What new item would you like to see in legacy locomotives?

I could order off this menu.

Mill City:

I like your choices. I would modify this one slightly to include:

" Polished Stainless/Aluminum Bodies"

Vision line and O-36 do not fit in the same sentence. That's like making a plastic Rolex

I would like to see sound in all A- and B-units of F3s, E7s, etc.  They can continue to sell the AA sets with one powered unit and one non-powered unit (but both with sound) as long as they sell a powered B-unit (with sound).  In addition to the powered B-unit, they could also sell a non-powered, non-sound B-unit for those looking for a lower cost option.

Ron

It's hard to pick...

While they're designing a disappearing crew, add some animation, like twisting when going in reverse, etc.

passenger train collector,

I edited my post.  I agree, the stainless/aluminum bodies must be polished!

Hey Jon, You can tell its real because the second hand sweeps the face

I am into RC as well and there have been great advancements made in brushless motor technologies that make the railroad side of me envious. There have been great advancements made in both synchronous and asynchronous motors. 

Many of our locomotives are powered by RS380PH motors. These are brushed permanent magnet motors. These motors are about 65% efficient. Essentially they would be called "heat generators" in the RC world. 

http://www.robotstorehk.com/rs_380ph.pdf

OS Motor, Electrifly, Tiger Motor, Cobra Motor and others all make brushless synchronous motors. These motors come in both outrunner and inrunner designs. An outrunner has the rotor on the outside and stator on in the inside while inrunners have the rotor on the inside and stator on the outside. 

These motors can exceed 85% in efficiency! These motor will produce less heat and more mechanical power. We need a new system if battery operation (which seems to be the future direction) will every become a reality. Synchronous or asynchronous motor designs will allow for battery operated trains.  

So what would I like to see Lionel do. Ditch the old, inefficient DC can motors and go to synchronous or asynchronous (induction) motor designs. I fail to see why such old technologies have to be held on to. 

Ditto! It would be like MTH trying to sell PS2 or PS3 engines with no DCS system available. No Legacy command control system made the decision of not buying the N&W 2-6-6-2 much easier.

Gilly

WBC:

Can you point to an online source for any current production brushless motors that might be suitable for custom model railroad applications? My current interests would be for a small motor to fit in an MTH monorail and a motor suitable for below the floor mounting in a Standard Gauge trolley truck. 

Electrifly makes two types of synchronous motors.

Outrunner motors (Rimfire) are as small as 15 mm in diameter.

http://www.electrifly.com/motors/gpmg4505.html

Inrunner motors (Ammo) are as small as 12 mm in diameter.

http://www.electrifly.com/motors/gpmg5105.html

The RS380PH motor common to our trains is 29.2 mm in diameter. 

You would need to get an electronic speed control (ESC) for the motors. There are many that go up to 30V and 24 amps, so power is not a problem.  There are ESCs that can easily take what our transformers dish out. What might be a problem is that ESCs are all battery fed. I am not sure if you can rectify the AC before the ESC and feed that. There is a bunch of experimentation here. 

WBC:  A number of years ago, Lionel, under the direction of Bob Grubba, (now of Broadway Imports) designed a new motor for Lionel that looked a lot like the one you pictured.  It was supposed to have been "brushless".  I believe that they stuck a fair amount of money into the project which is what was first called Oddessey, and never produced a motor like that.  Instead they started using can motors with speed control, and ended up calling that system Oddessey. 

Paul Fischer

I don't know why no one has built a model locomotive with steam coming from the dynamo.

I will definitely go along with that!  When you have spent time with the real thing you find current models lacking - although they are getting better!

Also, how about an engineer that turns his head now and then to look out the side.

Brushless motors are more complicated and expensive than the cheap can motors we use, which is why they aren't in common use.

An Introduction to Brushless DC Motors

"Working water scoop on the tender."

if they really worked as the prototype (i.e. dropping below track level), i most would manage to be traumatically removed within a week of arrival.

Disagree, nothing is more simple and rugged than a squirrel cage single phase asynchronous motor.

Brushless DC motors are, in fact, AC synchronous motors. The rotor is in sync with the rotating magnetic field (Figure 4). Most of that article is about how to control the three phase system. This is what in included in the ESC which is the device for electronic commutation. This is all very simple, rugged, and inexpensive. See the summary section of that link.

Both synchronous motors and asynchronous (induction) motors can use three phase. In both cases the motors will use electronic commutation. In the prototype railroads the TGV uses synchronous motors, and heavy freight haulers such as the ES44, SD70ACe or Iore use asynchronous motors.

This is from a RC magazine.

The 12mm inrunner costs ~$35.

The 15mm outrunner costs ~$23.

These use neodymium magnets and quality ball bearings throughout.

I doubt that they will work on pulsed DC as they require a waveform.

I was referring to model RR stuff, we used a ton of them in aerospace, but we also had a larger budget.

Oh boy where to start:

Features I would ask for the following:

Option to mount Kaydee couplers upfront on steam engines and between diesel units.

Blackened vents on diesel units

Air release sounds on diesels in motion

Bring back sound and smoke in dummy units the CC2 units had them. What happened?

Legacy talking caboose that echoes talk with the locomotive.

Yes on the fixed pilots

weathered trucks on diesel units

Shades on steam engine cabs

What happened to the S3 adjustable draw bar? Shouldn't that be standard?

Bring back the Station Sounds diner and create a talking station that talks back during departure and arrivals.

Simple sound cars for small back ground noises. refrigerator noise, click clack of the wheels, simple sheep, or cattle noise modules that are easy plug ins to freight cars.

How about an operating Mail car? My American flyer car had that 50 years ago...

How about steam engines with a random steam leak with "break down" talk like the B units had.

Well just some ideas 

Another one I thought of is on a diesel, the same type of pilot as on the ES44's. 

It it gives a nice scale pilot look on the front and rear. 

Yeah, and really, given the tiny amount of power we are talking about, I really don't care about efficiency, etc.,  The ones we have all seem bulletproof, and they don't add a lot to the cost of a loco. That's enough for me. 

To answer the original question...nothing outlandish, but how bout subtle crew movements. As someone eluded to, sticking head out window while in reverse, or something like it. I'd love to see more LED lighting, although not prototypical, like illuminating track area while in standby.  

In my opinion diesels are long over due for step and platform lighting.

Doug

Legacy Lionmaster Union Pacific FEF-3 and 4-12-2!

Realistic revenue production from train operations. 

I agree, SANTE FE F3 ABBA's, WAR BONNET - BLUE-YELLOW WHISKERS, and The NEW YORK CENTRAL, THE SOUTHERN, AND THE WESTERN PACIFIC, ILLINOIS CENTRAL,

WABASH, ,you get the Picture???  Each with Legacy, all the sounds, fixed Pilots, and Kadee couplers on the front units..fixed Pilots,..(fat boy speakers, bass sounds, etc.) Lionel offered several numbers and configurations of VL BIG BOYS, IT would be nice

to see these F Units re-Made in all their Glory And Color. WOW.