@@DynamicDuo795 I assumed based off your profile picture that you were the one who sold me those Lionel superliners a few years back off the Facebook buy/sell page. I thought you were a member of the Tips and ticks page too from Hennings trains. If I have the wrong person I'm sorry, just weird that you have the same profile picture
@@DynamicDuo795 I mean I'll be honest. I don't know you either, but I definitely bought some O Gauge from you like back in 2017 or 2018, what ever it may have been. I guess I shouldn't assume that you would have remembered
Eric, I finally had time and saw Menards selling F3s online so I went to a store and they are selling a UP or SF F3S with a matching caboose, circle of tinplate track, power supply and controller for $249! If I had a kid wanting a train, that is a price a parent could afford a long with a few straight sections of track and freight cars for $20/each!
I always really liked this engine when MTH made it but just never got around to adding one to the collection. I was tempted when I saw Lionel grabbed it. Might wait and see when York rolls around in April or, better yet, grab a good MTH version. Lionel did do a nice job, that yellow really lets the details pop.
Thanks for the info Eric. Me and a good friend are really huge railfans and often travel the county searching for new stuff to see. We are not fully up to date on every railroad so when we visited Kansas City last year for the first time ever, we were blown away at the amount of rail in KC. This little transfer railroad KCT was a surprise for us and we got to see them pulling over Santa Fe junction. Of course we went to check out their yard too. Such a cool little road! thanks for the review
I value Eric's perspective on Lionel's decision, and I agree that sticking to their vision line would have been preferable. Thanks, Eric. However, I feel the price should have been in the range of 450 to 550; it seems a bit too high. I also adore the nostalgic design of the nose area, reminiscent of 30s-40s cars.
Eric, your absolutely right, lionchief plus 2.0 would have beem a home run for these. I thought about getting the cotton belt one but theres just to much wrong with road-specific details that you expect from a legacy model. It's just not worth what Lionel needs to charge for it... but I get it. Its weird because I'm usually defending Lionel, lol. not so much here.🙂
Ah it was Railking. I was thinking maybe it was based on the MPC tooling, but it looks nicer than that. I’ll bet years ago the Railking probably cost half as much!
I'm glad Lionel made a KCT locomotive! I've seen those yellow geeps running around town ever since I was a kid, but in more recent years they have been using Watco black and yellow GP39-2s and Kaw River SD60Ms. Ofeering this in KYLE Railroad paint was a good inclusion, modelling the opposite side of Kansas. I'd run this with Horn 3 and bell 1
I see you have your Eric's trains caboose on there, that's pretty cool 😎😎 But yeah I have that catalog with that Locomotive in it, they all for about $650 which is a bit pricey for me that is
I spotted the weird price on these the first time I looked at the catalog. Lionel just dressed up this basic Rail King model and charged the price of a premium high end model. Even with the bad inflation and the Legacy "upgrade", I would say a $499 MSRP would be a stretch for this locomotive.
Well, I broke down and bought one of these at a reasonable discount ($560, I think). I got the Cotton Belt one, as it can be easily converted to Latk Gray Southern Pacific, which was my “home” railroad growing up. Looking forward to its arrival and doing some visual upgrades!
The only way to make Lionel listen is to not rush out and buy it at that price point. When they realize units aren't being shifted at that high a price they'll drop the price to one more tolerable. A little harsh, but as someone that used to work in retail if a product isn't selling well it needs to have the price cut.
This should have been a Lionel lionchief Plus 2.0 engine instead of legacy. They could have at least added safety tred. I know they added some detail and gave it a scale fuel tank but $649 is too high for a former railking model.
Nice review Eric. No BFIMO? The GP20 is my favorite diesel but I have to agree with your statements about the detail and price point. Additionally, the overall length is scale but the low hood slanted nose, you mentioned, should be closer to 2 1/4" long. That is very noticeable to anyone who knows these diesels. Anyways, I would imagine Lionel will not change the nose because these are not the most popular diesels for 3-railers.
Maybe with a couple of spots of weathering or an all over light brown wash to tone down the bright yellow of the engine I think it would look much better. I am not saying to change the color, think of more like a light dust in you house after 2 days of forgetting to dust, I think that might bring out some of the fine details better and make up for the short cuts
BTW, I am not saying they don’t make nice products, I own over 100 MTH engines. TMCC is still in production as Atlas still uses it them. If you need parts, call them as sometimes they change the part number to consolidate- one number to support is better and easier than three numbers that are the exact same thing. Think traction tire, both MTH and Lionel now use a single number for say and ES44 series engine where in the past they assigned a number to every road number
Very cool Eric! KCT isn't a road name you see pop up very often on locomotive models in any scale, but at that price, you would expect more detail. That being said, as you mentioned, its not really recommended to by direct from the factory as you pay full MRSP, thats one thing I give Athearn in HO and N scale models credit, as they make it a point that the prices they announce are MRSP and encourage people to purchase from their local hobby shop as its usually much cheaper to do so!
I'm just curious because I have never seen it in this channel before, but will you ever plan to add any DPUs in your Freight trains, which means a locamotive in the middle and the end of the train. It would be cool because Northfolk Southern BNSF and Union Pacific use them all the time where I'm from!
To all of the more advanced model railroaders out there, what is the best way to get started in the hobby? I’ve always enjoyed watching these videos and would love to start my own layout but have no clue on where to start
I started with a set in 2001. It was an MTH Railking set, but they aren't making starter sets anymore, so I would start with a Lionel Lionchief starter set. Buy more track, then more cars. Build a layout table, add another engine. Add a second loop of track. It takes time. It wasn't until 2015 that I finally got rid of my "carpet central" setup and had a proper tabletop layout built. Mostly because I was still a student and didn't have a job until I graduated in 2011. Then I was able to start saving for more expensive stuff. It was around that time I invested in command control and bought a DCS system, and a year later a Legacy system.
I'm sorry I'll be working New Year's Day! I always know you shoot great videos and excellent live streams. Have a good New Year Mr. Eric! Say Mr. Eric, I wonder if you own an Analogue & Digital Scanner Radio for Railfanning?
I somewhat felt this way about my legacy ATSF 2-8-0 I got from one of the most recent runs, and for the $750ish price point it was lacking in some extra details such as an opening roof hatch and other boiler details
You stated this is a MTH Railking mold somewhat reworked. Railking is a shorter and somewhat smaller version of MTH's Premier line as stated on the MTH site. This is wwwaaayyyy over priced and who in O gauge 1/48 scale wants something that will be noticeably smaller. Looks like we all have to be careful what we purchase from Lionel. That's a new low!😮💨🙄
For that price or even slightly discounted in time, I wouldn't expect the unit to have electrical faults. The top tier cab lights shouldn't be flickering surely? Seems to happen when horn application is made and when unit was stationary demoing the bell function. Also intermittently when in transit. Loose connection?
Well this model has two sides to it. One the bad thing is what you you say the price is to much for what it is. And the good side is that it's still a good model. So I have mixed thoughts on this model.
Hello Eric, Would you mind pointing me in a reputable direction for a Lionel Norfolk & Western 746 Locomotive and long stripe tender. It will be a display piece only and should be a mint example from the early 60’s. Crisp box and master carton would be nice but not necessary. Thank you! Greg
I do share your concern over the price. Since it is an old Rail King die. The paint scheme is bland to me. It reminds me of an old Marx train back in the day. JH
Lionel could have used a black wash on the roof fans which would have minimized the toy-likr appearance. The catalogue photo certainly shows more highligh shading.
First to comment! Edit: Eric, today is my birthday and I’m thinking about getting an ho Scale mth r21 subway redbird set, this will increase my knowledge on model railroading, thanks so much for making all these videos, you are inspiring.
At least with MTH you can change the sound file. With lionel you can't and a large chunk of lionel EMD diesels have the wrong prime mover sounds like the SD40,SD40-2 and SD45.
Eric-you mentioned in the video, your disappointment that for the price point the model did not have moving radiator fan parts, instead of just molded shapes? I was just taking a look-what other late model Lionel diesels have moving fan parts, other than molded? I would love more realism, too, but I don't see that detail in other diesel models?
This is a $350-$400 engine tops. Your paying for the orange box with an L on it. Not trashing Lionel as they've paved the way for us but this is sad....
I think Lionel is cheating the run sound well moving sound is not Lionel its definitely Mth for sure still has the same click too so is this a pure Lionel engine i think not more like a hybrid cross between both worlds i kinda like it..but not that price..i have a chessie system its the one Mth built that was close to a premiere its pretty long engine and it has that same running sound i should know this cause i own a whole bunch of Mth engines
Couplers look worse than normal on this engine. They seem longer than normal. Kills any scale details added, but I guess that's with all O scale engines unless you change them. Easy pass on this one.
YSFJHTGU I prefer the HO scale, There is no 3rd rail in real life?? I gave this stuff up 30yrs ago, price Gauging back then already. I look at this yellow bus train, $50.00. I'd like Hell pay $650.00. N0 way in Hell.
Video Notes:
1) Sorry for the late post. Fighting a bad cold.
2) This video has chapters for those who wish to skip around.
I’m having a cold too I’m ok though
I remember when MTH still had this tooling they went for $299.95 MSRP with all of the full DCS and ProtoSound package. Those were the days.
Indeed
Hey Alex! I wanted to say those Superliners from Lionel that you sold me a few years back are great. I love 'em!
@doubleutubefan5 what are you talking about? I never owned any Amtrak Superliner cars. I'm not an Amtrak fan and I don't know you, lol.
@@DynamicDuo795 I assumed based off your profile picture that you were the one who sold me those Lionel superliners a few years back off the Facebook buy/sell page. I thought you were a member of the Tips and ticks page too from Hennings trains. If I have the wrong person I'm sorry, just weird that you have the same profile picture
@@DynamicDuo795 I mean I'll be honest. I don't know you either, but I definitely bought some O Gauge from you like back in 2017 or 2018, what ever it may have been. I guess I shouldn't assume that you would have remembered
Eric, I finally had time and saw Menards selling F3s online so I went to a store and they are selling a UP or SF F3S with a matching caboose, circle of tinplate track, power supply and controller for $249! If I had a kid wanting a train, that is a price a parent could afford a long with a few straight sections of track and freight cars for $20/each!
I always really liked this engine when MTH made it but just never got around to adding one to the collection. I was tempted when I saw Lionel grabbed it. Might wait and see when York rolls around in April or, better yet, grab a good MTH version. Lionel did do a nice job, that yellow really lets the details pop.
York is a great place to purchase engines and rolling stock at significantly lower prices
Thanks for the info Eric. Me and a good friend are really huge railfans and often travel the county searching for new stuff to see. We are not fully up to date on every railroad so when we visited Kansas City last year for the first time ever, we were blown away at the amount of rail in KC. This little transfer railroad KCT was a surprise for us and we got to see them pulling over Santa Fe junction. Of course we went to check out their yard too. Such a cool little road! thanks for the review
I value Eric's perspective on Lionel's decision, and I agree that sticking to their vision line would have been preferable. Thanks, Eric. However, I feel the price should have been in the range of 450 to 550; it seems a bit too high. I also adore the nostalgic design of the nose area, reminiscent of 30s-40s cars.
Eric, your absolutely right, lionchief plus 2.0 would have beem a home run for these. I thought about getting the cotton belt one but theres just to much wrong with road-specific details that you expect from a legacy model. It's just not worth what Lionel needs to charge for it... but I get it. Its weird because I'm usually defending Lionel, lol. not so much here.🙂
I live near Kansas City. I caught a glimpse of one of these running down the mainline one time. Real cool
It is nice looking and sounding. I have to agree on the price point. Especially since new Railking Scale diesels have a current MSRP of $419.95.
I was also thinking this is a $400 model
Ah it was Railking. I was thinking maybe it was based on the MPC tooling, but it looks nicer than that. I’ll bet years ago the Railking probably cost half as much!
Hope you had a great Christmas brother! :)
Great video Eric, keep em coming I'll keep watching.
I'm glad Lionel made a KCT locomotive! I've seen those yellow geeps running around town ever since I was a kid, but in more recent years they have been using Watco black and yellow GP39-2s and Kaw River SD60Ms.
Ofeering this in KYLE Railroad paint was a good inclusion, modelling the opposite side of Kansas.
I'd run this with Horn 3 and bell 1
I see you have your Eric's trains caboose on there, that's pretty cool 😎😎 But yeah I have that catalog with that Locomotive in it, they all for about $650 which is a bit pricey for me that is
I spotted the weird price on these the first time I looked at the catalog. Lionel just dressed up this basic Rail King model and charged the price of a premium high end model.
Even with the bad inflation and the Legacy "upgrade", I would say a $499 MSRP would be a stretch for this locomotive.
Wow, early to this one! Was watching your big boy set video earlier today
Hope you enjoyed it!
Well, I broke down and bought one of these at a reasonable discount ($560, I think). I got the Cotton Belt one, as it can be easily converted to Latk Gray Southern Pacific, which was my “home” railroad growing up. Looking forward to its arrival and doing some visual upgrades!
I agree with you 💯 Eric they should've add alot more detail for the price but not a bad looking locomotive 👍🏻✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️
I loved the video of the running simply beautiful
I’m excited for the Hagerstown Hotshot Set review!
Coming soon 😃
Yeah, he's got it in every video in the background just to tease!
The only way to make Lionel listen is to not rush out and buy it at that price point. When they realize units aren't being shifted at that high a price they'll drop the price to one more tolerable. A little harsh, but as someone that used to work in retail if a product isn't selling well it needs to have the price cut.
This should have been a Lionel lionchief Plus 2.0 engine instead of legacy. They could have at least added safety tred. I know they added some detail and gave it a scale fuel tank but $649 is too high for a former railking model.
Nice review Eric. No BFIMO? The GP20 is my favorite diesel but I have to agree with your statements about the detail and price point. Additionally, the overall length is scale but the low hood slanted nose, you mentioned, should be closer to 2 1/4" long. That is very noticeable to anyone who knows these diesels. Anyways, I would imagine Lionel will not change the nose because these are not the most popular diesels for 3-railers.
Maybe with a couple of spots of weathering or an all over light brown wash to tone down the bright yellow of the engine I think it would look much better. I am not saying to change the color, think of more like a light dust in you house after 2 days of forgetting to dust, I think that might bring out some of the fine details better and make up for the short cuts
Love the boxcar with graffiti...real authenticity 😊
I think they knocked everything out with the exception of the top.
Nice! Love your layout!
BTW, I am not saying they don’t make nice products, I own over 100 MTH engines. TMCC is still in production as Atlas still uses it them. If you need parts, call them as sometimes they change the part number to consolidate- one number to support is better and easier than three numbers that are the exact same thing. Think traction tire, both MTH and Lionel now use a single number for say and ES44 series engine where in the past they assigned a number to every road number
Very cool Eric! KCT isn't a road name you see pop up very often on locomotive models in any scale, but at that price, you would expect more detail. That being said, as you mentioned, its not really recommended to by direct from the factory as you pay full MRSP, thats one thing I give Athearn in HO and N scale models credit, as they make it a point that the prices they announce are MRSP and encourage people to purchase from their local hobby shop as its usually much cheaper to do so!
Awesome Love your videos❤
The price point is pretty rough, this used to be $349.99 from mth. I think this would be a good buy between 450-500.
Beautiful weathering and graffiti on the consists 🎉 also yellow is my favorite color for power Eric.
Beautiful locomotive
The hobo union approves of this video.....❤❤❤❤❤😊😊😊😊😊
I'm just curious because I have never seen it in this channel before, but will you ever plan to add any DPUs in your Freight trains, which means a locamotive in the middle and the end of the train. It would be cool because Northfolk Southern BNSF and Union Pacific use them all the time where I'm from!
I will probably try it eventually. Having an engine in the middle or at both ends is a little risky.
@Ericstrains, really, how so?
Great Color ,orange and yellow I would do the 500$ but is nice even without the detail ..
YOU LOOK GREAT!
Fav. Horn has to be #3
I have a HO scale Athern KCT. The "school bus yellow"
To all of the more advanced model railroaders out there, what is the best way to get started in the hobby? I’ve always enjoyed watching these videos and would love to start my own layout but have no clue on where to start
I started with a set in 2001. It was an MTH Railking set, but they aren't making starter sets anymore, so I would start with a Lionel Lionchief starter set. Buy more track, then more cars. Build a layout table, add another engine. Add a second loop of track. It takes time. It wasn't until 2015 that I finally got rid of my "carpet central" setup and had a proper tabletop layout built. Mostly because I was still a student and didn't have a job until I graduated in 2011. Then I was able to start saving for more expensive stuff. It was around that time I invested in command control and bought a DCS system, and a year later a Legacy system.
Don't start with this grossly overpriced model
I'm sorry I'll be working New Year's Day! I always know you shoot great videos and excellent live streams. Have a good New Year Mr. Eric! Say Mr. Eric, I wonder if you own an Analogue & Digital Scanner Radio for Railfanning?
I somewhat felt this way about my legacy ATSF 2-8-0 I got from one of the most recent runs, and for the $750ish price point it was lacking in some extra details such as an opening roof hatch and other boiler details
I like horn number number 5
And I like Bell number 4
You stated this is a MTH Railking mold somewhat reworked. Railking is a shorter and somewhat smaller version of MTH's Premier line as stated on the MTH site. This is wwwaaayyyy over priced and who in O gauge 1/48 scale wants something that will be noticeably smaller. Looks like we all have to be careful what we purchase from Lionel. That's a new low!😮💨🙄
For that price or even slightly discounted in time, I wouldn't expect the unit to have electrical faults. The top tier cab lights shouldn't be flickering surely? Seems to happen when horn application is made and when unit was stationary demoing the bell function. Also intermittently when in transit. Loose connection?
@Eric's Trains - It's a BANANA🍌 on a railroad🛤track. 😆 🤣 😂
Thanks for the HONEST REVIEW! 👍🏼 👍🏼
Tape is easier to cut on boxes if you use the back of the tip of the blade
I like the series
nice model !!
Well this model has two sides to it.
One the bad thing is what you you say the price is to much for what it is.
And the good side is that it's still a good model.
So I have mixed thoughts on this model.
Hello Eric,
Would you mind pointing me in a reputable direction for a Lionel Norfolk & Western 746 Locomotive and long stripe tender.
It will be a display piece only and should be a mint example from the early 60’s. Crisp box and master carton would be nice but not necessary.
Thank you!
Greg
Horn # 1,& bell #1, both sound like the GP 20 that goes by my work everyday , as a switcher locomotive 🚂.
Nice!
Eric, hope you had a Merry Christmas . Have you been doing much weathering of your rolling stock?
Not as much as I’d like, mainly because I’m having to find a new brand of weathering paints to use.
I wanna get into model trains but it’s hard to find some when I have to budget a lot
Lion chief or Menard's
When you gonna do a review on your MTH RBMN #425 ?
I like it even though im a GP40 kinda guy lol. I See you have a new 2 headed signal bridge Eric is it k&R?
The engine looks nice, but I wish it was a Lioncheif or lc2 engine
Hi Eric, is that an old MTH charging port on the bottom of the engine, or does this engine have a battery that needs charging. Ty Joe Everett
Hey Eric, if you have an open house, why don’t you get Lisa to run MTH trains with DCS controller?
Maybe I will, maybe I will.
A little more paint and detail and it would be great 👍
I do share your concern over the price. Since it is an old Rail King die. The paint scheme is bland to me. It reminds me of an old Marx train back in the day. JH
Great review. Way pricey for what you get though.
Hi Eric I don't know if you can help me I'm trying to locate a Menards Pepsi-Cola model in old scale
Hey Eric! are we going to see some big steamers during this bonanza?
I just reviewed 2 big boys lol
I know watched them and loved them but I just can’t get enough
Lionel could have used a black wash on the roof fans which would have minimized the toy-likr appearance. The catalogue photo certainly shows more highligh shading.
$650!?!?! Naaahhhhh forget that
With some light weathering that engine would more realistic
I will probably weather it
I bought the Burlington version of this engine and yes I am disappointed in its appearance. It’s a LionChief engine with Legacy guts in my opinion.
I agree
Horn #2, then #1 bell #2
Is it true 1:48?
👍👍
First to comment!
Edit: Eric, today is my birthday and I’m thinking about getting an ho Scale mth r21 subway redbird set, this will increase my knowledge on model railroading, thanks so much for making all these videos, you are inspiring.
Congratulations. You won....um...well, you're first.
Yeah, I don’t know why, but it’s rewarding to be first to comment.
@@DRailed_777 I get it
@@DRailed_777 Organize the comments from newest first. You're second.
650 0_0 I can get some really highly detailed HO DCC Sound engines for that price that have better details AND no ugly swinging pilot
Lionel made the same mistake as MTH they used the wrong prime mover sound a GP20 is turboed.
At least with MTH you can change the sound file. With lionel you can't and a large chunk of lionel EMD diesels have the wrong prime mover sounds like the SD40,SD40-2 and SD45.
I've got a chessie gp20 and its a williams
All the horns are not great , lots of nice details on it but not enough for the price 😢
Funny the year 2005 was when I was born
Horn # 2
Eric-you mentioned in the video, your disappointment that for the price point the model did not have moving radiator fan parts, instead of just molded shapes? I was just taking a look-what
other late model Lionel diesels have moving fan parts, other than molded? I would love more realism, too, but I don't see that detail in other diesel models?
Most of the high end diesels have separately applied fan blades in the fan housings
This is a $350-$400 engine tops. Your paying for the orange box with an L on it. Not trashing Lionel as they've paved the way for us but this is sad....
Horn 4 bell 3
horn 2 bell 1
Thats 650 dollars SMH I see a 300 to 400 dollar locomotive tops
I think Lionel is cheating the run sound well moving sound is not Lionel its definitely Mth for sure still has the same click too so is this a pure Lionel engine i think not more like a hybrid cross between both worlds i kinda like it..but not that price..i have a chessie system its the one Mth built that was close to a premiere its pretty long engine and it has that same running sound i should know this cause i own a whole bunch of Mth engines
Lionel always over prices their products. MTH is a much fairer Company.
I'm v disappointed in Lionel it could have more details
Couplers look worse than normal on this engine. They seem longer than normal. Kills any scale details added, but I guess that's with all O scale engines unless you change them. Easy pass on this one.
🚂😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎👍
I saw the real one with the GP35Rs in 2011 before KCT got rid of the 2005. Horn is not remotely accurate. the real one had a Nathan P3.
It just looks off sadly
Not worth the price. Lionchief is the way to go.
I don’t like it for that price..
Looks cheap.
YSFJHTGU
I prefer the HO scale, There is no 3rd rail in real life??
I gave this stuff up 30yrs ago, price Gauging back then already.
I look at this yellow bus train, $50.00.
I'd like Hell pay $650.00. N0 way in Hell.
Best horn? For me it's a toss up between #2 and #4.