Lionel Catalog 2019 1

[MartyE]

New Catalog is up for our discussion.

Lionel 2019 Vol 1

Looks like I round out my Polar Express coaches and add a PE RPO car.

Maybe a whistle steam J. I passed on the last release because it lacked whistle steam.

[chuck]

Thanks for posting link. The new HE dementor car with sounds is seriously tempting.

I see that the LC 2 Plus loco's can be lashed up with Legacy? The universal remote looks like a nice compromise between Legacy and traditional LC separate remotes. The WW2 pinup cars (Wings of Angels) are well done but a little disturbing? Maybe they are boxed up in a plain brown paper wrapper.

Not sure where they are going with the prices. Nothing much over $2K but not much scale stuff lower than $1K (steam) and $600 for diesel. I do appreciate the identification of "What If" livery and the one off livery (Santa Fe Gold Bonnet). Not much New Haven or Erie so my wallets probably safe for the next 9 months.

[MartyE]

I suspect the lashup capabilities will be TMCC to Legacy if at all. Which basically is a TMCC lashup. Without more information it's hard to say what the lashup will be. I'm not sure from everything in the catalog if the "TMCC" portion of 2.0 is TMCC or Legacy. I'm not sure if that makes sense or not.

[chuck]

Marty said:

I'm not sure if that makes sense or not.

That applies to a lot of things. I think I'll pair that up with my all time favorite, "It seemed like a good idea at the time"

[ScaleCraft]

New Catalog is up for our discussion.

Lionel 2019 Vol 1

Looks like I round out my Polar Express coaches and add a PE RPO car.

Okay...saw that and figured you're rounding out Polar Express cars.....and I looked for the Pacific Electric RPO (since they didn't have them...just mail cars to transport sacks thereof) to see what Lionel's idea of a Pacific Electric Red Car RPO was...........and figured out what the new non-prototype PE means.

[NJPiney]

I hesitated at the page with the N&W J engines, which has always been a favorite of mine. I looked at the price and kept flipping. My Williams model will keep serving me just fine. I occasionally regret not getting the Warhorse set, and consider it when one pops up someplace, but I keep telling myself " No more, no more!". I'm instead trying to find a Train Collectors Anonymous meeting.

[rogruth]

I've never understood the difference between TMCC, Legacy or any other Lionel system.
I DO understand traditional.

[jlong]

The two that jump out at me are the J3A with PT tender and fantasy GN E2 Bi Polar.

[MartyE]

I've never understood the difference between TMCC, Legacy or any other Lionel system.
I DO understand traditional.

TMCC and Legacy are mostly the same. The biggest difference is how the handheld and base communicate and the additional communication bits between base and engine which allows for more feature to be added to Legacy and finer control.

LC was the answer to everyone that wanted a simple remote system for starter sets. It doesn't allow for conventional control. Of course that lead into LC+ which were sold in seperate sale locomotives that not only added speed control and some other features but also conventional ability. This was the answer to the folks that wanted a more traditional look ala PW with a simple remote system. Eventual both of these were equipped with Bluetooth.

Personally I would have like to see the new LC+2.0 that adds basic TMCC abilities to be standard in all engines from here out but I'm sure cost was a factor in this. I do believe that Lionel has one of the most convoluted control system line up out there. The LC+2.0 I guess was the answer to everyone that wanted simple until they got it and then wanted to control simple with the "complicated" Legacy remote.

[rogruth]

Thanks Marty. That helps.

How many LC locos can be run on the same track at the same time?
How many LC+ ?
Can TMCC/Legacy be run with them at the same time?

[MartyE]

Thanks Marty. That helps.

How many LC locos can be run on the same track at the same time?
How many LC+ ?
Can TMCC/Legacy be run with them at the same time?

You can run as many combinations of these locomotives as your power supply can handle. The LC and current LC+ locomotives though are limited by the remote itself. The remotes that come with each engine can only control that locomotive. A Universal remote can control up to 3 LC or LC+ locomotives. Legacy and TMCC systems can control up to 98 TMCC/Legacy locomotives.

If you are good a juggling remotes for LC and LC+ locomotives the sky is the limit based on power supply capabilities.

The good news is though all 3 systems can co-exist on a single track in command and they all want a full 16-18 volts.

[chuck]

If all of the engines in question are BlueTooth enabled AND you have enough amps available you can run all of them with the BlueTooth LionChief app from a smart phone or tablet that has BlueTooth.

I give Lionel credit for developing LionChief. It looks more like a system that was developed to match what the customers wanted/needed than what the CEO or some geek thought would be cool. Since technology has been moving forward at a very rapid level Lionel has been able to incorporate more features into LC and expand its capabilities.

TMCC was developed under the aegis of Richard Kughn and Neil Young and was based on what they wanted and not necessarily what the average customer seemed to be interested in. The same can be said for DCS. These were robust but complicated systems. Most end users at the time just wanted a basic remote. MTH did have the Z-4000 remote commander and Lionel the original CAB1/PowerMaster combination. The main issue with the TMCC set was the remote was released before the Command Base and that crippled TMCC. The main issue with the remote commander was it only worked with a Z-4000.

[MartyE]

Chuck is correct assuming all of these are Bluetooth capable. Bluetooth in Legacy is relatively new (about a year).

Personally I have never found TMCC and Legacy complicated but I do seem to adopt easily to them so I certainly won't say to some it is.

The problem I have, not with LC, but those who wanted the easier system is that once they had it they wanted to expand it back into Legacy/TMCC. Basically they wanted all the functionality back. First was "we need a remote to do more engines" so the Universal Remote was made. Then folks wanted to be able to operate LC and LC+ from Legacy so I assume this is why we now have 2.0. I personally think 2.0 is a good system as it covers all of these request but Lionel will have to make sure they can keep the costs in check.

From the Notch 6 podcast, Ryan has stated that the LC+2.0 boards all all in one. This simplifies the engine electronics greatly. Hopefully they can maintain this.

[healey36]

I'm a bit confused by the earlier responses...can an LC 2.0 loco be run conventionally?

[rogruth]

I was thinking more of a situation on a layout of each person operating one loco each.
Assuming there is enough track space would there be a limit?
How would this be raised?
This is all just curiosity.