Polar Express Question

[Jumijo]

Until this weekend, I thought the Lionel starter cars purchased seperately were the same quality and made of the same materials as the ones found in the sets. Only after buying one did I notice these seperately sold cars have plastic trucks and couplers. They weigh next to nothing. This prompted me to scan the catalogs and sure enough, they do not mention having metal trucks or couplers, but the ones included in the sets do, including the tender (with metal frame) of the NYC Flyer. The Polar Express' features column in the catalog makes no mention of metal trucks or couplers on the passenger cars or tender.

Does the Polar Express tender have a metal frame and/or metal trucks, or is it all plastic save for the wheels? If it's all plastic, and the cars are all plastic, it must be tough to make that Berkshire smoke.

Jim

[Anonymous]

The Polar Express locomotive is die-cast metal. It has a great deal more detail than the standard Lionel Scout-based Atlantic or Columbia. It also is modified from the stock Lionel 027 Berkshire to include Polar Express-specific details (including an enlarged cowcatcher and modified headlight ). The tender is plastic with a stamped metal floor. The cars are all plastic with plastic trucks.

Our set belongs to my 11 year old son. He does not seem to care about the plastic trucks-he loves the train.

I like it very much too.

As far as smoke goes, it does not smoke much compared to some of the newer Lionel releases or things like the 3751 and no where near MTH. The set runs a fairly low voltage and I assume that that is responsible for low voltage getting to the smoke unit's heating element and therefore the low smoke output.

Again, my son does not seem to mind a bit.

The set we received had no flaws whatsoever, by the way. My son takes it to TCA every month to run it (we do DCS demonstrations and this thing runs great from the variable channel of DCS).

[Jumijo]

I don't care so much that the trucks and couplers are plastic, except that it reduces the weight of the cars, therefore the voltage needed to pull them is lower.

I figured that the PE's tender would be the same as the 027 Berkshire's. Those have a metal tender body, frame, and trucks. I'll bet if the tender and cars were heavier, the engine would smoke much better. Perhaps there's a way to weigh them down.

I ordered the PE for two resons. 1.) I wanted an 027 Berkshire, and 2.) the kids loved the movie. Buying the set kills two birds with one stone. I'll hook the engine up to a long freight consist and see what it can do.

Jim

[dougdagrump]

You could swap out the standard plastic trucks for die-cast giving a little more weight and after that some additional weights could be placed inside the cars.

[siberianmo]

Now arriving on track number one, The Polar Express! UPS delivered my return to Lionel at about 12:30 PM CST. Now, considering that I left for the service on Sep 18, 1956, which was perhaps the last recollection I have of my Lionel trains - this is a significant moment.

I must admit that there was "that" degree of excitement in opening the shipping carton - and then the very well appointed Lionel train set box. That familiar orange color - the Lionel logo - it all came back - in a flash! Amazing, simply amazing.

The quality of workmanship shows and shows well. The 2-8-4 Berkshire is really well done and quite heavy; all metal. The rest of the train is plastic - but I'm pleased, very much so. My guess is that the lighter weight of the tender and illuminated passenger cars will be a plus - less stress and strain, etc. Love looking at that loco - those green jewels and headlight just reminds me of so many, many hours in a life a long time ago .........

The only out of the box problem encountered was with the tender. The rear pickup roller had come loose and shorted out the transformer, thereby making me wonder why the train wouldn't start. Took about a nanosecond to figure it out - the sparks helped!

The train had its inaugural run on our dining room table - where else? The oval of track measures out at about 59 inches by 39 inches. The train, tender and three passenger cars takes up just about half of the track. Nevertheless - it runs! And it runs well! And it smokes! And it whistles! And I'm a kid again!

So, tomorrow I begin construction of my shelf railroad, with the additional FasTrack that I bought which will increase the overall size to 20 feet by 5 feet. That should make it a decent trip for all to enjoy.

My HO train room will never be quite the same now that the Polar Express, by Lionel has arrived! But there's always room for one more, as the saying goes.

Gotta go run the train (again) .......

P.S. This will be posted on several sites - forgive the "ignorance," but I really don't want to type this over and over ....... I've got a train to run!

[Anonymous]

Hey,

You do know, that if you want to switch trucks, Lionel has metal trucks and coupler sets for sale that come in pairs. That is what I am going to do with all my trains, should they come with plastic trucks and couplers. Plastic is totally un reliable.

Bert and Mary Poppins aka Nick

[palallin]

Run whatever trucks you want, but I have no idea what you mean by plastic trucks being "totally un reliable" [sic]. I own rolling stock with plastic trucks that have run reliably for 30 and more years.

[ben10ben]

In many applications, plastic trucks perform equally as well if not better than metal trucks, especially in regard to rolling resistance. As a matter of fact, my K-line Hudson has Delrin inserts in all of the diecast tender and trailing truck axle bearings. Although I do prefer die-cast trucks in most applications, the mere presence of plastic trucks is not cause for me to spend $10+ per car on replacement trucks.

Also, keep in mind that if your cars have pickup rollers or other specialized apparatus on the trucks, they can not be replaced with conventional die-cast sprung trucks. When these cars come factory equipped with such items and die-cast trucks, the trucks are of the fixed spring type, and separate parts from these can not be mixed with Lionel's die-cast sprung trucks. As far as I know, postwar trucks are the only die-cast trucks readily available with power pickups. Most of todays importers don't make their higher end powered sprung trucks, such as are used on scale cabooses and passenger cars, available for general purchase.

[Dave Farquhar]

I have a lot of cars with plastic trucks and I don't have any problems with them. They're lighter, but the usual rules apply: put your heavier cars towards the front of the train and the lighter ones toward the back. Put loads in your gondolas and hoppers. Real railroads have to follow these same rules.

Metal trucks give a slightly lower center of gravity, but I really can't say I notice much difference, especially because the Delrin plastic trucks have so little rolling resistance. I like to keep my cars as original as possible, so if it came with plastic trucks, they stay.

[Buckeye Riveter]

The plastic trucks that are now over 44 years old on my Lionel work just fine. Never replaced. [:D][:D]

For more smoke from the engine, put some weight in the cars. The lead weights they use for HO should work just fine.

[cnw1995]

Even lousy MPC-era plastic trucks work fine if the car is weighted enough. I follow the guidelines listed here - I make the cars pretty heavy using blocks or big bolts or whatever I have around, heavier cars toward the front of the train,

[laz 57]

BERT and MARY P,
I'm with the other guys on this subject of plastic trucks they run great. I don't even have to oil them very often, no big deal with trucks don't want to get run over by one especially if it has the word MACK on it.
laz57