After over 100 hours on my Clinchfield Challenger (see March S Gaugian) and over 50 hours on my U33C (Southern Pacific) I am convinced that these are two of the best engines I have ever had in S gauge. I operate almost all Am Models, S-Helper and link coupler Gilbert Flyer that have been produced. Most of the problems with the Challengers seem to have been with the UP's. Both engines operate beautifully in conventional, TMCC, and Legacy 1.3 on my layout, The Tennessee Central Railway. The Challanger did have some early issues, but all were easily correctable. Please see my description of my experiences with the Challenger on this forum. The U33C has operated perfectly out of the box. For the money it is an excellent locomotive with many excellent features. I quickly received my scale wheelsets for the U33C by return mail from Lionel and with them it is also a great runner and looker. If you want the scale wheelsets simply send an E-mail telling Lionel where you purchased the engine. They do not require a receipt.
As to my wishes for future production I would like a light mountain 4-8-2, Alco RS36 and Alco C420 unlettered (although it is easy to remove decoration and re-letter). Of course these were all used by the TCRY. I like Lionel's new policy of not including the RR or road number in the crew and tower chatter as this makes more sense when I re decorate the engines for the TCRY.
These two engines as well as modern track and turnouts indicate a greatly increased commitment to the Am Flyer S Gauge line. Also the new separate catalog for Am Flyer emphasizes this new comitment (see Lionel's website).
Regards,
Tom
