Everyone has a comment about the flaws in the steam chest design. Well, designs can be altered. And we've forgotten about the other smoke effects in the VL Challenger that work just fine - the smoke that emanates from the rear undercarriage and the Dynamo. No steam chest but still the most steam effects of any Lionel locomotive to-date.
2:35 is where the action starts. Linked off YT at the start point but it didn't work for whatever reasons.
IMO, the best locomotive Lionel has made to date. If you own one, you know why I say that. An absolute fantastic model.
Bill - thanks for posting the vids. They illustrate well why I always say the VL Challenger is my favorite steam locomotive and the best steaming locomotive Lionel has ever produced.
I own the VLBB too, but as anyone can see, smoke-wise the Challenger is far superior. Not only does it have more smoke effects, but between the dynamo and injector effect, they are the type you would see in real life. And you don't need to trigger any except the whistle. Compare that to the VLBB that cost around 25% more - stack smoke and then just 2 others that you don't see unless you manually trigger - whistle and blowdown. And I use the term "see" lightly when you consider the anemic, poorly designed VLBB blowdown.
By the way - are you saying the reason your unit didn't smoke well is because of the plug issue you discuss in the second video?
Thanks
JC642 posted:Rocky Mountaineer posted:
Any reason why Lionel isn't including more of these cool effect on its higher end locomotives given the fact that they're now pushing $1400+ (street-price) for non-articulated steamers, and $1800+ (street-price) for articulated steamers like the Allegheny?
Would more folks have ordered the Allegheny if it included ALL of these steam effects at VisionLine Big Boy prices? I might even have ordered an Allegheny if it included just the steam-chest "cylinder steam effects" at the current price-point. But without any added steam effects (other than whistle-steam), I passed on the Allegheny.
David
Pretty simple to figure out. In the auto industry it's called the "hanging carrot". When you can't change the carrot, you improve the flavor and dangle it in their face. When constricted to selling a horribly repetitive product line, they hold back a few good things for the next reissue and charge more. Call it effective marketing.
Joe
Bingo, Joe!
'Desperate marketing' might be another moniker for it!....?
KD
JC642 posted:J Daddy posted:In this catalog the winner in the weeds will be the GS4 and the T-1s... If had to take a guess they will be snapped up quickly.
Actually IMO, the real winner in the weeds are those savvy enough to "wait" in those weeds and feast on older JLC's and first issue Legacy engines dumped into the secondary market cheap...
Joe
Bingo #2, Joe!
You're on a roll, man!
KD
PJB posted:Bill - thanks for posting the vids. They illustrate well why I always say the VL Challenger is my favorite steam locomotive and the best steaming locomotive Lionel has ever produced.
I own the VLBB too, but as anyone can see, smoke-wise the Challenger is far superior. Not only does it have more smoke effects, but between the dynamo and injector effect, they are the type you would see in real life.
Not quite. None of the UP "big three" steam locomotives (800s, 3900s, and 4000s) would have steam "effects" exiting under the Engineer's side of the cab, all the time, or even often.
And you don't need to trigger any except the whistle. Compare that to the VLBB that cost around 25% more - stack smoke and then just 2 others that you don't see unless you manually trigger - whistle and blowdown. And I use the term "see" lightly when you consider the anemic, poorly designed VLBB blowdown.
By the way - are you saying the reason your unit didn't smoke well is because of the plug issue you discuss in the second video?
Thanks
dkdkrd posted:JC642 posted:J Daddy posted:In this catalog the winner in the weeds will be the GS4 and the T-1s... If had to take a guess they will be snapped up quickly.
Actually IMO, the real winner in the weeds are those savvy enough to "wait" in those weeds and feast on older JLC's and first issue Legacy engines dumped into the secondary market cheap...
Joe
Bingo #2, Joe!
You're on a roll, man!
KD
No can do with the Chessie T-1... its a sleeper. And I hear the cars are coming out next year.
rich64 posted:David, you're right about the N&W J cylinder steam and the 18056 Hudson has it too. The effect isn't jaw dropping by any means but it's pretty cool and very simple in design. RICH
The 18071 Daylight GS4 got it too. Even under a CC environment. mine hardly lets on it has the feature. In fact, it piddles out liquid far better than steam.
Bruce
The 1st thing I do when I buy a new steam locomotive is turn the smoke unit off. Next I place tape over the switch. Third & this is the most important instruction; Leave it alone & forget about it!
Albert J. Teufel posted:The 1st thing I do when I buy a new steam locomotive is turn the smoke unit off. Next I place tape over the switch. Third & this is the most important instruction; Leave it alone & forget about it!
For a new guy, you sure make sense! I do the same thing, as that darned smoke fluid/vapor messes up the locomotive weathering as well as the track & scenery.
Albert J. Teufel posted:The 1st thing I do when I buy a new steam locomotive is turn the smoke unit off. Next I place tape over the switch. Third & this is the most important instruction; Leave it alone & forget about it!
3rd item should be to cut the wire to the smoke unit.
I enjoy the smoke affects but after a few minutes, I am good.
J Daddy posted:....I enjoy the smoke affects but after a few minutes, I am good.
I agree.
Smoke features are the least of my concern when I buy a model. It's ironic some HAVE to have the latest toys, only to turn off the feature! Saw that many times.
And, whoever mentioned hiding in the weeds on older Legacy stuff, I can't agree more with. I picked up an FEF a while back for less than $500!
86TA355SR posted:... And, whoever mentioned hiding in the weeds on older Legacy stuff, I can't agree more with. I picked up an FEF a while back for less than $500!
I don't doubt it. There are some terrific deals out there right now... like brand new Legacy articulated locos (from 2-4 years ago) between $1000-$1200, and non-articulated steamers between $550-$900. Makes one wonder why anybody is ordering the new stuff, when we're certainly paying so dearly through the nose for it. 
Perhaps that's why MTH has stuck to re-issuing their steamers with just the basic features for now. Aside from their recent Big Boy having whistle-steam, none of their other Premier steamers has any enhanced smoke effects. Then again, they're probably just happy to get steamers out of China again, since they were essentially offline for a couple of years in terms of steam locomotives coming to the U.S. 
Adding fancy features would only make the manufacturing process even more challenging -- dealing with new factories and such. 
Nothing is straight-forward nowadays.
Simple is good. But simple doesn't warrant the sharp price increases over the past couple of years. More fun to go shopping where the deals are!
David
