Questions on flyer chief

An 8B has 100 Watts at about 16 volts depending on the transformer.  It will run the Berk fine.  It will run run fine on Gilbert track both curves and streights.  That is what I use.

Awesome. That is just what I wanted to hear. Now to lay some gilbert track. I don't know if you've seen the new lionel catalog or not, but that new flyerchief NKP sure looks cool to me and with an MSRP of $349, I might even be able to afford it. The catalog also has an s gauge NKP caboose. I'm pretty excited. Thanks for the quick response.

Yes, I have seen the 3016 catalog but the NKP was in the 2015 too. The Berkshires were sent out in December and the NKP cannot be found. It is sold out and the most popular one of them.  

The catalog was probably put together before their release so Lionel didn't know they would sell out so quick.  The dealer order form (which I have) says sold out and DISC. Which may mean discontinued.  I hope they make another run of them as there appears to be plenty of demand.  Look for dealers that may have some of the other three road names available.  Sorry  

You can run the 322 forever. With proper maintenance and care there should be no worries.

Rich

Well I'm trying to talk my wife into the $309 for that NKP, assuming their inventory is correct. I live in Ohio so the NKP is cool to me. My wife is from Lima, so maybe if I explain to her that this 765 is a Lima locomotive, she'll see things my way? On a side note, I'm hoping to go visit the 765 this year, whenever they get their calendar up.

Richabr, I hope you are right about the 322. It was my dad's. He had it rebuilt around 25 years ago, and its been in storage ever since. I can't wait to get it going again. I'm going to have to learn how to maintain it, so my boys can have it someday.

Well, I just checked and the Nickle Plate is gone.  I hope you got it?

If not he still has listed the Pere Marquette, Erie, and Southern.

No, I can't say that I did. That may be for the better though, since I've already been spending enough money on train stuff lately. I will probably just remain patient. If the NKP is in the 2016 catalog, maybe we can hope they will release some? I'm not getting my hopes up though.

I did have another question though. I've noticed my lionchief penn flyer seems to have lesser sound quality as compared to a lionchief plus mikado or hudson that I have heard on youtube videos. Does anyone know what sound quality I could expect from a flyerchief? Would it sound better like the mikado and hudson, or would it be poor like the penn flyer?

I have the NKP and the Polar Express and I found the quality of the sound on these both to be very good. With that said I thought the volume was a little weak which I rectified by replacing the speaker in the tender with one purchased from Electric Railroad.

Ray

"Does anyone know what sound quality I could expect from a flyerchief?"

By today's standards, I would say it is very poor.  However, if I were an eight year old, I probably would be thrilled.

By comparison, give this a view & listen:

https://drive.google.com/file/...A/view?usp=drive_web

Tom Stoltz

in Maine

i have the Berkshire Southern it runs great on both flyer and fastrack and sounds great for the price you wont be disapointed

I just checked eBay and there are currently 4 Berks for sale.  No Nickle Plate however.  It wouldn't me post the link sorry.

I just received the Erie Berkshire; runs great on Gilbert track. I use a 30 B trans. Put it at full volts, then use the remote. Nice runner, sound, smoker. I tried running it on conventional without the remote and noticed that the smoke is minimal. Guess the smoke unit needs higher volts. Use "Super Smoke" too with nice results. Decent engine for the price. I am a traditional Gilbert guy, but willing to bend alittle bit! Got the Flyonel 4-8-4 years ago and run it alot. Only fixed the squeakie smoke unit and wear out the driver wheel rubbers; good runner!

Bruce... I suggest you switch to Lionel smoke fluid for the Berk.  While Super Smoke may work now the Berk was not developed to use that fluid.  It is much thicker than the Lionel fluid.  In the new smoke units of Flyonel engines I always use their fluid for that reason.

Roundhouse Bill posted:

Bruce... I suggest you switch to Lionel smoke fluid for the Berk.  While Super Smoke may work now the Berk was not developed to use that fluid.  It is much thicker than the Lionel fluid.  In the new smoke units of Flyonel engines I always use their fluid for that reason.

Bill,

I will take your info into consideration. I have also used Super Smoke in my American model 4-6-2 for years, and never had an issue. One key item is to always keep the wick moist and not dry out. Now if I can only resolve the sound issue in my new Railsound S gauge boxcar ! Not happy with it. Posted my issues about this on this forum too. And yes, I am glad that I joined this site !! Valuable info from many !

Bruce L.

Bruce...One of the keys to the railsounds boxcar is to make sure the doors are closed.  I thought the reverse would be better and then Lionel told me just the opposite.  It really does make it louder.

It looks to me like the FlyerChief is the same system as the LionChief Plus, so I would expect the same level of sound.  I can't be sure about this, but I don't see any reason they would have downgraded the sounds while keeping all the other 'Plus' features.   In fact, I expect they use the exact same electronics package.  

JGL