Some or all of the 18064s had a defective board as issued by Lionel. Lionel provided a replacement board. I have a 18064 with the replacement board and it is a good runner, as good as any non-cruise pullmor loco that I have. Without the new board, it was a total dog. I also connected the loco and tender pickup rollers with a #22 black wire so no more TMCC signal loss going over switches. My 18064 pulls eight of the Commodore Vandy heavies up a 3% grade with only minor wheel slip. Some shops may still have the replacement board.
Allan
Alan, Do you know what board was replaced? The engine ACDR is a common board with very simple design. Not much to it. But the R2LC had an R2IR code which is not standard by any means. I wonder if the R2LC code was bad and it required a R2LC C08? Do you have a record of the change? G