Mini-review - Hallmark Lionelville animated ornament - very very cool!

[wrmcclellan]

This is a very cool ornament. $44 at Hallmark Gold Crown stores.

For those of you without a layout or the space for one - this ornament is for you! And it fits in the palm of your hand!

This marvel of Hallmark designers has two operating trains (one Blue Comet circles and the other runs half circle and then reverses), one non-operating train, a miniature ZW controller that works, #840 pre-war Powerhouse (lighted) on top, Hellgate bridge on lower track in front, #38 water tower, #125 whistle shack (lights when ZW turns ornament motor on), #133 passenger station (lighted), #497 coaling station, and #6-14168 Harry's Barber Shop (lighted).

The right handle on the tiny ZW turns the ornament motor on and off. The left handle on the ZW performs a forward (up position) - neutral (middle position) - reverse (down position). Absolutely fantastic!

I would get one quick as a few years ago the Blue Comet Christmas tree train sold out really fast (I missed it).

Go to:

http://www.hallmark.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SearchResultsView?storeId=10001&catalogId=10051&Ntt=lionelville&N=35&Ntk=all_fields&Ntx=mode%2Bmatchallpartial&RPP=12&SBQ=yes&x=10&y=9

for a view or do a search on Lionelville at the Hallmark web site.

Regards,
Roy

[Anonymous]

I was looking round here for this topic, I'm glad someone posted about it!

This is a really awesome ornament! One that has me tempted to have a string of lights at the ready year round to just plug this in and play with it!

When I first saw it in the store, I was running it and hitting the "L" emblem on the ZW to activate the sounds for about 20 minutes! Just such a great product from Hallmark on this one!

I missed the Blue Comet one, too, but this year both my Dad and I have the Polar Express pull string ornament (the one with the insert that turns over a light - I think its called "Wild Ride" or something like that), the Polar Express table top centerpiece decoration and this Lionel one!

I think I'm getting the Hiawatha from my wife, but this Lionel layout one is the hit this year, and will more than likely be out more than just for Xmas!

[wrmcclellan]

Thanks bhollyfan,

Welcome to the CTT forum!

I completely forgot to mention the sound effects! The mini-ZW emblem is a pushbutton that when activated starts a sequence with "Lionelville - allll aboard!" followed by two steam whistle blasts (RS5 based?), chuffing, and clackity-clack. The whistle blasts, chuffing, and clackity-clack then fade into the distance.

Again - very very cool!

Regards,
Roy

[BigJim]

My idea is to use the ornament as a display layout in a small Hobby Shop.

[wrmcclellan]

BigJim,

I did a quick comparison and this thing would appear the right size to be a "G scale" layout in an O scale world. The only thing oversized is the ZW - about the size of a large air compressor. Personally I cannot find anything wrong with that. This would make it a 5 kilowatt (!) ZW in O scale land! Excellent!

Regards,
Roy

[railfanespee4449]

I got one, but had major problems. Replacing it with a new one today

[wrmcclellan]

Bumping it back to page 1 for a couple of days.