What am I giving up running a new legacy Loco with TMCC Cab-1

better response/control

faster response from red knob

quilling horn

ability to turn off/on certain lights

no need for an overlay

ability to see what is happening to train speed in real time

I know there are more.  others will chime in.

200 speed steps vs 32

Single strike bell

Train Brake

Thanks for taking the time to reply,  just dawned on me to download a Legacy Steam engine manual from the lionel website to read the instructions on operating a legacy locomotive with the TMCC Cab-1 base that was helpful and confirmed all the input as well.  

I don't know if I'm correct because I never had TMCC just Legacy, but with Legacy you will get the engines to move at a super slow crawl. Which is incredible

Alex

Thanks Jeff,  I'll get there at some point....

I really liked having 3 Cab-1's for my son and my daughter and I so we could run trains together.... Seems pretty darn expensive to get there with the Legacy expansion offerings.    

I am assuming at this point that it's not possible or advisable to have TMCC and Legacy set up together ???

The "Y" cable that connects the Legacy base to the TMCC base is included with the set.  It is strongly recommended that the controllers not try to control the same engine.  The main issue is the CAB-1 is kind of brain dead.  It doesn't allow full control of TMCC engines.

And if you use both as Chuck described, do not hook the one wire to TMCC Base.  Only hook it to the Legacy base.

You might want to watch some youtube videos of people explaining & operating Legacy.

I haven't run my Cab1 since buying Legacy 3-4 years ago.  I like the screen, changing smoke rates, setting locos straining & ease of activating features like those on the R30 subway set.  Many more things... 

If your switches are controlled via ASCs with your CAB1, will it be possible to control them with the Legacy system interfaced with the Powermasters by use of a Powermaster Bridge?

The serial port on the Legacy base will allow you to control former IC Control devices like the ASC or TPC.

A legacy locomotive operated under cab 1 will still run better than any TMCC locomotive you have. The slower and smoother starts of a legacy loco are more due to the electronics and gearing in the loco itself as opposed to the control system.

Lionel has made nice provisions for the cab 1 operator like automatic load and drift chuffs based on turning of the throttle( I still almost like this feature better than the manual loading of legacy via the slider).

You'll get a variable whistle as opposed to quillable, still a nice whistle. You still have access to the other sounds like refueling coal or filling water in the tender under cab 1.

Add legacy when your ready, they're still tweaking it every year, I noticed the next "batch" even has a new item # and will likely come with the latest software already installed.

Legacy gives you more "tunability", but the old cab 1 will still give you the "meat and potatoes" of the loco to keep you happy.