great job on this locomotive.  I spent time with the real one in California some years back.

I own one, it's great, and even better upgraded with a Super Chuffer and Chuff Generator from GRJ. You can find them for really good deals, and then another $100 for the upgrades. Better than the Legacy models because you don't have the smoke unit issues and there's much more volume in the TMCC version. You won't be sorry for picking one up.

When Lionel did the Legacy 3751, those were a good batch of fan motors.  I have two Legacy 3751 and run the crap out of them with no issue.   As a Lionel Tech, I know the time frame when questionable  fan motors showed up and it was after the 3751 was done.  The fan motors Lionel has today are decent.

If I had the TMCC unit still, I would do what laidoffsick did and put in GRJ parts, then  the unit would be a great locomotive.  I do not have one of Johns to check but the Legacy unit puts out all the smoke you would ever want.  Both the TMCC and Legacy are good runners.  The upside to the Legacy locomotive is it uses the newer and much better RCMC board system.  No more modular boards.  

On the 3751 TMCC I had, I pit two  16ohm  MTH heaters in the smoke unit and it blasted smoke.  Wired them together to show 8 ohms.

My Legacy 3751 is the only Legacy Steamer I've had problems with.

Smoke unit cr*pped out under warranty, sent it back to Lionel for service, came back in a reasonable amount of time, and then the smoke unit cr*pped out again.....outside of the warranty period.  I lose.

Make no mistake about it:  this is a wonderful model with a horrendous smoke unit track record.

Bad track record for you and I am sorry to hear this.  You can do the fix, they are easy to do and dirt cheap.  The smoke fan motor in the TMCC engine 6-38055 is part number 6101154130.  The smoke fan motor in the Legacy 6-11332 is part number 6101154130.  They both use an 8 ohm resistor.  They do not share the same smoke PCB.  I do not wish to upset anyone but I have never been a fan of the AC smoke regulator that controls the smoke unit in the TMCC version.  When you run into the smoke unit board curled like bacon, remember that usually gets taken out by a bad AC smoke regulator.    I do get to see a few of these monthly on TMCC locomotives.  It is a must to change the reg. with a new PCB.  As Laidoffsick stated, go with the GRJ set up and you will be in good shape.

Marty Fitzhenry posted:

 On the 3751 TMCC I had, I pit two  16ohm  MTH heaters in the smoke unit and it blasted smoke.  Wired them together to show 8 ohms.

Marty, I'm curious how you powered that two resistor arrangement.  Did it work properly directly off the voltage regulator?  No issues with cooking the regulator?

Berkshire President posted:

My Legacy 3751 is the only Legacy Steamer I've had problems with.

Smoke unit cr*pped out under warranty, sent it back to Lionel for service, came back in a reasonable amount of time, and then the smoke unit cr*pped out again.....outside of the warranty period.  I lose.

Make no mistake about it:  this is a wonderful model with a horrendous smoke unit track record.

Yep, same with mine... My 3759 fan motor screeches like a Banshee. All was fine, until a year later when I brought her down from the shelf...

Just a word of warning... hold the stack before you flip it over.. my stack now has touch up paint all over it.

John, I twisted them together very tight and user the longest lead to attach to the board.  Naturally due to everything being tight I could not use the MTH wicking.  I used the Lionel rope style wicking and both heaters pushed down on the wicking enough to make good contact and great smoke.  I had this running for over a year then sold the engine to Matt Flanagan when I got word on a Legacy version in the works.  Matt kept it for a while and moved it down the road.  

JDADDY, smoke fan motors need to be run.  Sitting for a year will make a few sing.

Interesting, I have been considering picking up a couple more of the voltage regulators and using the stock MTH smoke unit with the two resistors in upgrades, just haven't actually tried it.  Maybe when I upgrade one of mine, I'll give that combo a go and put some miles on it.  It would be nice to have smoke volume adjustment on the upgrades.

John, like I said I put time on it and so did Matt after I sold it to him.   I recently used the same configuration doing an upgrade to my Weaver I-5 Hudson.   The engine had the TAS package and I needed to convert it to all MTH.  The Weaver smoke chamber was very small and it was a shoe horn fit to keep the resistors from kissing the side wall of the unit.   Of course this was an MTH board feeding it.  Give the Lionel a shot you should have the same luck I did.

Marty

Well, GunRunner John, can you guess what my next call or email to you will be about?  

John is your man.

Interesting Marty.  I still have a couple of voltage regulators, next one of my upgrades I'll give that a try.  I think it would be cool to have MTH level smoke with the ability to vary the volume.  I get good smoke now, but I have to play tricks to vary the volume.  Having a low/medium/high setting would really be da' bomb!

I won't turn this loose on anyone without having some miles on it myself, but it's an interesting way to go.

BTW: John - I'm very happy with the Super Chuffer and TMCC install you did for me on my MTH 614.  Good stuff!!

I have the TMCC 3751. Fantastic model. Bought it new (that's back when I used to do that). Has been flawless, though I have not run it - or the 21" K-line ATSF aluminum cars I bought for it - for several years. 

RS 5.0 was great in this loco - at prototypical "highway speed" the chuffs just become a roar - as they should.

The cars are too long (15" would have made more sense, but we had a "club" layout then, so...), and I have another ATSF 4-8-4 that I have yet to upgrade to ERR - an old MTH PS-1 2900-class 4-8-4, whose PS-1 version is so old that it won't even run on MTH Z-XXXX transformers. Runs fine on my Lionel 1033, when I do that, which is never.

I prefer the (prototype) 2900-class ATSF 4-8-4's to the 3751-class, and am considering selling the 3751 and ERR-ing the 2903. I certainly want to get rid of some stuff. Dunno. I think yes, then I look at the 3751...nice - not Niagara-nice, but close.

Anyway. Rambling. The TMCC 3751 is great. But the MTH 2903 needs some ERR/TMCC/RS. Don't need both. 

Berkshire President posted:

BTW: John - I'm very happy with the Super Chuffer and TMCC install you did for me on my MTH 614.  Good stuff!!

Always happy to hear from a satisfied customer.

"JDADDY, smoke fan motors need to be run.  Sitting for a year will make a few sing."

Really? I have never seen this before... well I have some spares but they are the older type from 2005... are they interchangeable?

They should be, fan motors haven't changed much in years.

I have the first run and it has been super. Smokes well, as delivered. The RS 5 is excellent and the voices are unique and good.

I understand the sounds were recorded from the actual locomotive, which is still running.

A drop of oil on the motor bearing works great.