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Rusty - I agree, there's not a whole lot new here (in S), but some additional GP7 paint jobs.  No steam in this catalog.  Two things caught my eye in perusing the whole catalog - first (one of my favorite gripes) is offering O-SCALE locos in paint jobs that never existed (if you are a scale person, would you buy something for which there is no prototype??).  I don't know enough about which RRs actually had some of the various diesels* but the Lionel folks are offering 4-12-2 locos in several non-UP road names when, at least as far as I know, only UP had that locomotive (certainly C & O never did, and I'm pretty certain that SP, D&RGW, Milwaukee Rd didn't either - not certain about SP&S, but I don't think so) - almost as bad as offering EP-5's in anything but NH livery... (rant over).

Second, Lionel has introduced Lionchief Plus 2.0, which adds a lot of additional features - almost equivalent to Legacy controllers (check the comparison table mid-catalog).  What I can't tell is how much of that is on the software side (meaning a new app) and how much is on the hardware/board side.  For the Flyer offerings, the catalog doesn't mention Lionchief at all (any version) but mentions Flyerchief - which, to my understanding, is the standalone controller - not the iPhone app. It also mentions bluetooth, so, for example, would the new LionChief plus 2.0 play nicely with flyer locos containing bluetooth??   So I'm a bit confused about what controllers they think are compatible with S locos.  The non-Legacy Berk I purchased last spring operates using the LionChief plus phone app (great fun).

- Rich

*ps - did other RRs besides UP purchase DD35s?  Lionel does cop to offering the non-UP paint schemes (along with one modern day UP scheme) as fantasy paint schemes.

SP did have similar 4-10-2 3-Cylinder locos, but only UP had the 4-12-2s. SP also had 3 DD35s, but not the DD35As with cabs (SP's were cabless).

I plan to buy the new BNSF SD70MAC Coal Train set. The whole consist will run on my tighter O36 Curves and it is in the livery of one of my favorite railroads. Plus it's a modern set, which is what I run. I'm also a fan of the LC+2.0 Genesis P42DCs, the rest of the SD70MACs, and the SW12000s. The FM C-Liners are a nice addition, too. I love rare and interesting loco designs.

Rich, for FlyerChief engines use the middle column on the p.60 comparison table. The O gauge 2.0 features are not included in FlyerChief engines. A FlyerChief engine can be operated conventionally with a transformer, with its remote, a Universal Remote or with the LionChief mobile app. It will not work with a Legacy Cab 2 controller and no S gauge Legacy engines are made with Bluetooth. Lionel decided that in S the demand for DCC compatibility was far greater than for Bluetooth.

Dylan, your post is in the S gauge thread, I think you are just trying to make us envious of all the O gauge products there are that do not exist in S.

Wow, I'm surprised I have to say. Having seen how well the Legacy Berkshires did and hearing that the Legacy Pacifics were selling well I am really surprised that they went 100% traditional AF in this catalog. So between the two catalogs this is a 75th celebration? I am underwhelmed. Lionel really seems to hate the idea of doing newly tooled scale sized freight that can operate on HR or Scale layouts. Literally the exact same business model they use in O scale, not to mention the model SHS and AM pioneered in S... I just don't get the thought process behind the decisions they make. Oh well, I guess I'll wait and see what they do next Feb.

ScaleTrains can not get up to speed fast enough for me.

Tom - I guess what surprises me a bit is that in the Flyer section of the catalog, they aren't very clear about the fact that the locos (only ones they list are the GP7s) work with the Lionchief plus app.  On page 78 (in the pdf version, which has a slightly different pagination than the on-line version of the catalog), which is the first page of the Flyer section, they list the following:  FlyerChief (which is referred to as a 'remote'), Legacy, Electrocouplers, RailSounds, Bluetooth, and LVC (Lionel Voice Control).  No mention of LionChief plus, which is clearly discussed in the literature for my non-Legacy Berk.  Seems to me that would be a feature they'd want to emphasize as part of the benefits of having bluetooth capability.  My LionChief plus app works great with my Berk - has a number of bells and whistles (including bell and whistle control!).  I guess I'll download the new LionChief plus 2.0 and see if/how it works with my Berk.  On page 58, which is the page advertising the LionChief bluetooth app, it sez 'compatible with new ... S-gauge trains'...

Given the ease of use and the features of the LionChief plus app, if there were a way to retrofit that system in the TMCC locos I have (Mike, Pacific and U33) - and even better, my old straightup ACG locos, I'd do it in a heartbeat.  I know, there's BlueRail (which I still think I may get one just to try) and the add-on controller that lets you run TMCC locos from an older, Lionel phone app, but bluetooth/LionChief is pretty cool.  Arguably the (or at least, a) wave of the future, since folks like Lionel (and others - hint:  American Models) can focus on software and feature development without having to come up with idiosyncratic communications protocols - bluetooth has that all worked out for them.

Hmmm, bluetooth and arduino - GRJ, Stan, Adriatic, et al., where are you?

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