Technology I would like to see in future catalogs

Not exactly but I did hear that they are in the process of putting cameras in the front of engines!  If those are your requirements to get into the newer stuff it may be 20 or so years before we get to that point.  If ever. 

Jim

Aren't engines pricey enough now?

To me the on board camera at the front of the engine is like sound. Within a few minutes it gets boring and becomes annoying. I don’t watch videos set up this way. My enjoyment with electronic add ons is cruise control and electro couplers. That’s about it. 

I watch all kinds of videos so I can see details in folks layouts.   Great learning tool. 

Jim

Well it sounds in the end to me, like it would tie the train simulator game that many new young users like, to these toy trains. Our grandson has that game on his phone. I know he uses it and he says he likes it.

 I didn't like it myself but if it engages the young into the hobby, I'm all for it.

Would a simulator of the inside of each cab work instead of an actual camera? I ask because the insides of many models are lacking detailing. The viewpoint of the camera on our actual layouts, would be the difference maker though. I can't see many users installing cameras and electronic packages to handle it into all of  their existing older models. So their would have to be some type of cab simulator for those? then go active for new models that support a camera?

 I was looking at the realistic toy train throttle that runs DCC engines. I think even that adds some different level of excitement to operating. I hope that there's still room for actual remotes to be produced in the future. I feel the apps are lacking. Maybe new users won't miss out on older remotes?

Rusty

Rail sound kits to install in all the box cars.

More box car variety (combo door 40 & 50') Less cookie cutter cars with just another road name applied.

DCS works great along with the engine sounds, no need to change anything else.

I agree with the rail sound kits for rolling stock!

I never would be able to get a locomotive to run if maintaining boiler pressure, boiler water level, coal flow/ placement, brakes, steam flow, valve stroke, sanding, etc. were required.

What, me worry?

I would like to see a Legacy base that supports Bluetooth. That way we could use the Universal remote with it. One remote that would control Legacy, TMCC, LC/LC+ and of  course any loco that has been built with Bluetooth.

I would like to see Bluetooth in every locomotive from Lionel and MTH 

Dave

Dave, I can't speak for MTH but I think Lionel may be heading in that direction, and I think it is a good move.

With the blue tooth technology it would be interesting if a locomotive could broadcast a signal with low frequency sounds that could be picked up by a subwoofer. Much like what rolling thunder has to offer.

PRRMP54 posted:

Aren't engines pricey enough now?

Bingo.  This man gets it.

PRRMP54 & BALSHIS:  Hey, here's a great idea - an app that simulates CONVENTIONAL operation, and requires NO remotes, phones, blueteeth, twitter or whatever. Just think of it! Something everybody could operate and repair themselves and afford!

Oh, wait: I already own it. I run Postwar, MPC, Williams and some early MTH.

And none of them sit on a shelf or go back and forth to the manufacturer because the computer chips get fried. 

Someone should invent a virtual reality video game for this hobby like the ones kids wear on their heads in those TV commercials.

(Just don't get run over by a train while wearing it).

Every scale car has one electro-coupler. Or at least the option to have one.

I'd like to see inexpensive train detection sensors that can be embedded in track (i.e. don't show) and that are integrated with the DCS. These sensors could be combined with accessories, switches, engines, rolling stock to create scenes, routes, actions, etc.  I guessing a layout could use a lot of these sensors.  Maybe the actual "sensor" is separate from it's I/O electronics.  There could be black box similar to an AIU that provides electronics for many "sensors".  Then of course, there is the DCS software to make it all work.

I would like to see some of the suggestions that have been made, come in kit form that could be built together as a family project. Recently built an Elenco FM radio kit with my Grandson that was certainly fun for me and I hope him. Best part was it taught skills, had easily understood instructions, was reasonably priced ($20), and it actually worked. Seems that someone could build sound kits for cars that would be the same, maybe not Legacy or DCS controlled but interesting to all if they just have an off and on switch.

Buzz

On board cameras:

A PERFECT way of viewing your layout so it looks even less realistic. (Emphasizing the too sharp curves, ceiling views, table edges,  et al.)

Just my opinion.

Andre

Well, I guess I am in the minority on a new cab interface through the smart phone.  Appreciate the responses.

Williams makes a good reefer car with very good sounds of the diesel plant going on an off and pilot lights that go from green to amber to red.

the only two bad things I found was the awful trucks and pick up rollers it came with plus the fact that it does not come with a volume option.

once I changed the trucks for some good Lionel ones it works pretty good as long as You place it at least 7 or 8 cars behind your loco so the sound does not mix up with that of the engine pulling your consist.

Enjoy the hobby

jorge

Hump Yard Mike posted:

Well, I guess I am in the minority on a new cab interface through the smart phone.  Appreciate the responses.

I have TMCC and use it to run TMCC and a couple of Legacy locos. I like TMCC very, very much. It is as far as I care to go relative to command control. It is friendly and easy to install in locos without it. I have upgraded a couple of dozen locos, mostly steam.

"Enough is enough" is certainly a personal call; so far as I'm concerned Lionel got is right with TMCC, the CAB-1, Odyssey (ERR Cruise is even better) and some basic, good sounds. That is "enough is enough", for me. You can stop now.

Much beyond that and basic Legacy (essentially, the part that's TMCC) I have no interest. Much is made about "so many ways to interact with your trains is now possible" that, like human "connectivity" (ouch), the features truly begin to be a barrier between your equipment and yourself, rather that a connection. At a certain point, it becomes a Bad Thing, though that point's location is fuzzy and personal. (The modern automobile has exactly the same problem - in spades; they're a lot of work to use and offer big numbers but little yee-hah fun.)

When the hobby becomes so much like a video game that it might as well be a video game there is no reason to actually own any equipment at all. It does really become "model electronics" rather than "model railroading". Needless to say, that is a path that will have no allure for me.

It's about the machinery and the tactile pleasures of things that need oil and screwdrivers. Model railroading is indeed a miniature world, but it is in no way a "virtual" one. 

romiller49 posted:

To me the on board camera at the front of the engine is like sound. Within a few minutes it gets boring and becomes annoying. I don’t watch videos set up this way. My enjoyment with electronic add ons is cruise control and electro couplers. That’s about it. 

Ditto that!!!

SIRT posted:

Rail sound kits to install in all the box cars.

More box car variety (combo door 40 & 50') Less cookie cutter cars with just another road name applied.

DCS works great along with the engine sounds, no need to change anything else.

Steve,

What sounds would you like to have your boxcars make?

Battery?  Track power?  Rail noise?  Sound variable with speed?

Lou N

Boy, once they install all this stuff in future engines and equipment, I won't be able to afford anything.

That camera and software would be included in a unique series of locomotives, because not everybody would be able use it. 

Sounds are a great feature because it gives a REALISTIC response to an operators actions with a locomotive.

The old, soundless conventional locomotives are distant and dead.

Andrew

Hump Yard Mike posted:

. . . I really like the feel of buttons to not require looking at the remote . . . A game changer for me would be to have engines with cameras on them showing the actual view from your locomotive and displaying all of the cab appliances matching a specific locomotive (such as a big boy) with the intention of  each appliance being interacted with like a video game to get the engine to operate correctly.  This might include controlling virtual appliances in maintaining boiler pressure, boiler water level, coal flow/ placement, brakes, steam flow, valve stroke, sanding, etc... , all from the cab back head displayed on the smart phone.  Maybe include train dynamics based on train size selection for different size trains and weights . . . Same approach for diesels.

Mike

That would be an interesting option, although we will probably never have the micro-control of the two-rail modelers, who can choose their own whistle and make dozens of adjustments to the sounds, even dynamic brake whine.

You and I might be in the minority on this, as most three-rail operators don't follow their trains on the layout with one person operating each train like the O Scale and HO Scale modelers do.

I would be satisfied if the diesels were more realistically responsive with RPM changes when speed increases or decreases were commanded from the remote.

Decisions to embark on new products are typically well thought out by the model train companies. I would say at this time; for new technology to be developed, there would need to be significant demand.  The  investment required for new technology to be developed and brought to market is expensive. There must be sufficient sales to recover the engineering/tooling cost and make a profit.  While I envision new products being made as an extension of current product lines; products being designed completely from scratch might be a stretch in today's market. 

I like your idea, Mike, and also share your opinion about using the controllers over Smart devices.

The key for me would be a ready-to-run product, with engine cab video transmitting directly to a window screen on the Cab II, or perhaps it'd take a future upgraded Cab III. We could then "drive" a train from the controller while either walking around with it or sitting down and looking at the screen.

I have a Lionel Theater Car, the CSX Alabama and Wide Vision Caboose and while I like them a lot, you can get a better picture with a GoPro or mounting a small video camera on a flat car and push it or drag it. I have done videos this way and have borrowed a friend of mines modeified flat car.

I like the ideas presented here but to me that means a $200.00 to $300.000 boost in SRP on an engine.  The SRP for the Theater car is $339.99 and the Caboose $124.99 or Street Price at / around $255.00 and $110.00 respectively.  To me adding that to an engine, VisionLine or any other engine is simply not worth it. If you added a camera to say the new 2019 Hudson, my bet is that the SRP would be about $1,799.00 using the camera they use today and more if they used something significantly better. Too me an engine with a camera is not worth it.

Bluetooth is nice but on a larger layout it may have some distance hiccups, meaning Bluetooth has a limited range so for a basement layout probably not bad.

I would rather see upgraded and better crew talks with the ability to upgrade or change out. Put the Orange module back in the box, allow / offer freight sound upgrades to future box cars - meaning add the holes to the frame to allow mounting them. 

Well, I agree with the reply a few back--I like DCS and TMCC just as they are. I regard Legacy and DCS WiFi to be a bridge too far. I evaluated DCS wifi and decided I liked he remote better--tactile feel vs touch screen--I don't want to look at MY PHONE. I want to look at the train! And Legacy? Legacy is GREAT! I just can't afford and will never be able to afford engines that cost 4 figures. So I am left out of the "Legacy revolution". 

Going the opposite way, I was not into Lionel as a kid. There is nothing about conventional operation that calls to me. And if I hear that same doggone old Lionel whistle and horn sound on just ONE MORE video I am going to scream. One of the failure modes of the ZW is for the whistle and horn rectifier to stop rectifying. That's not a failure! The transformer just got SICK TO DEATH of hearing that same sound and shut it down!

So actually DCS and TMCC (which I run through DCS) catch me right in my sweet spot. I run no wifi and no conventional and my engines don't cost an arm or leg. If I want a camera later, I'd prefer to add it as an option, rather than have it come already built-in.

Don

TM Terry posted:

Every scale car has one electro-coupler. Or at least the option to have one.

Yes. I'd love this. I really wish the StationSounds diners had electrocouplers. 

PSU1980 posted:

...Bluetooth is nice but on a larger layout it may have some distance hiccups, meaning Bluetooth has a limited range so for a basement layout probably not bad.

I would rather see upgraded and better crew talks with the ability to upgrade or change out. Put the Orange module back in the box, allow / offer freight sound upgrades to future box cars - meaning add the holes to the frame to allow mounting them. 

For a REASONABLE fee, I'd like to see the ability to individually customize or package a loco's soundset playlist - like iTunes.  Also, the o gauge version of BLI's rolling thunder external subwoofer underlayout or around the room speakers.

I'd like to see MTH integrate Steaming whistle, cylinder steam, blow down, and pop off valve steam effects into their steam engines... I noticed Eric Siegel is buying A LOT of Lionel, and less MTH... Bells and Whistles? YES PLEASE!

Also, on that note, would be great to see an Aftermarket for Lionel upgrades of the above mentioned effects in Legacy.

I am hearing impaired and would love an upgraded blue tooth chip that could broadcast the sound to my blue tooth  hearing aid connector(that's how I am able to use a cell phone) so I could hear the sounds directly in my hearing aid as well as through other blue tooth speakers added at different locations around our club's layout Why with big enough speakers we could make the our club   sound just like Penn Station.

I would love for Lionel and WBB to follow MTHs example and allow easy 2 railing of their engines. MTH 3 rail to 2 railing is easy and works great. More options please.

Mike,

I really like your ideas about simulating a real loco cab environment.  I run DCS and recently added wifi.  I like the fact that blowing the whistle now means giving the virtual whistle cord a tug rather than pushing a button on the DCS remote.  No reason why the DCS app couldn't do a better job of simulating the cab environment of the particular loco the operator is running.  And none of this would require any modifications or additional expense to the existing loco fleet.  All that would be required is an update to the app.  People could choose to download those app features or not.  I'm in!

As for loco cameras, that if course means new hardware and more expense per loco.  But I can't imagine much given how costs have come down due to phone technology proliferation.  Other hobbies, like RC airplanes and drones, already use cameras to provide a first person view  (FPV) experience.  I can imagine a camera mounted inside a steam loco cab, not to show the backhead (that would be created virtually as described above), but to show the view out the cab window.  Imagine sighting down the boiler of your steam loco as if sitting on the engineers seat, watching the puffing smoke billow from the stack, while obeying working lineside signals.  Awesome!

I realize that mixing virtual with traditional elements would not be for everybody.  But we have a big tent as they say and this does not have to be an all or nothing proposition.  Count me in as one who would embrace this approach.