O27 Locomotives

[guitarman1994]

What are some good conventional O27 locomotives? I only have a diesel and steam engines seem great to me.

[rtraincollector]

Just about any made from 1945 - 1969 the post war years are some of the best ever made especially if you get back say from 65 back I like them better then the mpc years. Basiclly what are you looking for there was so many built back then the repair manual list like 3 pages of engines/motorized units so you have a lot to pick from. If you like steam try a 671,681,682 or a 2020 there 6-8-6 engines and are nice to watch

[8ntruck]

I like the modern era small Berkshire, such as in the Polar Express set.  This locomotive has meen offered in different road names over the years.  It looks good, pulles a decent number of cars, but the smoke unit is a little weak.

Good luck.

[rtraincollector]

I agree from the mid 90's on are better also than some of the stuff put out in the mid 70's to mid/late 80's

[Papa_D]

I have steam engines that span from just after WW 2 to the present.  My three favorites in order are  2035 K-4 Pacific, 2065 Santa Fe Hudson, and 2037 Prairie. All are from the 50's, and have magnetraction. All three are great runners that have no problems going through O-27 switches. None of these are rare and can usually be bought at a reasonable price.

At the lower end, price wise, are engines like the 8800 4-4-2 Atlantic.  Do a search on eBay using "4-4-2" and you'll get a good idea what's available and the price range.  

Hope this helps.

[overlandflyer]

if you mean O27 as in a scaled down size, close to the top of my list would be the Lionel 736 Berkshire from the early 50's.  though i don't think it was technically made to take O27 curves, it is a small scale steamer (compared to scale size Berkshire models) and it's a very nice generic design.

if you truly mean O27, as in small & low cost, i would choose a Marx #666 or #1666.  both will likely have the Marx double reduction motor making them compatible with modern track, and you will not find a more durable, reliable and easy to service locomotive.

[cwburfle]

What do you want to spend?

A great 027 locomotive is the 2037.
It certainly isn't scale. It is a 2-6-4 with simplified valve gear.
These engines came with or without whistles.
A properly serviced engine will run great and smoke quite nicely (pellets)
They generally have very strong magnetraction, and will pull a lot of cars.
They are not top heavy and will stay on the tracks at higher speeds than some of the bigger engines, such as a 675/2025/2035.

[LL675]

lots of really good ones to pick from.

675(2025,2035)

671(2020)

726(736)

2046(2056,646)

1666(Pre & Postwar)

2037(2016,2018)

224E

225E

I have at least one of each, fatastic runners, minumum maintence, plenty of good deals on all of these.

[guitarman1994]

Do these locomotives have manual E-units or are their directions controlled by transformers?

[LL675]

they do have E Units.

[nickaix]

Lionel has made many, many quality small steamers in the "Columbia" type (2-4-2), starting in the late '30s and continuing to the present. It was the dominant starter-set loco in the modern era until the 0-8-0 came around. They are not as desirable as the ones already mentioned, because they are smaller and tend to have fewer features, but there are some good ones.

There are different grades of this type: Plastic "scout" motor (probably better to avoid), traditional open frame motor, can motor; 2-position e-unit, 3-position e-unit, even a few with no e-unit at all; plastic shell or die-cast shell; most have a headlight, some have smoke, starting in the 70s many have chuffing sounds; not many have a whistle. Modern units come in a wide variety of real railroad names (whether or not that railroad actually used the "Columbia" type; postwar will all be lettered for "Lionel Lines"). All in all, a bewildering but most interesting variety!

[alank]

Greeting and wishes for a Happy New Year... In answer to your question, " What are some good conventional O27 locomotives?"...  I will add food for thought to the answer...   While a number of people have listed postwar locomotive numbers, 2035, 2037, 671, 2046, 2055, etc, and another touched on opinion of MPC era, there was a number of diecast steam locomotives offered in the early 1990s, IMO, that are a good offering of convenional O-27.

The difference in these locomotives compared to say postwar is that they are usually painted up in raodnames   I purchased for my son the 2903 from 1993,  I would classify it as a modern day 2035, excepting it is a 4-6-2 instead of a 2-6-4.   It looks good, runs good, has traditional e-unit, smokes well, has a traditional whistles in the tender and we run it only at Christmas.   It cost me more that a used postwar, but I didn't have to think about repaint or missing parts.  My daugther later got a baby Hudson in Pennslyvaina paint, but that has electronic e-unit...

So I guess my advise is to think about how you want your railroad to look, find a theme, era and focus around that.  While I have a good collection of postwar, I like these modern trains that paralled the postwar.

                                                                                                                    Alan

[Hudson#685]

Alan,

If you want a workhorse that will negotiate 027 curves, I recommend the "Baby Hudsons" Remember, if the steam loco number is 4 digits, it came with an 027 set. I have a few of each: 2046, 2055, 2056, 2065. Also the 646, 685, 665. These will negotiate the 027 curves also. Diessel Locos are just the opposite in PW Lionel. 3 digit came in 027 sets and 4 digit in 0 sets.

JMHO,

John