Having been alerted by Marty Fitzhenry's post late last week, I received an email direct from Charles Ro about a super sale on some Lionel-Flyer locomotives last weekend. After seeing the price (50% off), my CC would not stay in my wallet, so I purchased the N&W version online. Everything went smoothly and I received an online confirmation of purchase last Friday evening. Monday afternoon, I received an automated UPS shipper notice that delivery should be yesterday; and it was at 3:30 local.
Last evening, I unpacked the engine and tender, oiled the axles & linkages and topped off the smoke unit with fluid. I proceeded to put it on the track and set a new engine ID number + added it to my Legacy via my Cab II . (The instruction manual packet contained the separate instruction sheet for adding the locomotive via the orange module, but this is a mistake as there are no modules provided anymore to my knowledge). With no orange module, I took about a minute to add the locomotive to Legacy memory via the Cab II and that was done.
At that point, I hit the "start" key and Railsounds came to life. I hit the smoke button to "high' and smoke started issuing forth from the stack. Checks of the whistle and bell functions proved they worked as intended. I next hit the "1" button and the locomotive started smoothly creeping away. I let it run slowly around my layout about 15 minutes to break-in the mechanicals and electronics. I saw no issues during this time and the locomotive literally runs "like a Swiss watch...". I run on American Models flex track and the only issue I've seen is while backing up from the straight entry into the turnout, the rear trailing whee-lset on the locomotive will pick the plastic frog point and ride-up and derail itself. This issue stems from two observations; 1) the wheel-set is fairly light due to no outside frame casting & #2) the American Models turnouts do not have any guide rails opposite the frog to help "pull" the wheel flange opposite the frog toward the outside of the turnout. I plan to add these as other engines have sometimes balked at this omission and I feel it will eliminate that issue. ( I think American models needs to update their turnouts about this issue as well....).
The fit and finish are first-rate with no noted blemishes or paint-bleeding around numbers and colors. The cab has lighting at rest and the variable ash-pan glow works well. I decided to try one of these locomotive after reading Carl Tuveson's pictoral review of his engine and noting the various mechanical updates Lionel has installed on the new engine, including the variable drawbar on the tender much like the Milwaukee S-3 employs. It keeps the distance closer on straights. Mine has about 2 hours run time which has been flawless so far.
I heartily recommend a purchase if you've been on the fence about it. Enjoy the attached pictures.
