I think the Lion Chief would be considered entry level (just for having things like plastic trucks, lower detail levels, non scale size, etc.) , but NOT Lion Chief Plus. If you are running 036, then Lion Chief Plus to me would be almost the same as running 072 and Legacy engines. Lion Chief Plus has great details, diecast, lots of features. They can't be considered top of the line because the Premier Legacy engines obviously just push it over the top as far as features, scale size and details.
But I find Lion Chief plus a step above regular Postwar, so just like everything in the world there are always different levels.
I just kind of discovered Lion Chief because I kind of ignored it because I was pure Premier Legacy Engines. But a Lion Chief set came out I thought was so cool. Well now I am looking at all these Lion Chief and Lion Chief Plus sets and engines. I think Lionel hit it out of the park with these lines. They are great and so incredible easy to setup and use.
You can get 2 Lion Chief plus engines (or even 3) for the price of one Legacy engine depending which one it is.
I say get what you like. I mean I am running my Scooby-Doo set alongside the Vision Line PRR CC2 , haha.
