Who has or is going to order the Lionmaster Challenger?

I'll be ordering one.  It was a tough decision on which paint scheme, but I'm going for 3985.  Very excited Lionel brought the lionmaster line back.

I'm thinking about it, but I currently plan to wait for a LM BigBoy, which I hope has LC+ option, too.

I'm waiting for the LionMaster PENNSYLVANIA Q-2!

Jon

I don't particularly want a Challenger, although I am excited that they brought back Lionmaster and to do my part to make sure they continue to sell them, I am tempted to buy one anyway.  

 

That being said, if they do go away again then I can stay with the RK Imperial products which are just fine too.

 

But as a hobbyist, I like having the options.  What I would love to see is a Lionmaster T-1.  I believe they were made before, and I missed them.  

If I was limited to 0-31 or 0-42, I would in a second. Very nice for for those who cannot accommodate wide curves.

I have the VL Challenger and it is very nice.  Love it!!  Hopefully you will enjoy the LM Challenger as well.  Love all the features and the sound is just great. Good luck with yours.

I wont be - but only because I already have 2 legacy ones from the previous release.

 

Like others I hope it proves successful and would definitely be up for kooljocks suggestion but I guess it would be expensive for all the new tooling!

Some forum members whined because there were no new Lionmaster locomotive releases.  Now that Lionel has a nice Lionmaster Challenger available there is no excuse for those members not to order one of these engines, especially with the locomotive equipped with "whistle steam" effects.  I myself will order one of the UP's.

 

Steve, Lady and Tex

I have one on order. I hope they continue putting out at least one per year.  

Count me in on Lionmaster. Hope they do more(like a Cab Forward SP???)

Ral,

 

Like THIS?

 

Jon

Yes, exactly.  They usually seem to command high prices.  I am fine with that, but if I am going to spend that money I suspect the new one (if offered) would cost not much more than that and would have better sound and speed control. 

 

Thanks for the heads-up.

I had one of the older Lionel Lionmaster Challengers and it was a great locomotive. I really enjoyed running it. It was great on my older layout when I was limited to 0-60 curves and most my switches were 0-36. I sold it recently because with a larger layout with 0-72 minimums I was able to get a MTH Premier Challenger. 

Already have a UP - sad they didn't offer a WP challenger instead of 3 more UP models.

Put my order in 10 days ago,this is my first lion master.

Not sure if I'll pre-order - that's not my preference, although I might do it in order to help send a signal to Lionel! I definitely will be getting the yellow stripe UP version. I was surprised and very pleased to see this cataloged. I had almost decided to look for the earlier version from 12 years ago, or whenever it was, to run with my 15" UP aluminum passenger cars, for which it's perfect. The whistle steam is a nice bonus.

 

 

I ordered Union Pacific Challenger 3989 and will probably get a second one.  Already have Lionmaster Union Pacific Challengers 3985 and 3983 and Rio Grande Challengers 3800 and 3805.

I am certainly thinking about it. Would rather get a reissued big boy with whistle steam effect, but not sure they will do one (since they already did one). 

 

Would really be interested in a cab forward. 

Why the dramatic price over MTH Imperial Challenger?  Aren't Lionmaster and Imperial comparable products?

Kind of hope Lionel takes care of the gap between the drive wheels, looked silly on the original Lionmasters. Too much open space

They are.  The difference in street price will be interesting to see.  Perhaps the whistle steam and the Lionel brand are worth the differential to people. 

About two weeks before the catalog came out I picked up the previous Legacy release 3985. Got a serious deal. So I'll pass this time on the new version. 

 

 

I pre-ordered my Legacy Lionmaster Big Boy 4006 back in 2008 I think. Great engine that gets lots of run time.

 

 

Got to run the cab-forward of a fellow club member at a show a few years back. So that ones on my wish list.

 

Nick

 

In my opinion, the Lionmaster Challenger is a much more nicely rendered version of a Challenger than the Rail King Challenger.  First of all, the locomotive is longer than the Rail King model and is just a couple inches short of being a full sized scale Challenger.  Those couple of inches, however, make all the difference in the world in overhang on O72 curves - there is minimal overhang on O72 and the Lionmaster Challenger has a very natural looking appearance on O72.  The overall proportions and detailing on the Lionmaster appear closer to the real Jabelmann Challengers.

I understand your point but from my perspective the goal of Lionmaster and RK Imperial is to scale the equipment down so it runs on O31/036/O42.  Those couple of extra inches on the locomotive will make it that much more awkward to run on the smaller layouts many of us have.

 

There is no right or wrong here, just to be clear.  But price always goes into the mix of factors for people, and at least at full list price it is a good deal more than list of the RK version, so it will be interesting to see how it plays out. 

Just got back from my LHS.  I was going to go with 3985, but with UP3989.  Can't wait for it to be delivered.

Also, for those of you ordering the Lionmaster Challenger, I noticed the catalog description and website made no mention of the engine having the flicker firebox. 

 

I assumed the engine would have it, because it has in the past.  However, I wanted to be sure so I contacted Lionel.  They confirmed it will have that feature.  Great news, we gain whistle steam and do not have to give up any of the other great features!

Passed on the Vision Line Big Boy as I was hoping it would be produced in the Lionmaster line.  I've got to make a decision very soon.  When I heard about the Challengers being produced, I was hoping for a Clinchfield version but that may be a few years away.  The 3985 really looks great.

Well, on a previous thread I mentioned that I am a LionMaster fan, but don't really want a Challenger.  Truthfully, I like Challengers, just didn't plan on purchasing one since I don't run western roads(only their rolling stock).  With the LionMaster Cab-Forward, I solved that problem by re-lettering mine to Lionel Lines.

 

Looking at these locomotives again, I'm seriously considering one.  Either the Rio Grande to re-letter to my own roadname or the UP 3985 to re-letter to Lionel Lines.  Still hoping Lionel will continue this series and at least reissue the Hudson and Cab-Forward.

Keith - Nike has the perfect slogan for your thinking about ordering a challenger "just do it!"

This may be a dumb question, but Isn't the lion master challenger considered to be semi-scale because it is smaller than the "scale" vision line challenger? I don't mean to be a stickler about scale, both engines are great looking and running!