Lionel S-1 Electric TMCC surging/jerking

I purchased one of these locomotives YEARS ago when they first came out.  Had a similar issue (i.e., surging ahead, lack of control).  Left me with a less than comfortable feeling that it was a problem inherent to that production run, so I returned it and never looked back.  Moved onto something else.

As to the flickering lights... Any loco with a very short wheel-base can experience this when traversing power gaps on longer switches... whether command-control or conventional control.

David

First step is to clean the pickup rollers and if you have any put a drop of Atlas conducta Lube on the bearing surfaces.

This engine has early Odyssey and many have a tendency to surge a bit at slow speed. If it surges at higher speed the magnet on the speed sensor may be starting to break.

Pete

S-1 and S-2 have original Odyssey.  It can not work well using a CAB-1 and the original command base because the CAB-1 can not produce absolute speed steps.  Engine(s) use a horizontal drive and need a good 30 minutes of break in time.  They also don't like tight curves.

You can either a) run the engine in conventional mode (runs well), b) if there is an Odyssey "off" switch (I know the S-2 has one) turn it off in command mode, c) only run with a CAB-2 or CAB-1L, d) get rid of the loco.  Oddylurch as it is called is caused by the loco constantly hunting for the "correct" speed.  

The problem isn't with the loco or the Command Base/TMCC per se, it's with how the CAB-1 generates commands.  This is why my original CAB-1 is boxed up and only used for "experiments".  ALL of my TMCC engines run much better with the CAB-2.

The S-2 looked great but I rarely ran it because of the Oddylurch issues when I ran with the CAB-1 in command mode.  Ran fine with the TPC in conventional.  One I got the CAB-2 it became my favorite/best running loco until I actually got a Legacy engine.  It's slipped to second place but there is a long drop to third.

Turn Odyssey off and then try running at slow speed.

Bill 

Many command locomotives still have the flickering headlight when they have poor track conductivity.  My cure for TMCC stuff is LED headlights with a small capacitor to provide power to carry over short power interruptions.

Some of the early Odyssey I locomotives had less then stellar speed control.  Also, you may have a mechanical issue with the drive train, I'd look into that first.  With the shell off, manually rotate each flywheel enough turns to make several rotations of the drive wheels.  Note any change in friction or binding, they should turn very freely.

If the Odyssey I gets too annoying, or the magnet breaks, I'd suggest the ERR Cruise Commander M as a replacement for the DCDS module, that eliminates the jerk, and also gives you 100 speed steps for smoother control.

All good suggestions. Break in is important. Mine runs fairly well now even when using a Cab1. These only have a single motor though so limit the load to 5-6 passenger cars.

Pete

I am using it with a Legacy base Command and Control system Cab2.

Yes, it is worse at slow speeds and not bad at higher speeds.

What mode is the engine set for?  It should be running in TMCC.  If you select CAB-1 mode it will work as poorly as it does with a real CAB-1.