Help..lionel diesel engine question

[Deputy]

Hi Robert! Excellent question. I am in a similar situation to you. I have manily scale locos and a mix of scale and non-scale rolling stock. Since I am mainly running toy trains and not prototypical scale-only trains, it's not much of a worry for me. Do as others have wisely suggested and break up the scale stuff with a gondola and have a scale car behind the loco and it should be fine. Heck...if I was all that worried about scale I would have invested in HO and not 0-Gauge

Dep

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone.  Thank you very much for the info!  I have bought a couple "standard o" (as far as I can tell this is what lionel calls them) cars but I'm waiting for them to arrive.  I may have started a little too high on the price side though.  My loco is a rail sounds command system and all I have for it is a very old transformer that probably came out of a cheap box set.  Nothing to control the fun stuff on this engine.  And it looks like it's going to take a lot more $ to get to that point.  I've decided to buy scale cars for this one and run the other cars with my other steam locomotives that I've had for years now.  Anyway thanks again this seems like a great friendly site!

Robert

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Train Memories]

Robert,  I guess what every body here is trying to say is that Lionel has two sizes of trains. One is the traditional size (cheaper in price, more for starters) and the "scale" size larger like yours and the top of the line. Normally people will start buying scale size cars to go with the engines as they step up to the top of the line with time.   By the way, welcome to the forum!

                                                            Reuben

[mpzpw3]

I think this engine is O-scale, or 1/48th of the real thing. When you think about it, though, it doesn't really matter, as it doesn't  "look" right with the cars you already own. Back in the day, Lionel did this a lot. F-3's, GP-7(9)'s, and the 773 hudsons come to mind as "scale" engines. The dimensions were correct, but the details were still tinplate.

Most of us 3-railer toy train people kinda begin to think that 6400 series boxcars just look right with these engines. We are just used to it, although if you ever buy a scale car, it becomes obvious, in the real world, it just ain't right. I have a Lionel GP-40 from the MPC-era, that just doesn't look right with traditional Lionel cars. It is way to big. I can hook it up to some scale cars, though, and it looks good.

In my opinion, to run a consist with traditional cars, a long gondola is in order. Put the gondola car directly behind the engine, and then hook up the rest of the consist. For some reason, the gondola seems to "break" the engine "too big" look. Your eye's may seem something different, though. Another option is to purchase a few Lionel high-cube cars. These cars are larger than than the normal boxcar, but are not really scale. They make a nice "buffer" car, though.

Now, if you were previously running a Lionel scout or cheap starter set from the 1950's, Your cars are way to small to ever look good with this engine. You might be able to use a couple gondolas to change the look, but these cars are just way to under-scale for this engine.

Hope this helps a little.

[ChiefEagles]

If it is the SD60 like I have in NS, it is scale and will take 031.  Can run through 027 low profile switches like the K-Line ones.  Mine has TMCC, Railsounds, smoke and came with Odyssey [with out off/on switch as mine is an earlier model].  Looks fine with smaller rolling stock.

[dougdagrump]

First stop is Lionel.com, if you didn't receive any documents with it they may be available there. They will also establish what is considered a minimum radius etc.

If it is a full scale loco that doesn't eliminate running less than scale stock with it, you just need to get a little creative in arranging your consist. Mix-em up, scale/ semi-scale/ even some entry level stuff. Just move them around til it is pleasing to your eye, but you should at least follow the loco with a scale car.

[Anonymous]

Hello, I'm brand new to the site!  I have a question about a new loco i just bought off ebay.  I have been into lionel (basic hand me down) for a while, nothing too big though.  I decided to splerg and buy a nice locomotive so I picked up a SOO line 5500 sd60 by lionel.  It has the rail sounds and others.  My question is, this loco seems a LOT bigger than the cars I already have.  What scale am I dealing with?  As far as I can tell I need 031 track.  Is that correct.  Any and all information I can get on this loco/scale/track would be great!  Please give me links if you got 'em!

Thanks a lot,

Robert