Williams engines always start-up in the forward direction. Is it possible to make modern Lionel conventions do the same with a simple modification?
Earl
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Only way I know of is too lock it into forward. Other than that I do not know.
I may be wrong, but I thought that they already did that if you left them for a while?. (I think that it's a general feature in electronic e-units.)
I only have 2 recent conventional locomotives, and both of them will start in forward if left for a while without power.
Below is a statement to this effect from the Polar Express manual.
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Since I don't run command, it I assumed they started in neutral. Guess that's what I get for skipping the conventional part of the manual.
Originally Posted by MartyE:
Since I don't run command,
A slip of the tounge.....or should I say keyboard.
REV
TMCC/Legacy engines don't have neutral, so they always start in forward. For conventional, I believe they start in neutral.
I haven't tried most of my TMCC/Legacy engines in conventional, but my DD-35A starts up in forward when run conventionally, so I believe that they work in the same way as recent conventional models. (Please correct me if I'm wrong though.)
ALL of my modern Lionels conventional locos start in forward.
I run only conventional. All of my "conventional" Lionel locos start in forward. My Legacy locos usually start in neutral.
The engine I was hoping to make start in forward is the Lionel 0-6-0 Docksider. Currently, the engine seems to remember the last position and resume wherever it was in the forward-neutral-reverse-neutral sequence, no matter how long it was without power (hours, days, years, decades, centuries etc.). However, I haven't actually verified all of the time periods.
Earl
We're interested in the decades, let us know if that still remembers. 
I'm guessing conventional operation here, I tested with a TMCC locomotive and it started in neutral. I dug out a true conventional and it did indeed start in forward. I don't have many of those, so maybe the previous comment doesn't apply.
I have a few modern Lionel locos that don't reset as quickly as they should. I think it's an e-unit board glitch, not a normal occurance. My 0-6-0 Dockside seems to revert to forward after an extended period of inoperation (overnight). It's something I've learned to live with. My Williams all reset quickly, and by quickly, I mean 6-10 seconds of inactivity.
Not sure what board is installed in your engines, but I do recall Lionel put out an e-unit service notice for two specific boards.
And it's permissible to do a neater job than shown in that service note! 
The latest Lionel Legacy Locos that have Command Control start in "N", when in conventional mode. Older command locos start in "F"; after one "N" cycle when switching from command mode to conventional mode.
In conventional mode the most recent Legacy locos can be locked in "F"; and the lock will survive power cycles, even when locked in any state such as "N".
I changed the conventional operation to start in "N"; from feedback that most folks detested starting in "F". Since you can lock the locos in a particular direction, the in-congruency with older and newer Legacy loco is not a concern.
