Your opinions of Lionel HO please

[FJ and G]

Thank you

[Anonymous]

The Challenger Appears to be a very nice running, and detailed model.

However, They offer 3700 Class on 3900 class details, Strike-1

Second, on Both of their Grayhound Schmes, Only one correct engine # offered. Strike-2

Then there is something on it that I cant quite identify that just isn't right. Iether the tender or the boiler is to long. I cant place my finger on it, But thats strike three for me.

Historic Lionel HO from the 1950s and 1970s is junk.

James.

[Anonymous]

Well, if you're talking the new Challenger, it's gorgeous, but I haven't seen it run. If you;re talking the old stuff, it was OK for its era, but is quite crappy by modern standards.

[FJ and G]

Just found this opinion:

http://www.ttx-dcc.com/technews/loconews/lionel-challenger-tinker.htm

[Anonymous]

That Challenger looks AWESOME! If i could get one, it'd be one without the smoke deflectors. I've only ever seen a Challenger with smoke deflectors anyway.....

[Anonymous]

Well, I own some postwar Lionel HO from the late 50's. It's not superdetailed or anything like that, but love it. The stuff's still collectible, though and a lot of it's really neat, especially the operarting cars. I'm really not familiar with the new Challenger, however.

[AggroJones]

Wow. I'm shocked. I figured for $700 it would be spectacular in every way. But apparently, its just an expensive piece of ***. I saw one in a display case at my LHS but couldn't see it run.

[n2mopac]

I assume the question is about Lionel in general, not about specific pieces. Lionel has been around a long time and made great advances in this hobby at one time. Today it seems to me to be a collector's line more than a modeler's line. Most serious scale modelers today want a prototypical 2 rail railroad, not Lionel's 3 rail. Also, new Lionel stuff is just to darn expensive for the average modeler, or at least for this modeler. I worked for a year or so part time in a hobby shop that specialized in Lionel and MTH. We served regional customers in store and nation-wide via interned and phone/mail order. Most of our serious customers were retired men who remembered the glory days of Lionel and wanted to recreate their childhood dream layout in Lionel. By the way, most of them were rather wealthy as well. You had to be to purchase the Big Boy for $12000 or a Hudson for $800.
Ron

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by n2mopac

I assume the question is about Lionel in general, not about specific pieces. Lionel has been around a long time and made great advances in this hobby at one time. Today it seems to me to be a collector's line more than a modeler's line. Most serious scale modelers today want a prototypical 2 rail railroad, not Lionel's 3 rail. Also, new Lionel stuff is just to darn expensive for the average modeler, or at least for this modeler. I worked for a year or so part time in a hobby shop that specialized in Lionel and MTH. We served regional customers in store and nation-wide via interned and phone/mail order. Most of our serious customers were retired men who remembered the glory days of Lionel and wanted to recreate their childhood dream layout in Lionel. By the way, most of them were rather wealthy as well. You had to be to purchase the Big Boy for $12000 or a Hudson for $800.

Ron

Actually, as a 2 rail O scale modeler myself, I can assure you, the 3 railers are far greater in number than us 2 railers, and who do we have to thank for that? Model Railroader, Railroad Model Craftsmen, and a host of other magazines who seem to feel that O scale is for the toy train buffs of the Lionel mindset, the way things are in the O scale side of the equation at this time, if a company producing O scale products doesn't make their products available for the 3 railers, they won't be in business for very long........[8][8][8]

[cacole]

I purchased one of the new Lionel HO scale Challengers for just over $500, not the $700 plus that Lionel mentions as their MSRP. I never pay MSRP if I can avoid it. Anyway, the model is built in China, as is practically everything else today. The tender, if it is out of proportion, is so it will accommodate the QSI sound system and decoder; but I'm not a rivet counter and personally don't care if it is a scale 3 or 4 feet too long. The model is cast metal and weighs over three pounds, with the tender itself being nearly one pound. The model runs very smoothly on DCC. I can't say how it runs on DC because I haven't ran it that way. When operated on DCC, you have to give it about 1/8 throttle before the sound system kicks in, and up to about 1/4 throttle before it begins to move. This may be programmable, but Lionel provides no data on decoder programming with the model. I consider that to be a major detractor from it. That's probably QSI's policy and not particularly Lionel's fault. I have the model without smoke deflectors, and the detail is outstanding! Pulling power is disappointing for a locomotive with such weight, because the wheels slip too easily on a grade. The bell and other sound effects sound very good except for the whistle, which seems to be too shrill for this locomotive. QSI claims that it is digitally recorded from an actual prototype, but having never heard one up close I don't know if the whistle is really accurate. If you are thinking of purchasing one, be aware that about 20 freight cars is about the maximum you will be able to pull up a 2% grade without wheel slippage. One nice touch I have noticed is that the chuff sound gets louder or softer as the model pulls uphill or coasts downgrade, accurately indicating a heavier or lighter load. I'm satisfied with the model, but glad that I didn't pay full MSRP.

[cacole]

A P.S. to my comments about pulling power -- Tony's Train Exchange (www.ttx-dcc.com) has a writeup about lubricating the model to make it run better and pull more cars. One reviewer also removed some of the weight from the tender to give the locomotive more pulling ability.

[Anonymous]

Don't know, haven't seen it. Lionel is a pretty good company so I will withhold my judgement.

[dknelson]

well now I have to disagree that "historic Lionel HO is junk." The Daylight 4-8-4 they came out with during their second try (1970s) at HO was not a bad engine at all. I think some of the tooling for freight cars during that second time has lived on for various makers -- not bad detail for the era.
And during their first try, while their GP9 and 4-6-2 were under detailed, their "Hustler" diesel was a dead ringer for the Athearn engine BUT with a real motor and gear drive as opposed to Athearn's rubber band drive. Also, the freight cars had all metal sprung trucks with an unusual double bolster that made them, I think, equalized as well as sprung. Yes the flanges were deep but so were all the others at the time. I had a hopper car that was my no means a bad RTR for the era.
As for the upcoming releases -- should be interesting.
Dave Nelson

[Anonymous]

I saw one at the LHS yesterday. Black with light graphite, no smoke wings. Looked mighty impressive but $800.000 is too much!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Attractive ads. Looks great up close at the LHS. But the price....

One word, Lionel: S-A-L-E.