Questions about using MTH Subway Sets

I use MTH (LVO) subway cars on my subway. I removed all of the MTH electronics and run them on DC (6-8 volts) and have two timed stops (one 33 seconds long and another 3+ minutes long)  using about $20 worth of electronics from We Honest in China. Of course i sacrificed the station stop announcements which were irrelevant to the Not So Great Eastern RR anyway.

If you don't gut them as above, I'm pretty sure any Subway Set has some type of electronic reverse unit.  Pretty sure not a single one has a mechanical drum. 

All but the first few sets have Proto2 (or now Proto 3) with DCS, though some early ones had "Loco-Sound" versions.  But all were electronic.

-Dave

The MTH subway sets with DCS PS2 and PS3 gave programmable out & back operation and loop running, both with programmable station stops.

Thank you,  Dave and Bobby, for your responses. That's the info I was seeking. I still have some questions.  What is involved in using MTH's programmable stops?

If I go the other route and use another electronic system like from Dallee, I can strip the subway set electronics and operate on DC as Dave suggests. However, I could operate on AC if the electronic reverse unit functions  exactly like the e unit F/N/R/N or will it always start in forward after a timed delay? 

DennisB posted:

Thank you,  Dave and Bobby, for your responses. That's the info I was seeking. I still have some questions.  What is involved in using MTH's programmable stops?

.................

If you buy Proto 2 or Proto 3 units, and you also buy a DCS setup (TIU and Remote - or the more recent TIU/WIU/Tablet/Phone combo, if you prefer that), you can program them in what is known as "auto mode".  {edit to correct my earlier error, as Jim pointed out below}  Auto mode is accessed either via DCS or via a series of button pushes using the bell and horn buttons.  It can be touchy, depending on which transformer or external buttons you use for the horn and bell.  A Z4000 is probably the easiest, using a series of 5906 bell/horn buttons is probably harder.

You basically drive the train around your layout (in "Learn mode") and tell it where the stops are and what stations you would like it to call out (though the flexibility is pretty much "use it" or "skip it", so you can't re-order them).

After programming, you can set the train up the same place you started in "learn mode" and then tell it to go into "auto Mode".  It will then stop automatically at the same places you programmed.  You can set it up for a loop or out and back (point to point).

The resolution of how close it comes to the original stop locations is decent, but not precision enough that it can run forever without eventually migrating away from the original stop points a little.

There is alternatively a Record and Playback feature you could use {edit} if you use the DCS system. (that is true for any Proto 2 /Proto 3 - while Auto mode is pretty much just subways and some Trolleys, I believe).

-Dave

On my R-32 set (Protosounds 2), the station stops feature works without DCS. It’s all in the manual.

Jim R. posted:

On my R-32 set (Protosounds 2), the station stops feature works without DCS. It’s all in the manual.

Oops.  you are absolutely correct.  It's been so long since I tried it with the bell/horn combos that I jumped to DCS as required, but you are correct that it's not.

Post edited to correct my error.

-Dave