I recently bought one of these to compare to my Lionel version.
A lot less expensive and a lot less than what the original owner paid TAS to upgrade.
It is my only MTH locomotive.
It has the UCUB and also a QS-3000.
Extra pin connector for the smoke control and an added back up light.
Upgraded on 12/01/1999.
With the exception of a few minor bugs.
Foam tape separated from tender wall in shipping and one of the backup light wires separated from tender. Easy fix because it was the only terminal screw that was tightened and did not have a wire.
Boards were well insulated with electrical tape so I do not think anything shorted.
I was surprised to see No battery connector for those times when the train hits a dead spot. And that the TAS tech just taped the ground strip to the tender with black electrical tape that was releasing.
Have original mth protosounds manual (not really useful except for parts schematic), lots of QSI guides, manuals, Cab-1 conventional instructions, QSI guide for installing QS-3000 on TAS UCUB.
No instructions from TAS on setting up or running the TMCC upgrade.
Not all that intuitive either.
Have correct engine ID, and runs.
Whistle and horn are quiet and tinny. No potentiometer on tender . And does not seem to respond to normal Cab 1 volume commands. Whistle, horn, smoke on/off work fine and Aux 2 ( I think). Turns off rear Back up light inconsistently.
Chuff works but drops out on dirty track sections.
Random sounds during neutral but can not seem to figure out how to activate all the so called " realistic" (which I doubt anyway, unless I at least upgrade the original TAS speaker) sounds described in the lengthy QS-3000 manual.
The original owner said he "tested" and everything worked, but these days on E-bay, that is right up there with "the check is in the mail" and a few others.
Anyone with experience/ knowledge of this technology who may help me out.
My older "Trainsounds" and "Railsounds" conventional tenders puts this to shame right now.
Thanks
FMH
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