The Lionel Illinois Central E6

The trailing A unit from the Lionel E6 has good size, pulling power, and smoke aplenty. Imagine when it connected with the lead unit!

After I was done testing the Illinois Central A-A combo (See Classic Toy Trains July 2019) , I decided to try something off the wall. Would the trailing powered unit function on it's own, or would it need the companion for operation. I was actually pretty pleased with the results.

First, no sound was produced by the unit. I presume the sound command board is in the lead unit.

It did produce a nice, steady stream of smoke.

Speed range matched the A-A combo and each A unit racked up 1 pound, 8 ounces of drawbar pull. I couldn't get it to respond to the Lionel App, but it ran fine with the Lionel Universal Remote. Of course, the whole A-A package can be run on the App and Legacy control systems.

Let me give a shout-out to Carl Johnson for the loan of this spectacular diesel set. 

This a a beautiful model with superb performance. If you see it in your road name, grab it! – Bob

The E6 graphics are outstanding and the body of our sample was flawless.

The E6 was nimble working through our double switch curve!

The tall locomotive is majestic at a station stop or on the run.

I expected that the trailing unit, when operating alone, would produce no smoke – but I was wrong!

The E6 can pour on the speed!