With the reintroduction of the scale-sized USRA Light Pacific by Lionel American Flyer, it might be interesting to compare the new B&O P-5 version of the Pacific with the original B&O USRA Light Mikado from 2005 which have many similarities. In this process I posed the new Pacific with the Gilbert-style streamlined passenger cars that were included in the 2005 6-49612 B&O set as I had for the original Mikado for the magazine cover shot for a written review that appeared in the S Gaugian (See below).
Appearance: Although both models are decorated well, I feel that the matte black of the older Mikado is more desirable and the positioning of the headlight and the B&O road plate on the smoke box of either the Mikado (or the 6-48061 B&O Pacific from 2008) is the more satisfactory positioning from the standpoint of an as-built P-5 <edit>. The coal pile on the new Pacific is more appealing and one can make the case that the sheen of the black on the new Legacy engine is more in keeping with the varnish being used here. Overall, advantage 2005.
Operation: This is where the new 2022 Legacy Pacific shines. Smoke, sounds, smoothness of start up, and running of the new Legacy version are all much superior to those aspects of the original TMCC Cab-1 Era effort. Fluid duration on the Seuthe smoke unit is a big limitation in the older model and the durability of the particular cherry switch selected for the chuff generation is lamentable. The firebox flicker and electrocoupler are both excellent features on the new Pacific. The electrocoupler is too large relative to the model, but it does function very well and is both useful and fun for the Flyer operator using Gilbert-style knuckle couplers. One can back the engine up to the first car (the baggage car in this case) on a curve and succeed in coupling on the first try. Neat! The six passenger cars were pulled with ease and operation on Gilbert/K-Line tubular track and turnouts was very good (provided that the track is clean). The operational aspect that I would change is extending the spacing between train speeds as realized using Cab-2. Given that the prices of the two models uncorrected for inflation are roughly the same, the operational improvements are quite remarkable. Advantage 2022.
A side note: Unpacking, viewing, and running the Gilbert-style streamliners from 2005-6 was gratifying. Regardless of whether one likes them as models, they rolled easily, the mechanical Gilbert-style couplers work fairly well, and they are decorated at a level of quality that betters the current efforts in this area by much of the high-rail S gauge competition to Lionel.
All in all, the new Lionel AF Legacy Pacific is a worthy and worthwhile update.
Bob
2005:
2022:
