Lionel El Capitan Set

[Nick12DMC]

I have been looking at this set as well. Its available for about $299.
I would really like to add to my son's Santa Fe Fast Freight set Santa brought
him for last Christmas. The Classic red and silver FT would look great round
the tree or on the layout this year.

It would be nice if a dummy 'A' unit was available as well.

Grzyboski's are a great place to deal with. I got the Santa Fe Fast Freight
from them. We spent last Christmas in the Florida and Grzyboski's had
it delivered to our hotel all ready gift wrapped. Superb service.

Regards
Nick

[mrregal]

I got one last christmas. I have had no problems . The engine is hefty. The cars are the newer detailed kind with seats etc. My 5 year old nephew helped me break it in at christmas. He ran the train with no problem for two days . I like the trainsounds and the crew talk is a neat feature. I would reccomend purchase of this set.

[Jumijo]

I got my B unit from Grzyboski's as well. Nice place to deal with.

I've only been in the hobby about a year and a half, but I have noticed that the time to get the best discounts is right after the winter holidays. Big sales sprout up in January and February.

http://www.treasured-toys.com/

Call them. Visit them online. They have the set in stock.

Jim

[Anonymous]

I also purchased the El Capitan set from Charles Ro around Thanksgiving last year. I've had no problems with it as of today. I got the B unit from Grzyboski's as Ro didn't have one at the time. It runs well on O27 track and the passenger cars don't look all that bad on the curves. It comes with a loop of FasTrack and the infamous CW-80 transformer that I don't use. Trainsounds is so so. I'd wait a few weeks to see if any bargains appear on the various buy/sell boards. Some people are "threatening" to get out of the hobby or dump Lionel and/or MTH due to the ongoing litigation.

As a side note, the majority of my trains are Lionel but the El Capitan set is the only Chinese made Lionel I have. The rest are postwar or 1990's. I also own several Williams locos that are excellent.

[Jumijo]

I bought the set last October at Charles Ro here in MA. Right out of the box, the locomotive ran "not quite right". It won't move until ~ 9 volts, then takes off like a shot. The reverse unit doesn't cycle correctly, and most times, doesn't cycle at all. Aside from these issues it does run well, has nice sounds, and is a great looking train. I also bought the B unit, which is very nicely done. I face the indian forward if any one wants to know.

I e-mailed Davis trains in Cinncinati and they told me my story was fairly common with this set. A new e-unit board was required, they do a lot of them.

I took the El Capitan loco back to Charles Ro for repair, told them what Davis said, and was told it would be ready in a week. It sat there for 2 weeks, I called, was told it was the e-unit board. Needed a new one. Duh, really? Three weeks later I called and was told it was as good as new. It was. Same exact problems as when I first ran it. It was like they never even worked on it. Five weeks with no train, and Ro's repair shop couldn't fix the locomotive. An e-mail explaining my problem and subsequent disappointment with the repair went unanswered. I won't be buying from Charles Ro any more, but I will tell others of my experience with them.

If you do buy the set, try getting it from Treasured Toys in Salem, NH. They are a wonderful little shop run by a very nice family, the Hortons. Call them toll free at 1-888-310-8697. You won't regret dealing with them.

Jim

[Anonymous]

Im thinking about purchasing this set. Anyone out there have this set? Would you purchase it again? Any info would be helpful. I have no way of purchasing the set via train store so i will be ordering it. I have only seen pictures. Also this is the 300.00 - 350.00 dollar set made last year i believe. thanks