Improving the pull of my traditional Polar Express locomotive

IC GulfOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBERDIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

Hi, I hope everyone is off to a great New Year !

Although I do have one dedicated loop of 072, PW traditional sized trains look best on the rest of my tubular track mid-sized layout, so I was looking for a way to improve the pull of my traditional size Polar Express locomotive. This is the ORIGINAL Lionel Polar Express version that I am referencing.

I guess first I should ask if Lionel has made a traditional size PE with great pulling power after the original version, that can pull all of the traditional sized PE cars.

Then I wondered if the shell from my traditional PE could be extracted and installed in place of the shell on a PW Berkshire which has known strong pulling power. Or I guess I could just have a PW Berk repainted/renumbered as 1225. Overall, I think the PW Berk shell looks much better than the shell of the original PE.

Then I wondered if the motor in this original PE could be replaced with one that has stronger pulling power so I can pull all of the available traditional size PE cars.

Any opinions as to which would be the better option ?

Or I could just wait and hope that Lionel re-releases another scale version and buy all new everything PE.

1/22/221:10 PM

❤️ 0

Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

gunrunnerjohnOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBERDIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

Lionel has released several later versions of the PE traditional sized locomotive with upgraded power. I took a conventional Series II model (larger motor) and upgraded it to TMCC and fan driven smoke. It easily pulls seven of the set PE cars around my layout, including the 2.5% grade. I've also run one of the Lionchief Plus 2.0 locomotives with the same seven cars with the same result. I'd probably opt for the LC+ 2.0 model and swap the shell if you want to "improve" the looks.

Here's my TMCC upgraded model coming up the grade with all the cars. The LC+ 2.0 model has the same larger motor and the same performance on my layout.