Berk or Mike?

[Kooljock1]

Folks,

I gotta hankerin' for some new steam. I want to stay with traditionally sized stuff the size of my budding LionMaster fleet. I really like the looks of two engines: the Nickle Plate TMCC/RailSounds Berkshire, or the New York Central baby Mike like the one in the Hotbox Set.

As Lionel hasn't introduced a new eastern road LionMaster recently, I'll probably up-grade one of these with an ElectricRR Cruise CommanderM unit. Do any of you have experience with either of these? They're both retailing for $299.99.

Which has a better motor?

Which has better sounds?

Which runs and smokes better?

Thanks!

Jon

[luther_stanton]

Jon,

I do not have the Nickel Plate Berk, but I do have the Lionel Lines edition - I believe the basic engine is the same as the one you are looking at. I also have the NYC Mike from the HotBox set.

I really like both engines.  Both are fine runners - I have straight TMCC - no cruise added, etc.  I think both perform fine as delivered - even in the slow speed department.  I have had the Berk take off on me at full throttle twice in a year.  Not sure why it happened - I  looked for loose boards, etc but never found any problems.  The smoke unit on the Mike was DOA out of the box.  It spent three weeks at Trainz for repairs.

I thought I had seen where the Mike was to have RailSounds 5.0 but it does not.  Sounds appear to be the same in both.  I believe both also have the same piston type smoke unit.

I like the Mike just a little better - probably because of the gray smoke box and the NYC road name.  I also think the Berk looks a little small even for traditional size - the Mike is more believable in size. With some of the detailing, like test dates on the air tanks much like the LionMaster J3 - the Mike reminds more of semi scale / LionMaster engine than the Berk.  The Nickel Plate Berk may have more detail than the Lionel Lines livery.

Like I said - both are great little engines in traditional size.  I really think it will come down to your preference on appearance and road name.

Regards,

Luther 

[challenger3980]

Hi Jon,

    I don't have either of the specific engines that you mentioned, But I do have the Southern Pacific Berkshire with TMCC from the SP Overnight Freight set , which I believe is the same as the Berk you are looking at, and I also have the Union Pacific Mike in Traditional/Non-TMCC control. For appearances, and Traditional/Non-TMCC control performance, both are nice, but the mike is the winner. The Mike has much better detail and mine run VERY nice, but I own both and don't regret either.

                                                                             Doug

[Anonymous]

Jon,
I have the C&O Berk from the Super Freight Set and the B&O Mike (non-TMCC )... they are basicly the same engine just with different shells.  The motors are the same (layman looking here), the only difference is the frame and shell.

The sounds are the same (Railsounds 5.0 I think) and are very good.  Both smoke decent, but would benefit from a fan unit (IMHO).

Both are excellent pullers and can pull a 6 or 7 car consist up at 3 - 4% grade.

[billbarman]

Id go with the Mikado, I have both and the mikado has much better deatail on the smokebox and much better sounds.