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A friend of mine let me know he has been informed his new Lionel Genset will be shipping to him this Monday along with a steam engine.  I at this monent have not been informed of my Pennsy Genset yet.  Maybe this week?!!!  Anyone else heard anything yet about shipped items that just came in?

Last edited by Reading RR
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Just received my BNSF yesterday, intial thoughts after some intial running time:

  • one marker board in the cab had fallen out in transit, no big deal just popped it back in
  • BNSF color looks good to my eye
  • Sounds great, even includes a female voice as part of the tower communications
  • Smoke, does not always open the rain flappers, but not a deal breaker, but I have noticed the center stack gets quite warm, possibly even bordering on hot.  Hope that does not result in melted plastic.  Anyone else notice the temp.  Wonder if the previous versions did the same
  • Lights, cab light illuminates when stopped and goes off when under way, however you can not turn it on while under way with cab 2, is that possibly unique to Genset switchers, or a possible electrical issue

Overall happy with the engine and great puller with dual motors.

Frank

I received mine yesterday and have been very happy with it, but I did have to open it up to fix the smoke funnel on the rear stack.

  • Sounds are fantastic - double speakers in the fuel tank make a difference
  • Smoke is great, but the stacks with the flaps weren't working for me, one would work fine and the other two not that much so I switched to the open stacks
  • I had to open it up and push in the rear funnel since I was getting smoke leaking from the rear body
  • Love the horn selection and the radio chatter
  • Colors for BNSF are spot on
  • I also own the die-cast Santa Fe Genset from several years back so I might do a comparison in a future review
  • Slow speeds on this are unreal - this thing is a creeper


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@FJI 05 posted:

Matt, great review.

In follow up to my previous review, do you notice the middle stack becoming hot, I can still touch mine but it does get quite "hot" or very warm.  Also while underway can you turn on the interior cab light.



thanks

Frank

Yes, the middle stack and upper middle body get a little warm. I also tend to get a small amount of smoke residue on the outside at the bottom of my stacks from time to time. I don't remember it building that much on my Die-Cast Santa Fe Genset.

I couldn't turn on the cab light while it was moving, however I usually never do this so I can't tell you if it's possible or not.

BNSF Matt, thank you for the review, Question, is the smoke unit, any of the three supposed to heat up, also, are the flappers like the ones on the original VisionLine gensets, where one unit motor, came on, opening the flipper, then the second motor coming on and opening the flipper, then the third etc.(can you show pictures of the flappers) Also, the VL model had opening hatches on the sides, does this model have them same features although plastic? I like the idea of twin motors and the new Legacy features and also the twin speaker effect, sounds so cool. I’m concerned about the heating up of the smoke stack. I purchased the CSX and get it Tuesday. Happy Railroading Everyone….

@leapinlarry posted:

BNSF Matt, thank you for the review, Question, is the smoke unit, any of the three supposed to heat up, also, are the flappers like the ones on the original VisionLine gensets, where one unit motor, came on, opening the flipper, then the second motor coming on and opening the flipper, then the third etc.(can you show pictures of the flappers) Also, the VL model had opening hatches on the sides, does this model have them same features although plastic? I like the idea of twin motors and the new Legacy features and also the twin speaker effect, sounds so cool. I’m concerned about the heating up of the smoke stack. I purchased the CSX and get it Tuesday. Happy Railroading Everyone….

It's just 1 smoke unit that feeds all 3 stacks at once, like the diecast non-vision line version from 2011. From what I saw in the demo video, from about half a year ago, the side hatches still open but none of the hatches on the body open up anymore.

Last edited by MichaelB

5C21043B-465E-4D25-8A4D-CCAC51D28CC5154EBA57-8B52-4821-8E67-1D730421161266FA20BA-3CB1-4CA8-AF6A-48533F7F44582C814970-3056-4083-A5C5-DA6B315B36CEAlright here you go. Plastic and diecast.  
the new one is not bad.  It looks like a lot of the original tooling was just “converted” to plastic.  There’s a few spots where things changed, not always for the better.  The headlight was inset in the nose on the diecast one (like it should be), it’s on the surface of the plastic one. The handrail stanchions on the diecast one were plastic for a reason (handrail was the antenna) They’re still plastic on a plastic model and I don’t understand why. The originals are sturdy and stiff, the new ones seem very flimsy and flexible. One side of mine is all shifty and they don’t seem to want to flex back straight. Maybe Dave can explain why they didn’t use standard metal stanchions.
The plastic one has see thru screens and stuff, just like the diecast one but it lacks the 3-D depth of the original.
The piece under the back of the cab fell off mine, it doesn’t look glued in.  I popped it back in, if it comes off again it’s getting glued.
the battery door magnet keeper had already popped loose of the door, that got glued (this was a problem on the originals too).
The paint match….. not too bad. It’s a passable shade of Orange, a little pale, though not exact to the original model,  and the almost black shade of green is fine. If anything, the yellow striping is too gold and gets lost in the orange paint.

I wanted to shoot these outside in the sun, but it’s going to rain and the light is awful. Maybe another day, til then, kitchen table for a backdrop.
1228 is plastic, 1249 is diecast and the ES44 is an MTH model just for another paint color comparison.

Also, if it needs to go back in the box, pull the stacks out.  It just seems like they’re gonna snap off if you press the foam lid down.

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Last edited by Boilermaker1

Alright here you go. Plastic and diecast.  

The paint match….. not too bad. It’s a passable shade of Orange, a little pale, though not exact to the original model,  and the almost black shade of green is fine. If anything, the yellow striping is too gold and gets lost in the orange paint.

I wanted to shoot these outside in the sun, but it’s going to rain and the light is awful. Maybe another day, til then, kitchen table for a backdrop.
1228 is plastic, 1249 is diecast and the ES44 is an MTH model just for another paint color comparison.

Also, if it needs to go back in the box, pull the stacks out.  It just seems like they’re gonna snap off if you press the foam lid down.

I didn't realize that until now about the paint stripe. It's there but the color is really close to the body paint as you noted.

Did you have issues with the flapper stacks, one of mine works and the others just don't stay open. I put back on the open stacks to avoid any issues with build up.

Thank you for the comparison review.

I didnt try the smoke unit out.  After seeing the reports of the smoke unit running hot, I'm not sure I feel like melting the shell (you know that there are zero spares in Parts), and on a loco like this, making it smoke is kinda ehhhhh. Just playing with the flappers, I would think it is going to take quite a bit of air pressure to blow them all open and keep them open. If you want to run the smoke unit with the rain cap stacks, I'd say a dot of glue or wax on the hinge and just keep them open.

So when I say pull I actually mean a slight tug.  Got the engine and all seem OK for the most part.   I ran the smoke on high for a couple of minutes to test the problem with heat we have heard about.  T stack was hot, but the top of the plastic shell was warm.  When I ran on low which I normally do the stack was very warm shell was a little warm, but not anymore that my other diesel switchers, I will keep an eye on it and report back.  Now for those that have the Pennsy, the 2 ditch lights on the front and back are steady when you blow the horn.  On my friends UP they flash side to side when you blow the horn.  What are others experiencing with the Pennsy version?

Boilermaker1, thank you for the side by side comparisons, the thorough review of colors, the hand rail review, so, are the smoke stacks with flappers like the VisionLine models? Interchangeable? Also, the windows, are they like the VisionLine models, interchangeable? I just picked up my CSX Genset, will post pictures in the next day or so and give a review, compared to the UP VisionLine model. I really wish this model had three smoke units, fan driven, then the flappers would work consistently. However, two motors is a plus. It’s a nice model and the BNSF paint scheme is beautiful. Happy Railroading Everyone

@leapinlarry posted:

Boilermaker1, thank you for the side by side comparisons, the thorough review of colors, the hand rail review, so, are the smoke stacks with flappers like the VisionLine models? Interchangeable? Also, the windows, are they like the VisionLine models, interchangeable? I just picked up my CSX Genset, will post pictures in the next day or so and give a review, compared to the UP VisionLine model. I really wish this model had three smoke units, fan driven, then the flappers would work consistently. However, two motors is a plus. It’s a nice model and the BNSF paint scheme is beautiful. Happy Railroading Everyone

The cab side windows are not the same. The VL diecast one has opening side windows, this one does not. I have never tried to pull the stacks out of my diecast one, so I dont know if they're the same. The new ones are keyed with a tab on the front side so they go in the right way.

I never found the original to be a lousy puller, as it weighs quite a bit. The new one weighs about the same amount, its quite heavy.  My layout is a mess at the moment, I just ran it back and forth to make sure it wasn't a dud.  I'll have to leave it to someone else to do the performance testing.

Thank you very much Boilermaker1, I was actually wondering if the front windows of the cab, left side, and right side and the rear cab windows were replaceable? I know the side windows are different, your review is really good. Also, does the cab top lift off as does the VL model. Although it’s different in a lot of ways, I think it’s a really cool diesel. I’ll be opening my CSX version soon. I’m glad there are two motors and added weights for more traction. Happy Railroading Everyone

@leapinlarry  Thanks for the kind words about the layout. It's a work in progress and very rough yet. Yes,  the 3 engines shown are new Lionel gensets and I'm running Legacy with LCS sensors, switch monitors (so that my iPad remains in sync with any switch changes made from remotes), plus ASC units to control key accessories or animations. The iPad makes for a nice control board overview of engine and switch positions.

@Shawn_Chronister  with the new Gensets, I usually do a check of the engines with the flap smoke stacks and do a wipe down before running. I've had it stick and it creates a case of smoke trying to seep out every crack and seam. I would imagine if left that way that the entire insides of the engine would get a nice coating of smoke residue.

Last edited by ScottV
@ScottV posted:

@leapinlarry  Thanks for the kind words about the layout. It's a work in progress and very rough yet. Yes,  the 3 engines shown are new Lionel gensets and I'm running Legacy with LCS sensors, switch monitors (so that my iPad remains in sync with any switch changes made from remotes), plus ASC units to control key accessories or animations. The iPad makes for a nice control board overview of engine and switch positions.

@Shawn_Chronister  with the new Gensets, I usually do a check of the engines with the flap smoke stacks and do a wipe down before running. I've had it stick and it creates of case of smoke trying to seep out every crack and seam. I would imagine if left that way that the entire insides of the engine would get a nice coating of smoke residue.

Yeah we had one come back like that when I used to work for a trainshop I cannot name because I always get jammed up for it. The engine was a mess inside.

I just received the BNSF version and noticed some weird behavior with the number boards, they are dim when the model just sitting on the track shut down. But as soon as the smoke unit turns on they come on at max brightness. When the smoke unit is turned off they stay in the dim state, but start to flicker between bright and dim while it's moving. Anyone see this behavior on theirs?

Hi MichaelB,

So I tried what you said for the # boards and mine stay the same brightness from the time you apply power to the track, run it and do a shutdown.  I even turned on and off rule 17 to see if that would have an effect, it did not.  I also have an update to my earlier comment about the center stack temperature.  I stated the plastic was not getting hot around the center stack, well when running say 7 min. or more yes my center stack is getting hot and so is the plastic around it, assume the metal stack transferring heat to the surrounding plastic, amount of smoke output did not matter.  So I will mostly run with the smoke off since Gensets are environmentally friendly anyway.  Probably only turn on when demoing smoke.

Thank you Reading RR, your update is much appreciated, and to me it’s concerning that the smoke unit heats up, is it possible that it could melt the body? The VL and the second run of the gensets had DieCast bodies, this third run has the addition of two motors, but one smoke unit feeding three smoke stacks with a plastic body…. I like the way they operate under Legacy commands, however I would like to know if anyone has ran there new Genset for over thirty minutes with the smoke on. I hope it doesn’t get that hot. I rarely turn on the smoke units in my diesels but love the smoke in the steamers. Happy Railroading Everyone

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