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How about some new engine sound sets for EMD diesels.  This one-size-fits-all sound set used for like 10 years now on everything from the SD70ACe to the SD40 was never even close to as accurate as what MTH put in their PS3 1970s - present EMDs.  The shame is that for all the money and effort Lionel has put into some great tooling for newer EMDs, they seriously hurt the appeal with poor or inaccurate sounds.

I know not everyone cares about this, but if you can't hear the clear difference between the 710 prime mover in a 70Ace and a 645 in an SD40, you need to get your ears checked!  MTH knew the difference and the 2-rail O/HO/N/DCC guys are downright spoiled on sound accuracy.

Surely it wouldn't be too difficult to find a short line or museum with an operating SD40 or GP40 that a sound set could be recorded off of for a generic 645.  A 710 might take a little more work, being newer, but there are plenty of 60/70 model EMDs around.

I could point out that the SD45 and SD80mac (both excellent models from Lionel) have 20 cylinder variants of their 645 and 710, respectively, and sound a bit unique compared to the more common 16 cylinder models, but I don't want to ask for too much...

An even cheaper option would be to allow the end user to change sounds like DCS and DCC allows.

And on the topic of sounds, why in the world when Lionel had a fantastic and accurate ES44-style K5HL horn in their die cast and heritage ES44 runs did they not put this horn on any of their later runs??

Woody, I fully agree about the sounds. The decoders available in other scales these days are unbelievable. In addition to having the correct prime mover it would be neat to have a broader selection of horns and bells. The recent 5 option horn/ bell is a start, but a lot of them are just the same recording at a different pitch. It would be amazing to be able to select various real horns (K5LLA, P5, RS3L, etc). With Bluetooth you could do it all from your phone on the app. Would be a game changer.

How about some new engine sound sets for EMD diesels.  This one-size-fits-all sound set used for like 10 years now on everything from the SD70ACe to the SD40 was never even close to as accurate as what MTH put in their PS3 1970s - present EMDs.

IIRC, a podcast that discusses trains interviewed OGR Forum's very own @Hot Water about that and he was instrumental in helping MTH get accurate recordings - with turbocharged and non-turbocharged engines getting the correct sounds.

I will say that the Legacy F3s I have sound quite good - especially when creeping along slowly with all the environmental squeaks, groans, and rattles.

@rplst8 posted:

IIRC, a podcast that discusses trains interviewed OGR Forum's very own @Hot Water about that and he was instrumental in helping MTH get accurate recordings - with turbocharged and non-turbocharged engines getting the correct sounds.

I will say that the Legacy F3s I have sound quite good - especially when creeping along slowly with all the environmental squeaks, groans, and rattles.

I didn't know that, but I must commend them on getting it right!  I'm with you on the F3s.  For that matter, Lionel has a few EMD 567 sound sets that are great that they use on the early EMD power.

Will, I agree with you on the horns as well.  It's one thing when they would have to go take a fresh recording, say an actual K5LLA for their SD70ACe.  But it's a whole different head-scratching matter when they already possess perfect recordings and choose to use terrible computer-generated or just inaccurate ones instead.

I already gave the example of the great K5HL from the die-cast and NS Heritage ES44s being dumped for the genset horn.  Another would be using that awful, weird horn on the AC6000s when they had a near-perfect CSX K5LA they used on the SuperBass AC6000 back in 2011:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1Q8u5P_9ks

Valley Railroad LionChief Plus 2.0 Set:

1.  LionChief Plus 2.0 2-8-2 "Baby Mike" coupled with the tender from the 0-8-0 starter sets lettered "NEW HAVEN".

2.  Two green Baby Madison coaches lettered "Connecticut Valley"

3.  One green Baby Madison Observation Car lettered "Pullman", named "Great Republic" under the windows.

VIDEO

Jon

Last edited by KOOLjock1
@TTOCMike posted:

These will never happen but I’d love to see…

Milwaukee Road Hiawatha 4-4-2 that runs on O-36 curves. Passenger cars too!

F59 - fantasy themed - Santa Fe, Milwaukee Road Hiawatha, Blue Comet, Union Pacific, NASA, etc.

Disney Railroad 4-4-0 passenger set based on Disneyland and Walt Disney World railroads.

Count me in for the Disneyland/Disney World Railroad sets!  Considering all the Disney starter sets, I’m surprised they’ve never done an authentic Disney park train.    

@TTOCMike posted:

These will never happen but I’d love to see…

Milwaukee Road Hiawatha 4-4-2 that runs on O-36 curves. Passenger cars too!

..

Disney Railroad 4-4-0 passenger set based on Disneyland and Walt Disney World railroads.

Tooling aside, I don't think the Hiawatha is farfetched. Especially because it could achieve juggernaut like the postwar 6-8-6 Turbines status if they cut the length down a bit and keep it simple. An 0-36 capable LC+2.0 Hiawatha seems like a win (especially when you take my lack of business experience haha).

I bet the Disney train would sell too. It's not my think but Disney has some big fans across tons of demographics.

I think these are actually great ideas to be honest.

I like your dreams!

yeah i have a lot of dreams about lionel stuff that doesn't exist yet and sometimes in those dreams i own that particular train

for example in my dream last night i had bought that Army DDa40x and 2 Santa Fe units

there's two sides to this coin though

the cool side is sometimes 1 to 3 years after the dream of a particular train lionel will come out with a train extremely similar to the train i dreamt about like maybe just a few details off but still very close

The frustrating side is when that dream train comes out i can't afford it or i miss out on it and can't find it anywhere when i can afford it

or like the shark research set it gets cancelled

Since these are all wishes…

It would be nice to see a scale and accurate replica of the Strasburg station and Tower.
I know that they had a traditional station labeled for Strasburg, but I’m being greedy and I want scale and accuracy. 😁

There is a company that makes a scale model version of the J Tower, but a cheaper and assembled version would be nice.

I do remember Ryan saying that this upcoming catalog was going to be the biggest one in quite a while. I am hoping that whatever is in there besides the Class A is not on my list of engines and such. Being that my main interests are NYC & PRR, I really don't need any more K4's or Hudson's, which shouldn't be in this catalog.

That being said, I would imagine that as usual there will be a great number of diesel offerings which I'm not really into all that much, and most of the NYC PRR diesels I would want, I maybe have already. I doubt that whatever would pop up on that list of diesels, I could wait for another catalog.

On the steam side, definitely getting one of the Class A's and depending on what cars they are going to offer with it, may get those. Whatever other steam is going to be in the catalog is really going to be pressing as I can only think the majority wouldn't be NYC or PRR, thinking more west coast engines, but who knows. I do hope that is the case.

On December 21st my car blew up(engine went), so I'm still shopping for a car. Yeah, priorities as they say. Thing that stinks is I had so much work done on my car last year(2021) that I could have easily bought a VL Big Boy that was overpriced 3-4 times what it should be. Yeah, no good, but as I said somewhere else, 2021 was a good year for my buying of stuff I really wanted/missed out on the first shots(or older stuff). Here's hoping to a glorious 2022 of great railroad dreams.

P.S., hopefully 844 Northern is not in the catalog.

@BillYo414 posted:

I didn't know the rotary plows were steam powered. I would be interested in this just because it's interesting.

All of SP’s (now UP’s) Rotary Plows were originally steam powered, but not self-propelled. Eventually they were rebuilt to be diesel powered. A traction motor turned the blades, and F7 B units were turned into slugs to power said motor. My understanding is some of the steam parts were kept intact on the rebuilt rotaries to make sure nothing freezes, as in they still can make steam.

@N&WGuy posted:

It’d also be awesome to see if Lionel got the MTH Premier tooling for the Pennsylvania Railroad 2-10-0’s. Some Legacy Pennsy I1s class locos equipped with whistle, smoke stack, and pop off valve steam effects with short and long haul tender versions would be pretty sweet!



While on the topic of acquired MTH tooling, it would be neat if Lionel acquired MTH's 3460 class Santa Fe Baldwin 4-6-4. The 3460 class was the basis for Lionel's smaller 4-6-4 locomotives. If Lionel acquired MTH's 3460 class tooling they could come out with postwar scale #665 Lionel Lines, #685 Lionel Lines, #2055 Lionel Lines, #2065 Lionel Lines as well as the MPC Famous American Railroads set #1. They can change boiler fronts for the particular postwar locomotive that they are making scale versions of. 

@WBC posted:

While on the topic of acquired MTH tooling, it would be neat if Lionel acquired MTH's 3460 class Santa Fe Baldwin 4-6-4. The 3460 class was the basis for Lionel's smaller 4-6-4 locomotives. If Lionel acquired MTH's 3460 class tooling they could come out with postwar scale #665 Lionel Lines, #685 Lionel Lines, #2055 Lionel Lines, #2065 Lionel Lines as well as the MPC Famous American Railroads set #1. They can change boiler fronts for the particular postwar locomotive that they are making scale versions of.

I would love scale sized versions of Lionel’s classic steam engines.  In fact, let’s see Lionel Lines versions of other scale locomotives.

To add to my wishes for future catalogs…

More sound cars. I don’t mean special Station Sounds, I mean just basic rail sounds. They have done this in various cars, and I have a set of their modern tank cars that have sounds, but I would love to see some modern box cars or hoppers with sounds. Just a few so they can be placed throughout the train for a little more effect.
If someone has already said this in this long thread, sissy, didn’t mean to repeat.

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