LM-1

[emd_16645]

Are LM-1 a good way to build a fleet cheap at this point?  Eventually I plan to outfit my fleet with LM-3S (hoping for a next gen 21-pin chip honestly) but funding is limited.  Are there any functional drawbacks to the LM-1? I understand the chip is bigger, not concerned about that. What is a fair price for one?

[G8B4Life]

I think it'd be a false economy for you:

• If you could find a new LM-1 retail, you could expect to be asked to pay the retail price which would be about the same as what an LM-3S would cost.
• If you found a new one via a private seller, I expect to pay a little less than retail but not significantly so.
• If your happy with a used LM-1, then any price goes (there is a used one on eBay right now for $15.00).

As for using an LM-1, well I don't have any so I can't confirm this 100% but an LM-1 might not play nice with later LM's; plus an LM-1 most likely can not use the current lighting effects or sounds as it's internal software is too old, and no update to that software is going to be forthcoming. An LM-1 also only has 4 outputs but I imagine that is not one of your concerns.

You could try it if you could get one cheaply enough that it wouldn't matter if it didn't work out but personally I wouldn't bother and I'd just put aside what you could each week and get LM-3S's as you can afford them and try not worry about how long it might take between each LM purchase. Hard I know but sometimes that is what we must do.

We are all waiting for that magic 21 pin LM but.... well, we've all been down that road before.

- Tim

[emd_16645]

Tim,

That one on eBay got me thinking about the idea. Honestly it’s borderline if I wanted to pay that much. The big function I’d care about is motor control, motivation is to build out a consist or two.

One of the big driving factors actually is the inability of railpro playing nicely with NCE, specifically the consisting. If I could consist my DCC locos with RP I wouldn’t care as much. But I’m not going to invest in digitrax to get DCC and RP to work together.

[G8B4Life]

Motor control should be ok (certainly used by itself) but in MU with an LM-3 that could be a question for TR on whether they'd play nice together.

I hear you on the DCC mode side and NCE. I've thought of sending NCE an email asking why their consist control doesn't support 128 speed steps and when will they implement it, not that I use my PowerCab anymore but it'd be good for experimenting/testing.

- Tim

[BruceRogers]

Sometime ago I spoke to Tim Ring and I thought he mentioned they might upgrade the software for the LM-1 module so it could handle the new light effects etc. It would be worth chasing him up on the matter.

[KPack]

The other big factor to consider in using the old LM-1 is that the storage space is very small.  None of the new sounds will fit.  The LM-2S is twice the storage of the LM-1, and the LM-3S is twice the LM-2S.

If I were you I would get either some LM-2S's or LM-3S's and enjoy the new sounds and improved motor control.  You will quickly outgrow the LM-1 and will wish you had bought some of the newer modules.

-Kevin

[Alan]

If no one wants LM1s and their resale price bottoms out you could use them as DIY accessory modules. All sorts of animation duties on the layout come to mind.

[emd_16645]

If no one wants LM1s and their resale price bottoms out you could use them as DIY accessory modules. All sorts of animation duties on the layout come to mind.

That’s kinda my thought process. I’m looking for a dirt cheap way to get a bunch of locos running. No sound, no fancy lights. Long term plan would be to replace with LM3S. I probably will try to grab the one on eBay, if anyone else has some they want to part with for cheap, let me know.

[G8B4Life]

If no one wants LM1s and their resale price bottoms out you could use them as DIY accessory modules. All sorts of animation duties on the layout come to mind.

Be mindful if anyone decides to recycle LM-1's into accessory modules there is no Accessory program for the LM-1. This means the LM-1 will always be under the Locomotives screen and can not be placed under the Accessories screen in the HC. You also will not be able to download or write your own Accessory project to load into it.

- Tim

[Dean]

My LM-1 has been repurposed to control a double crossover. But, as Tim mentioned, it is listed on the locomotive page.