Legacy L1 Mikados are in

@prrhorseshoecurve posted:

My issue with the MTH premier converts is IF there is no Whistle Smoke and Moving bell- where prototypical, them I'm not buying! I have PLENTY of locomotives. Sound and quillable whistles is not cutting it for me for the price. Thats what I will be looking for in the latest catalog.

That's what makes this hobby great, we all have different priorities in what we look for.  Stuff like swinging bell and whistle smoke take up room in the boiler.  A dinky rear-facing motor helps make that room.  For me, I wouldn't give a nickel for those features.  Give me a big honkin' motor and bulletproof gearbox.  Add correct paint (Williams, Weaver, MTH and Atlas with their 0-6-0 all seemed to have no problem with Pennsy Dark Green Locomotive Enamel) and I'm good.  Only Lionel seems to repeatedly confuse the PRR color with US Army olive drab.

Any 1369 pics anywhere ??? - I definitely need to see it before a purchase / not a fan of the light “Army Green”

Now I’m nervous about the upcoming 2-10-0 hippos

🤞🙏

Any sightings of the Lehigh & New England version?

@Paul Kallus posted:

Did I miss the issue with Chris' L1..."high load on motor..." but what is happening, exactly?

In his last video on his YouTube channel, he described an issue where if he operated the locomotive in reverse, with a load behind it, it would move, or operated in fits and starts.

@Bob posted:

Add correct paint (Williams, Weaver, MTH and Atlas with their 0-6-0 all seemed to have no problem with Pennsy Dark Green Locomotive Enamel) and I'm good.  Only Lionel seems to repeatedly confuse the PRR color with US Army olive drab.

@dorfj2 posted:

Any 1369 pics anywhere ??? - I definitely need to see it before a purchase / not a fan of the light “Army Green”

I'm not sure the color is as bad as some of the photos posted here seem to indicate. I don't want to post pictures without @Cmontagna's permission, but if you watch his last video on the L1s, there are some parts where it looks pretty black. The paint color seems to be sensitive to the light hitting it. Which is what DLGE should do. It's not black, it's not green. I'll reserve judgement until I have it in-front of me.

That said, IMHO it's much easier to fix a paint job than to re-engineer and rebuild a driveline.  Not that I'm an expert on either.

@rplst8 posted:

I'm not sure the color is as bad as some of the photos posted here seem to indicate. I don't want to post pictures without @Cmontagna's permission, but if you watch his last video on the L1s, there are some parts where it looks pretty black. The paint color seems to be sensitive to the light hitting it. Which is what DLGE should do. It's not black, it's not green. I'll reserve judgement until I have it in-front of me.

That said, IMHO it's much easier to fix a paint job than to re-engineer and rebuild a driveline.  Not that I'm an expert on either.

Go for it!

@rplst8 posted:

if you watch his last video on the L1s, there are some parts where it looks pretty black. The paint color seems to be sensitive to the light hitting it.

Yep. I noticed that too. It's like the paint gets washed out in direct light. But it looked much darker in diffused light.

@Cmontagna posted:

Go for it!

@BillYo414 posted:

Yep. I noticed that too. It's like the paint gets washed out in direct light. But it looked much darker in diffused light.

Yeah, so here are some examples.

Greenish:

Blacker:

rplst8 - I’m hoping that’s the case / I REALLY want this engine 😊🙏👍🏼

I have the #882 Santa Fe on order so I am not too worried about the color. The forward facing motor rather than a big motor in the firebox is a bit disappointing.

The gear box discussion is an example of what a single mess up can do can do to a reputation. Is it not that the gear box issue stems from a K-4 produced about 12 years ago?   I have a Santa Fe T1b Berkshire with the compound gearbox. It has held up just fine over the years. I just had my locomotive apart to lube it and there was not wear. The Lionel version is far superior to the K-line version (which I also have). While I may not run my Berkshire 50 hours day, it is one of my favorites and I am sure it has at least 500 to 1000 hours on it. Besides, does the forward facing motor have a compound gearbox?

Similar compound gearboxes are used all over the place in HO.

Where is the B&M Berkshire I have been waiting for?

They broke the tooling?

Hoping no problems with that one.

@cswalter posted:

Where is the B&M Berkshire I have been waiting for?

They broke the tooling?

Hoping no problems with that one.

The new eta is 3/2024

@Cmontagna - you mention the paint color compared to your M1...

Can you post pics of the engines side by side, both in direct and diffused light?

@RickO posted:

The new eta is 3/2024

They had it at October last I looked.

Oh well.

Thanks

@WBC posted:

The gear box discussion is an example of what a single mess up can do can do to a reputation. Is it not that the gear box issue stems from a K-4 produced about 12 years ago?   I have a Santa Fe T1b Berkshire with the compound gearbox. It has held up just fine over the years. I just had my locomotive apart to lube it and there was not wear. The Lionel version is far superior to the K-line version (which I also have). While I may not run my Berkshire 50 hours day, it is one of my favorites and I am sure it has at least 500 to 1000 hours on it. Besides, does the forward facing motor have a compound gearbox?

Similar compound gearboxes are used all over the place in HO.

The forward facing motor and compound gearbox aren’t problems per se. Its the transverse slop that is allowed by not having a properly sized throwout bearing. (Also possibly a metal hardness mismatch.)

@WBC posted:

I have the #882 Santa Fe on order so I am not too worried about the color. The forward facing motor rather than a big motor in the firebox is a bit disappointing.

The gear box discussion is an example of what a single mess up can do can do to a reputation. Is it not that the gear box issue stems from a K-4 produced about 12 years ago?   I have a Santa Fe T1b Berkshire with the compound gearbox. It has held up just fine over the years. I just had my locomotive apart to lube it and there was not wear. The Lionel version is far superior to the K-line version (which I also have). While I may not run my Berkshire 50 hours day, it is one of my favorites and I am sure it has at least 500 to 1000 hours on it. Besides, does the forward facing motor have a compound gearbox?

Similar compound gearboxes are used all over the place in HO.

I’ll address your comments one at a time …….

your T1b Berkshire’s gear box is of a different design. We’ve identified those Legacy gear boxes that are robust, and have a generous spacer to keep the idler gear centered in the gear box.

All of the latest Legacy offerings with the forward mounted RS385 share a similar gear box design.

I don’t know what H.O. models have to do with this discussion……

Pat

@rplst8 posted:

In his last video on his YouTube channel, he described an issue where if he operated the locomotive in reverse, with a load behind it, it would move, or operated in fits and starts.

Chris has a longer review of this engine.  Later on the video , when the engine is clipping along, what sounds to me like gear noise can be heard over the soundset.

On a side note. The suspense regarding the shade (s) of red is killing me.

@RickO posted:

The new eta is 3/2024

Where did you hear this? Trainworld and Charles Ro have them set for October. Not that I'm complaining, but the March 2024 ETA is definitely news to me.

@0-Gauge CJ posted:

Where did you hear this? Trainworld and Charles Ro have them set for October. Not that I'm complaining, but the March 2024 ETA is definitely news to me.

https://www.lionelstore.com/Bo...CY-A1-Berkshire-1401

@RickO posted:

Chris has a longer review of this engine.  Later on the video , when the engine is clipping along, what sounds to me like gear noise can be heard over the soundset.

On a side note. The suspense regarding the shade (s) of red is killing me.

I heard this too, ….I’d love to get my hands on that exact example to do a diagnostics,….we also could be jumping the gun, as I’ve said before, this could be a fluke issue with that one model,….the motor mount screws could simply be loose, allowing the motor to shift and misalign……hopefully the orange box people did address the shortcomings of this gear box type, ……I’m sure we’ll find out,,…

Pat