Can this engine be upgraded to TMCC with the ERR kits?
Has anyone here done it?
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In a word, yes.
No, i haven't done one of those yet, but am currently finishing a customer's Lionel 746 N&W J, and have scheduled a customer's MTH scale Hudson. The biggest pain with something like a Williams steam engine is creating a tether between the engine (control system) and the tender (sound system). Other than that it is a pretty straight forward job.
jackson
Originally Posted by modeltrainsparts:
In a word, yes.
No, i haven't done one of those yet, but am currently finishing a customer's Lionel 746 N&W J, and have scheduled a customer's MTH scale Hudson. The biggest pain with something like a Williams steam engine is creating a tether between the engine (control system) and the tender (sound system). Other than that it is a pretty straight forward job.
jackson
Oh I thought both boards go in the Loco?
On steam engines i usually put the sound board and speaker in the tender as there usually isn't enough room in the loco for both.
jackson
Yes, have done it. 5 or 6 years ago. Make sure to use the Cruise Commander and not the
plain DC Commander, as the loco has poor gearing (although I guess that it's OK if you want to do Warp 7, Mr Sulu).
This cured the zoomy problem (it still won't do the Legacy Creep, but so what?); it will
run steadily at a reasonable speed.
The loco is easy to upgrade; nice big tender, already has a tether, and the best part is
that sweet plastic coal load - it not only looks fine, but it is to be used for the TMCC antenna, which eliminates isolating the die-cast tender shell from the frame. You can use the existing speaker if you have sound.
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Not appropriate to your project, but I also detailed mine to look more like a Pre-War
700E, just to do it. Won't fool an expert - or even me - but it has the flavor.
I also re-numbered and sorta weathered it.
Maybe I'll photograph it later and post the shot.
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Williams die-cast scale Hudson - Cruise Commander, Sound Commander (no longer made), Electrocoupler (try not to be dazzled by the exquisite control panel):
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As i mentioned earlier, i hadn't done this exact loco, but what you say about its gearing and using the Cruise Commander makes a lot of sense. If it already has a tether then the installation should be a piece of cake. A plastic coal load means no need for the nylon screws and Kapton tape 
.
jackson
