In today’s digital world, Lionel now includes many features in its trains and Legacy gives you the power to utilize the full potential of your Lionel Legacy trains. The hand held unit, CAB-2, is very comfortable in your hand with a well-lit display panel and an easy to use touch panel. The basic controls needed to operate your trains, on/off, direction, speed control, whistle and bell are all there along with new features like smoke volume control, crew talk, tower-com. The remote coupler control allows you to switch out engines and if your layout includes a siding or two enjoy realistic railroad operations. There is also speed control which will allow you to gradually control the speed acceleration in 6 programmed steps.
Let’s get started – One of the basics is that all of the modern era Lionel engines is assigned an ID number. Out of the box, Lionel assigns its engines #1. I strongly suggest you assign your engines a unique number in an easy to remember pattern. I use the last two digits of the engine cab number. When setting up an engine you will need the Lionel instruction page and the orange Engine Memory Module. During the engine set up the display screen guides you through the 7 set-up steps which are:
- Enter your engine ID#
- Press Info
- Insert the orange memory module into your CAB-2
- Press Load Module
- Verify that the Engine Memory Module information is correct for your selected engine. If the information is correct, press YES to finish the download process for your engine
- An ENGINE DATA LOADED message will be displayed. Remove the Orange memory Module
- Press CTC button to return to your operating screen
You have now entered your engine into the legacy command base where it will reside until you delete it. The keypad will vary based on the engine ID you enter, and will be matched to features of your engine.
With the Legacy wired into the layout and an engine stored in the Legacy command base let’s get the trains moving. Now comes the real easy three steps to get your train in motion:
- Throttle up your transformer to 20 volts. At this time the marker lights and headlight will come on and you will know that the track power has made it to the engine
- Press the ENG button followed by the engines ID#
- My choice, Pull down on the whistle slide, the whistle will sound and the engine is now operational. Now just start turning the power dial (the big red dial) and your engine is in motion.