easy question?

[HopperSJ]

After my son received a Lionel Thomas (fastrack) set this Christmas I stole my father's postwar O27 set from my brother and set to work. I was surprised (due to my ignorance) to see so many changes in the lines. One of the biggest changes was in the opperation of the couplers. As I'm sure most of you know, the old postwar set has big metal disks under the coupler that are physically pulled down to release the coupler. Now (if not always) they are quite hard to manipulate and don't always work with the old uncoupler. The new Thomas ones are amazing with a little side lever and an easy pull down tab that is apparently opperated by a magnetic uncoupler (I'll pick it up as soon as I get my next paycheck!)

My question is this: Do all modern Lionel trains have this magnetic coupler tab? if so, when did the switch take place? (I am looking to purchase some used late model locos or rolling stock and don't want to buy ones that wont work with the new uncoupler)

I love the postwar style, quality, and nostalgia, but it is hard to argue with the improvements in technology.

Any help would be great!

[oscaletrains]

yeah dude but you got to be carful some times they dont have that tab ENJOY THE HOBBY

[thor]

I'd like your opinion on that locomotive as I would very much like to switch over to a Lionel Isle of Sodor setup! I'm just a big kid at heart but I'm also English so that Thomas represents a familiar face (no pun intended)

[HopperSJ]

thor,

I may not be the best to give you a technical response on the engine, but I'd happily give you my inpressions:

Thomas seems solid and well constructed. He is heavy (maybe heavier than my postwar, but they are close) and I believe has no slip wheels. He never derails on the fastrack and moves very smoothly and quietly along the rails. He is MUCH quieter than my postwar, but the postwar needs some TLC. Thomas has a "whistle", but it sounds more like a sharp "buzz" than a whistle and is not very authentic to the real Thomas. He is also more powerful than my postwar. He can tow cars up a grade without struggle where the postwar slows substantially and spins out. Thomas will derail on the O27 occationally, especially if the track is old and well-loved by little children. The postwar, however, doesn't derail where Thomas does on those bent rails. I was told by my local Lionel dealer that Thomas was "throttled down" to go slightly slower so children wouldn't send him carreening off the tracks, but he seems to move plenty fast to me. Overall, I prefer to run Thomas than my postwar because he is just so much more plesant to run (quiet, smooth, and very responsive to the controls). In relation, the postwar is a very "sloppy" train to control.

My one petpeeve with the Thomas set is that the cars/locos don't have independent trucks. They only have wheels on straight axles which do not pivot. This only affects their ability to couple on corners. Since the coupling is not attached to a pivoting truck it never lines up with another coupler unless they are both solidly on a long straightaway.

I hope this helps?

[jimhaleyscomet]

Thor - The Thomas is a wonderful little engine. I actually like the whistle sound....definately on the "cute" side and not realistic but wonderful just the same. I agree with Hopper's conclusions on Thomas. A decent puller and not too fast for 036 curves. It is definately unlike any Lionel engine I have ever seen. If used with a CW-80, Thomas needs a light on the track to reverse properly (the new terminal tracks have a light for this purpose).

Jim H

[thor]

Thanks guys! Good review. Now about those fixed long wheelbase trucks and coaches? I LOVE them and I actually loathe bogie stock, here's why.

Bear in mind that all my experience till now has been with HO so it may be that the following doesnt apply with O.

However, my favourite train occupation is shunting. Now depending on the couplers and more importantly, the uncoupler, you can whack one of those trucks good and hard enough to send it into a yard on its own momentum and using your remote points (switches) send it quite a ways to get it where you are building up a train.

I had two sets of couplings. The Peco/Hornby 'claw' and the Tri-and hook and bar type.

The beauty of the hook and bar was that the uncoupler was a static non powered spring loaded ramp that clipped between the rails and was easily moved and cheap too, so you could have loads of them. Only trouble was it only uncoupled if the wagons were pushed gently together right over it, so it could lift the hooks off the bars. So you couldnt operate on the fly and you couldnt shunt unless your loco had its couplings removed.

The Hornby system was a deflecting wedge/ramp that lifted up the hooks and deflected them one to one side one to the other. It was a powered uncoupler. So you could charge at it, hit the button and the brakes and the wagon would go off at speed on its own as described.

Fixed wheelbase rolling stock runs through yards well and doesnt easily derail but my experience with bogies was they hate to be whacked, will almost always derail unless being pulled and tend to be top heavy and wobbly which means the coach or wagon tends to lean on curves and give the bogie wheels an excuse to derail at the slightest opportunity.

Another thing about short wagons is you can have much greater variety in a reasonable length train, nearly twice as many and shorties are easier to park in almost any odd space on your layout.

The reason I like shorty wagons and shunting has nothing to do with prototype. My best friend and I built layouts with big yards and played a game of requesting a particular consist from each other and then seeing who could get it done first and get onto the mainline. The trick was to do your best to snooker your opponent by carefully selecting a consist that would make him have to break down trains and extricate single wagons from the middle of a long line which you could tell would be almost impossible to do in the space available.

The rule was you were allowed to use or cross over the running mainline but you couldnt interrupt the running or you lost points for each minute of delay.

Some pretty wild shunting went on as a result! I favoured 0-6-0 tanks and squat 0-4-0 diesels but part of the game was also to try and leave the other guy with an entirely unsuitable loco by tying up the shunters somewhere else. Tender driven Pacifics will NOT behave themselves through yardwork but then on the other hand if your mate lumbered you with a really huge train you might need the muscle to get it out of the yard and around the mainlines to its destination.

"You so and so!" or words to that effect were frequently heard when operators were given a particularly horrible combination.

I LOVE playing trains!