Disappointed with Lionel FT AA Set

[Anonymous]

I ordered one of these sets thinking it would be a good puller and that the RailSounds would sound nice. Well, its a so so puller, and the sounds are s lowI can barely hear them. Finally, the bodies are white, rather then the correct light gray.

This is the first Lionel loco I have bought in years and, frankly, I am disappointed. My MTH, Williams and K Line locos put this one to shame. Did I get a lemon, or is this par for the course? Thanks

[brianel027]

I don't have any of the new FT's but CTT did a review of them a few years ago and over all gave them a thumbs up. Bear in mind Lionel tooled up the FT's at a time period when detailing was moving forward by leaps and bounds. I understand production cliches at Lionel slowed the FT down in release, so by the time it was out there, it was laready behind in comparison detail level.... but that depends on what kind of detail level you are looking for.

On the pulling pwer, maybe the traction tires are slipping. So many of today's locos are DC can motor types... I have many and cheap ones at that... and with small modifications they pull exceptionally well when compared to older postwar locos.

It also annoys me when paint color or logos are wrong... Williams consistantly incorrectly squishes the Norfolk Southern logo and it looks terrible (IMHO).
That's gotta to be a very simple computerized paint mask fix and yet they continue to issue items with the squished logo. Especially annoying when a new item comes out (that could have been corrected) with the same wrong logo. Lionel issued a grey EL box car in the starter line up a few years ago and the color was way off... way too dark a grey... I know, I've seen many of the EL cars for real... and the color on those cars only got lighter with the years because that grey did not hold up too well.

But the importers are in a balancing act of trying to please an ever demanding train buying audience while still trying to make money. I have no doubt what-so-ever that the incredible amounts of new engineering, tooling and dies required to make all these brand new trains is expensive and seldom pays for itself right off the bat (the new Lionel docksider may be an exception to this). So the importers look for compromises... ways to cut cost without offending too many. I'm sure the wrong color on the EL box car could be a case of this as well as the color on the Burlington FT... it could also be laziness too.

(I've untentionally made a good case why I repaint so much!)

BTW I have seen the NYC Lionel FT's and they looked very nice. But then again with all the "practice" they've had releasing items in the NYC scheme, one would hope they could get that one right on the money.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your reply.
I read the same reviews, and that's one of the reasons I bought this set. The reviewer really like the sounds, and I expecte someting good. They are not ad, but just not loud enough for my ears.

The traction tires are fine, and it does pull 10 scale box cars, but it does not walk away from them.

I like to weather my locos, so these won't be white for long. They will be dirty and grimy, just like the real freight units were. Regards, MFisher

[3railguy]

The Lionel FT's are not one of Lionel's landmark engines. They are OK engines but had a few glitches in the beginning. They were designed as a mid range train set engine and to compete with MTH railking squashed F units.

[FEClionel]

Now I guess I know why dealers are blowing this item out. They looked cool to me - railsounds, pittman motors, and flywheels. I just wonder how they look next to a F3 AA set.

[jimhaleyscomet]

Please do not get angry with me not assuming any knowledge....but be sure to adjust the screw underneath the engine to maximum volume.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your replies. Jim, I did adjust the volume using the screw as per the instructions.

I thought this would be a quality Lionel Diesel less TMCC. It loks better then the MTH Rail King "stubby" F units, but the MTH units run and sound much better. So much for my foray into Lionel products

[Anonymous]

I think that the current run of FT's (Burlington) was a stripped down version of the original run in 2000 (SF, BO, NYC). The reviews and/or user comments regarding those earlier models are probably not safe to apply to this current production run.
Obviously, the 1st gen. weren't all that detail filled to begin with so there isn't much to "strip down" but I would imagine that they have cut some additional corners beyond just the removal of the TMCC components.

[FEClionel]

How do these engine look next to an F3 set. I've heard these things aren't the fastest engine out there but comparable to F3's in pulling strength and low speed abilities.

[brianel027]

Good observation Graz. As you said, how much more can you strip down out of a basic model? Nearly all of my engines are of lower end caliber. I'm rather fond of the K-Line retired S-2 Alco. So I wonder how much could Lionel do with the FT before it becomes a K-Line S-2? I have no problems with my S-2's pulling nearly any train.

Even my revamped and modified Lionel Industrial Switchers will pull a dozen cars. If the current FT is internally closer to a basic no-frills Lionel loco, maybe they should try pricing it as such.

[macdannyk1]

The current FT's (I have the Burlington set as well) are very much stripped down from their earlier models (I also have the TMCC Santa Fe's). The newer FT's have a nice sound system, a basic electronic reverse unit (which blew out on my unit) but the worst thing is that the motors have no flywheels. Stop on a dime.

[FEClionel]

In the Lionel 2004 vol. 1 catalog it states they have momentum flywheels

[FEClionel]

In the Lionel 2004 vol. 1 catalog it states they have momentum flywheels

[FJ and G]

My buddy too was disappointed when he bought Lionel's FT. The sound was completely garbled and he returned it. Guess it could happen to any other company, however, as this was just a single occurance.

[macdannyk1]

The catalog is wrong. Mine have no flywheels whatsoever (determined by taking the covers off and peering inside).

[02camaro]

I'll play devils-advocate - I kinda like my Burlington FT set....[:-^] I bought mine for $169, which didn't seem too bad for a RailSounds engine with additional dummy unit. It looks good next to my Williams Canadian Pacific F3 (They both have a similar pilot) I do think the Williams engines have the edge in power and speed, but I like the FT's horn better. I like a more toy-train look rather than scale look to my trains, so that might be why the FT's are more appealing to me.

[Anonymous]

I'll agree with O2Camaro...I got the Burlington FT set for Christmas and have enjoyed running them. The Railsounds in mine work very well, and were plenty loud enough out of the box.

[FEClionel]

I'm about to purchase this set and I was wondering whats a smoother engine for the price - the FT's or a GP-9 w/pullmor?