Lionel 700E TMCC Conversion

What are your goals?  In my experience, the 1990 1-700E is a good puller, even without tires.  A little wheelspin is prototypical.  But if you're expecting it to pull 10 scale heavyweights up a 3% grade, it probably won't.

Unlike can motors, with a Pullmor you can't "set it and forget it."  But I do enjoy them for hands-on operation.  Perhaps it's just nostalgia, but they have a raw, analog feel.  With care it's possible and rewarding to demonstrate smooth train handling.

How big is your layout?  If you absolutely need walkaround control, then an ERR conversion is the only way to obtain that.  My train room isn't that large, so I'm planning to have one session a month using two-person crews and transformer control, so not all of my postwar and MPC locos will get converted.

Only you can decide what your needs are, and if you're having fun then you're doing it right!!

I don’t think it’s a good idea.  You have enough like models to run in TMCC and that 700E is almost a legendary model train engine as is.  You can still run it can’t you.  I like pullmor motors, I never had any problems with them at all, I actually feel like it made operating the engine more interactive, they don’t stop on a dime so to speak, so you have to use the controller more to ease into it.  You should be able to run conventional, but you need a powermaster or TPC, not sure if you are set up like that.

Yes, leave it alone considering the having the others in your stable. I had one when they came out and it wouldn't pull 4 or 5 of the then new K-Line heavyweights. No wheel slip either, the Pulmor would just 'bog down'. Probably not a typical example. A year later when MTH came out with their PS1 scale #5344 with vastly superior smoke, sounds, and can motor that would haul anything I sold the Lionel. Nice model however and certainly a piece of 'Lionel history'

Thanks for the comments.  I get the "throttle work" realism notion, which exists with my 18064 Mohawk and Commodore Vanderbilt TMCC locos.  At present, I can't run conventional on my layout.  I could set it up on one main track or the other, whether by Powermaster or WTIU, but layout-wide is more difficult, due to the block division between 3 Powerhouse supplies.  My layout size (25x18, +/-) is on the edge of centralized vs. remote control.  I'll probably order some tethers from Sunset/3rd Rail and mull this over while awaiting their arrival.

I have the same Hudson you are considering converting. At one point, I thought about having it converted, but decided against it. Like you, I have several other command-equipped Hudsons, and run them frequently. While I'm now officially hooked on command control, I still like to run in conventional mode from time to time, and that's when my 700-E Hudson comes down from the shelf. Sometimes I just like to hear the buzz of an E-unit. Given the significance of this model (the first issue of it since the prewar years), I plan to keep it "stock."