Very good topic. I only have four MTH locomotives and the rest are postwar, MPC, and Williams. All conventional. I can see how unhappy/angry people can be when a $1600 steam engine fails. I'm leaning towards the simple machines because I am capable of repairing them and they are mostly more affordable. But once you've had a nicely equipped car, it's hard to go back to roll up windows. Those sounds really make this hobby come to life. Great video.
R X R Joeys TRAIN FIX For sure! I could chew nails over a $1500-2000 engine showing up, and it not work. I’d be sick to my stomach! The simpler ones do seem to be a bit more of a walk in the park. But as you said, the sounds on the new high end engines is so great! Hard to go back! I haven’t been running my Postwar loco’s as much due to enjoy all the fun of the modern stuff.
I am sad to learn of MTH's demise. I have a bunch of old rolling stock and two beautiful locomotives from them and I wish something could be done to keep them in business. I am fond of your content and glad I found this channel.
Kyle Pike It is sad for sure. Hopefully somebody picks them up. We still have a few months, maybe somebody will step up. They offer such great products. Glad you found the channel, and are enjoying it! Thank you!
For the price of these engines they should be built better and there should be more more support in regards to parts. Bought the 2019 Fairbanks MorseTrainmaster for my daughter for Christmas, the engine did not move. Bought the Veranda and it worked for 10 minutes before completely going dead. The hobby shop made sure that I was up and running that same day. Pretty sure Lionel would have no problem if the hobby shops no longer existed. I enjoy my hobby shop and look forward to their support when I have issues. So I completely agree with you and your video.
I'm definitely a Mth fan , still have a couple of Lionel engines on my layout but 95% of the trains running are Mth ..... converted my O-27 track to Mth real track and was very happy .... minor issues with some switches but overall I'm a happy camper .... I met Mike from Mth at Trader Jack's in ft. Lauderdale when I bought my first Mth engine ..... Tony from the Roundhouse south is my go to guy for everything now ... always great service there ..... train on Big Guy 🚆
We just had a 70 year old Santa Fa engine upgraded by John Ormandy on Medina, Ohio square. It was given to me by Santa Claus for Christmas in 1950. Great, great memories. It ran poorly. I think John said it was dragging the rear engine, fighting the front engine. He replaced the e unit with a board and we now also have a horn as the original was ruined by a corroded battery. Love your videos.
I myself, I’d say about a 1/3 of my fleet of locomotives has some kind of issues, but almost all run. Little things like smoke unit failures, lights going out. Sounds too low or off. Speed control issues. You name it. Mostly modern stuff. But it sure don’t discourage me from buying another engine! The thrill is too great to fret the little stuff. I enjoyed your positive outlook on the hobby and sharing your thoughts and your collection. And yes, when an favorite engine quits, I try not to let it affect my day, but it does. In fact for weeks.😪JR Train
THANKS!!!! I've just bought a Greenberg to learn how to clean and lube my Post War stuff. And My son built me a small workbench to do it on. Really enjoy your videos.
Thank you Joe! Glad you enjoy the videos! Awesome to hear of another postwar runner! There is a bunch of good info out on the inter webs to help as well. Good luck with servicing them!
That book is the Bible!!! Shows the cut sheets and all the part numbers too along with the prices hahahahahahah. Well now inflated. Sit at the bench get a coffee going and pull apart a motor. Watch the little ball bearings fall out of the disc holding them in place. Then refer to the book to see how many are in it🤣🙏
Great video. I have been collection post war for about 18 years and focused on the alcos and taken a very big liking to the awesome f3s and the budd cars. I found my white whale 2378milwakee road 2 weeks ago and waiting for the delivery! No boxes but the decals are in awesome condition and batt compartment is mint. I pull them and get the old grease out and polish them up. I love all post war and yes I run some modern mth runners myself. They are from the early 2000s with protosound 1. Who cares. Like you said what makes you happy and my kids love them. That's what matters. You can't put a dollar sign on that!!! But in closing I love all the post war and accessories.
mustangcircut Thank you! Great to hear!! They are all wonderful, but the F3’s are definitely special! I’m super jealous of the 2378!! Lucky!! I’ve been half heartedly searching for a set of 2242’s. Those will be my next postwar acquisition. The old Proto 1 engines are magnificent pieces as well. Very sturdy and well built. Happy railroading!
Thank you! Yes it for sure can be frustrating! However they are mass produced little machines, there’s bound to be a lemon in there somewhere lol. I don’t have any Williams yet. May have to pick one up to try out.
@@CountryBunkersTrains they are plain but smooth running and strong. But if you spend a little more, you can find an entry level mth with great sounds.
R X R Joeys TRAIN FIX I did almost pick up a Williams TX special F3 when looking for my Postwar one. I was having a hard time finding an original. I came upon a Williams one in a shop that was very nice! However I am/was a bit upity wanting the original postwar one, so held out for it.
I'm about in the same position. I love MTH and Lionel, old and new. I like the old Lionel tin plate track. Right now I have three locomotives down, all MTH. I have a pair of 2333 Lionel F3s I've had since I was a kid, and they were used then. They still run great, have never broken down, and pull like hell. The don't have all the modern whistles and bells of the new stuff, but they perform.
g bridgman Gotta love those old 2333’s just keep chugging along!! Sorry to hear about your MTH engines being down. It is never any fun! Definitely seems to be one of the trade offs with these newer engines. All kinds of great stuff on them, however more stuff to break.
@@CountryBunkersTrains I love my old Lionels. They're indestructible and have a nice sound to them even without all the whistles and bells of the new stuff. Another great Lionel is the 726 Berkshire. I had one of those, too, as a kid, but sold it. I regret doing that now. Today you can't find a good one for less than 5-600 bucks.
First of all I am terribly disappointed with this vid. The title led me to believe their would be lots of train wrecks. LOL Last months I posted an upload "Mike's Train House Closing? Opinion." It got over 1000 views, 44 likes, 8 dislikes. I had no idea it would be so controversial. I mentioned how powerful MTH motors are, how well made the boards had been when made in South Korea, and how impressed I was with the shells. Then I talked about the problems I had encountered while repairing my friends MTH items, mostly with the electronics. Unlike some newer Lionel boards I have encountered, the MTH boards were well made. The problems were the plug-in Proto chips go bad. After upgrading the chips his trains ran fine except for one. The chip they sent me was no good. The second one worked fine. In my opinion the quality control is generally better with new MTH items than new Lionel. I have had to re-solder Lionel boards with cold solder joints. Lionel/China sent out all there reissue Red Comets with the smokestacks mounted backwards on the shell. I just had to laugh. I only have a few MTH items given to me by my friend before he passed. I will be keeping them. I am sure you will be able to repair your 2363 in under an hour. Clean the wheels, the center contacts, check the solder joints on all wires, clean and replace the old grease on the gears, clean up the commutator plate and replace the brushes with new ones. give the contacts on the E-unit a good spaying with electrical cleaner, add oil where needed and it will run like a new train.
Lance Boil No trains wrecks here! At least no planned ones! LOL I’ve had my share of mini panic attacks when a train comes uncoupled and the engine circles around and runs into the rear. Ha! Yes, people get very protective it seems of their “pick of brand” or era. I do enjoy them all, however the stories of problems with Lionel seem endless. Hear of lots of issues, and as seen in the video all of mine have an issue. It hasn’t forced me to stop buying from them, however my wallet now focuses mainly on MTH (as long as I can). The build quality of the Korean built MTH Proto 1 engines is fantastic to me as well. Beautiful rugged engines for sure. Enjoy them all however!
I'm just starting back into the O scale hobby and I have post war and some lion chief plus I personally like the sounds and the way I can creep, but I also love the older post war for there reliability and service ability . Tell ya one thing I am hooked and it feels good to be occupied with a hobby again.
Nice review, thanks! Question: what set up are you using to run both Lionel and MTH? I’m still budgeting, and have been looking at the DCS Explorer to use for the next year or so and swop in the Legacy when wanting to run those trains.
Thank you! I have the TMCC base hooked up to the DCS TIU. So the DCS system controls the Lionel engines as well. Only downfall is you only get access to TMCC control through the DCS system, not the full Legacy system. For Legacy, you have to have its own stand alone system. Looks pretty easy to add though. Just add the ground wire like normal, and can use the legacy system along with the DCS system. I don’t have the Legacy system yet. Need to get a proper legacy equipped engine before I make that investment.
Hi Zac...I have been out of the Hobby for 43 years. After watching your pod cast for 1 full year. I began purchasing New Modern Deisel and steam Engines. I have 3 Units Williams by Bachmann. 3 MTH Units and 5 Lionel Units. The Lionel Units have given me nothing but problems. 3 of the 5 units have been back to Lionel for repair. 8 to 12 weeks later they show up at my home. They run good for 24 hours to 2 Months then break down again. I'm tired of calling Lionel getting RO numbers then running to Fed Ex to ship them back before the 1 year warranty expires. In one cas Lionel said we dont have parts to fix the problem. I have given up on Lionel and will never recommend any one to buy their Deisel or Steam Engines because they don't hold up. When I had Lionel Steam and Deisel engines in 1978 they were made like Mack Trucks. Lionel has done nothing but cheapened the Quality of the product and jack the prices up through the Roof. It's the smoke units in the Conrail SD70 Ace and the sound in the Southern Pacific Steam engines. The Smoke unit in the Hallmark Xmas train. I'm just going to drive to Cleveland Oh or Sterling Heights Michigan. Where 2 Hobby Shops have Lionel Repair facilities and have the work done.
Hey George, thank you for watching! Very sorry to hear of the troubles you are having. I know the pain all too well myself. Mainly why I stick mostly to MTH stuff. All but 1 Lionel item I’ve received has had an issue of some sort. It’s really sad.. the closest Lionel service station to me is over 3 hours away, which is not a big help either…. Need to get their act together! Hope you had a good Christmas, and Happy New Year!
Sir, WITH GREAT RESPECT I LOVE 3-rail O gauge trains - I could be wrong, but they appear to operate BETTER than 2-rail O gauge trains: UNFORTUNATELY, I can't wrap my head around 3 rails. Everyone appears to be fighting to acquire realism, and the 3rd rail, just kills the realism thing. i wish that the middle rail could be reduced in size, so it was less visible - or even eliminated. Your comments are good, fair and accurate: these are toys for MEN (and women) - perhaps we should say that they are toys for adults. I get it. Thank you for your kind and respectful comments. 2 thumbs up.
I am not sure if this has already been mentioned, or if the volume issue on the LionChief Plus GP7 has been resolved, but some of the Lionel manuals incorrectly state how to adjust the volume, depending on when the LionChief Plus engine was manufactured. I have both older and newer LionChief Plus, and the volume control is not the same. Early versions: Press down both the bell and whistle buttons at the same time until red light flashes, the turn speed control to desired volume. Later versions: Press and hold Announcement button and turn speed control to desired volume.
Excellent video, and advice. My thing has always en, if I can’t maintain it, or fix it, I don’t want it. I buy trains to be run, not for static display. Was in HO from the 1970’s, until about 10 years ago, so O has changed, since 1968. Bells and whistles are nice to haves, but to me if if they result in too much shop time, not worth it to me.
Thank you James! I hear ya, it can definitely shy some away. Luckily I haven’t had too much trouble from them, but can be a downer. It is nice being able to work on the stuff easily yourself! Take care and happy railroading!
HI ZACK ... I have the Illinois Central engine ... one of the best running engines on my layout ... post war and wouldn't take anything for it ... will pull anything I put behind it ... will easily pull thirteen cars at 11-13 volts ... smooth running
Your Louisville Nashville engine that the sound was going out on, I'd buy that from you. I'm from Louisville and my dad was CSX and ran the main line from Louisville and Nashville. I'd send it off to get it fixed and I'd love it, and it would have a loving home. I'm doing a CSX/Conrail build, want to get some Penn Central stuff and I'm always looking for Louisville and Nashville engines. Just shooting that out there. Also love your videos. Been watching them all, and they have helped me.
Same happened to mine, mth uses nylon gears and when I bought it it ran 2 weeks and had to rebuild....crazy same train... had a train tech replace nylon with brass.
Those first generation Lionel ACes were prone to board failure, especially the UP heritage engines for some reason. My guess was the heat sinks in the engines weren’t stout enough and the board would get too hot. But my regular yellow and gray UP ACes don’t seem to have that problem and they came out around the same time. Just sucks when they break down because you may not be able to get parts. I have my UP E9s from Lionel being sent back for repair due to board and smoke unit failure. Hopefully they come back in a timely manner. The few MTH engines i have in my roster have been trouble free except for one, my DD40AX #6940 but i knew going into it that it would need a PS2 3 volt system installed in it. That was done a few years back and she’s been fine ever since. As always keep up the good work on the videos! -Mike
Thanks Mike! Good to know about the issues of this era engine. It is a shame, as it it’s a pretty cool engine. Glad to hear most of your MTH engines are holding up. I can’t say enough good about em personally. Happy railroading!
I miss the hobby shops in Chicago. There is only one left, Chicagoland Hobbies. LGB and MTH Standard Gauge are impossible to buy in person. I got most of my LGB from that store and a good chunk at the Great Midwest Train Show. Cannot wait for that to start up again.
have you been to Gulf Coast Trains in Sarasota. been in business 30 years. very helpful. they just serviced my American Flyer 565. hasn't been run in about 45-50 years. works great
So what would you say about my Chessie Special that has a grinding sound? I have only 9 cars in addition to the tender, and it acts like it can hardly handle the load, especially on grade.
Collect what you like, and remember its not always the locomotive that is the problem. I have used the MRC tech II transformers since the early 90's and my Lionel, Williams, and K line stuff that I have run have never had an issue. Set up a maintenance schedule for your trains and you can avoid problems before they happen.
Have you encountered the issue with MTH Protosound 1 engines where you put on one the track, apply power, and (not knowing the engine's rechargeable 9V battery is shot) end up "scrambling" the board and now it's all messed up? I'm in that very situation now with a Rail King Dash-8. Any suggestions?
Luckily I’ve never had this issue, but only had 2 PS1 models. I’ve heard of this issue quite a bit. My old PS1 Empire State Express would act up sometimes. It used to get stuck in “neutral” and didn’t seem to want to go into forward or reverse. I would get tired of trying, come back a day or 2 later and it would run fine. Idk what it’s deal was. It’s since been upgraded though... sorry I’m not any help....
We used to have a hobby shop in Orange Park but they closed down last year. I'm still in contact with one of the repair guy's named Greg whom I have occasionally service my stuff if I don't have the time to do it myself. I have a feeling the hobby shop you mentioned in this video was the one off of Blanding Blvd
I went in there when they were having their big clearance sale. I asked one of the guys if they were closing, due to the big sale. He said no, just liquidating some inventory and were not planning on closing. A week later the doors were shut for good.....
@@CountryBunkersTrains I was really hoping to get my hand's on the FEC GP38 they had in the display case (hopefully you know what I mean), but as fate would have it I never got it. I'm happy with my TMCC GP9 which I'm custom painting for the SCL though. I saw on one of your videos you custom paint your stuff too
Your Illinois central looked to be in great shape. I have the 1954 Milwaukie Road F3 that my dad bought me for Christmas. Your F3 and mine are the same as mine and I had old wiring issues. soldering new wires she was running like new pulling fifty cars no problem by it self. My opinion I hate how the new locomotives have the rubber tires there always coming off. I started dipping a toothpick tipped with superglue just under the tires in four places problem solved. However I learned the hard way make sure you have the tire center to the wheel befor it drys or she will wobble and we'll have none of that.
Lionel should honor the Warranty ! why settle for a failed engine after paying $300 bucks .or more . i would be pissed if any of my new engines started having problems !
It is a crappy situation, however I personally can’t hold Lionel to the warranty stuff, as I never made any move on them. As I said, the dealer I got em from closed basically right after I bout them. And I wasn’t feeling like mailing them out. I may or may not get em fixed in the future.
Sucks to say here in my area of Kansas we are down to one hobby shop left. Had two or three 4 years ago now its just the one. Even then this hobby shop has most of everything. Other places only have HO, N etc.
having 20+ mth premier engines, run by a mth z4000 or sometimes tiu, many proto 1, now more than 10 years old, have sound boards and other things go very, very often, approaching a 30 percent failure rate. that's after oil, changed battery, power leads every 5 feet, and replacement parts completely not available from mth for a long time. most engines have less than 15 hours run time. my 1942 lionel, k line, and weaver stuff run first time, every time. but us train lovers do it all for happiness. Just realize the significant pitfalls. good video.
Thank you for watching! Sorry to hear of the issues you are having with the MTH stuff. It is interesting to see the differences people have with the products. Some have great success with Lionel, while others with MTH, and so on. Luckily we have options. Hope your are able to rid all of the problems with them. I’m kind of opposite. All my modern Lionel’s have giving me issues, where as very few with MTH. As mentioned the old stuff does keep going! Gotta love em!
conrail modeler The SD70ace was on a Lionel 135w brick. Challenger was same way, but wouldn’t run on anything. The LionChief engine was a mix of brick and transformer here and there.
I did do a little video on servicing them a while back. Not completely in depth, but the basics to get em going again if you will. As I mention in the video, I’m no expert, but have had great success with em. If interested, can view it here- ruclips.net/video/EDrE3pOrQLI/видео.html Thanks again for watching! Talk at ya later.
I have agree it's said to see the old hobby shops closing. Mine closed about 2 years ago I really miss the good times I had hanging out there.By the way I'm strictly a lionel man lol
The shop clerk had a disrespectful way of doing business and does not sound like a people's person. To insult someone based on what they spent on a train should not be tolerated, not to mention, it's none of his business. More importantly, I bet you if the clerk was selling the engine at his store for the same price, I bet he wouldn't be talking like that then. As I've told people like that time and time again "Hey, my money is paying into your customer service, not your insults."
MTH has always been higher priced and they do have good sounds and very detailed and all, but another friend of mine says that MTH is for the rich man's model trains only and when you can not afford it because you are not able to at all, it is sad. I like different brands of 0 scale trains, it depends on how it pops out in colors and all for me.
Hey Bro, you are the only person that speaks the truth on RUclips with train hobbyists. I have mostly MTH’s trains. Very few problems. Sad to see MTH left the scene tho.
I bought an sd70ace legacy up heritage, smoke unit not functioning. I can’t work on them either. 4 hrs to nearest service center.😫 what’s a guy to do? Road trip I guess.
Cool Engine’s! It’s sad to hear about the trouble your having with them. I have a LC + Seaboard System GP38 I bought from trainworld that’s been giving me issues. The couplers weren’t firing out of the box (Maybe just needed to be broken in, but they fixed themselves), and the smoke unit was louder than the engine sounds. I found out that after taking the smoke unit apart that I needed to oil under the fan blade. A few months later hear I am, with the same tedious issue. There’s nothing more disappointing to me in this hobby than buying a locomotive brand new and having to do maintenance on it when you should be running it and enjoying it. I hope you get your engines fixed soon! PS Lionel dropped the ball on the GP style locomotives trucks. Unfortunately the coupler mechanisms takes up more space than the original couplers and the step ladders sit farther away from the trucks, so the step ladders don’t line up with the shell. Take at look at your GP and you’ll see what I mean
At least we are not alone!! LOL That was one thing I forgot to mention about the LionChief engine. The smoke unit is horribly loud! Beyond the point of a little oil to fix I believe. Sounds like a blender. I see what your talking about, about the trucks/steps. They don’t line up. Sorry to hear of your troubles as well. One of the dealers I visited say these LionChief plus locos are a bear to repair. They are almost disposable as parts are hard to get. Another reason I haven’t looked at getting it fixed currently.
Thanks Thomas. This one seems to ruffle some feathers lol. I kind of expected that though.... On the F3, that is exactly what the issue was, as normal. I did a little video on it a while back that can be seen here if interested- ruclips.net/video/EDrE3pOrQLI/видео.html Thank you for watching!
I wish there was a local hobby shop here, would have to travel hours to nearest ones. I will always be a Lionel person my first trains 50 yrs ago were Lionel, have 2 MTH's not much luck getting them to run with wifi. Nice layout ya got there
I hear ya! The hobby shops are definitely getting few and far between. Yea, I’m not big on the WiFi myself. Takes some of the fun out of it for me. Thank you!
The problem with MTH going out is, who's going to keep Lionel honest, now? (Maybe Menards?) For a long time it was MTH, K-Line and Williams (before Bachmann). My view of the main reason MTH had such a good run was that they LISTENED to what individuals WANTED & made those things. Lionel has "the NAME" but has a long history of NOT doing that, plus making really poor-quality, entry-level engines, so parents (and would-be lifetime trainiac kids) give up when their first train experience is bad.
I am a huge fan of the channel and i am really new to o gauge trains, so i have a question i dont want to sound stupid but what is the difference between post war and modern trains. I own a post war engine, 1958 i think. keep up the great work!
Thank you! No such thing as stupid questions! Postwar is the time frame after WW2. Lionel trains produced between 1945-1969. Modern era to me would be 1990 or so and up, however everyone has their own definition of that makes sense. Thank you for watching!
I've stopped buying the newer crap, I like the postwar and MPC where you can actually take every component apart and it runs like a swiss watch. Plus the older stuff is a bit cheaper to buy, especially if it's in bad shape.
I have owned an O gauge Railking freight car when I was a kid however I sold it at a yard sale because I never got into MTH products because I was always more of a LIONEL guy.
I would love to buy trains more locally at a shop, but Ready to Roll needs to discount their prices more on model trains compared with Trainworld. I wanted to do O-gauge, but once I heard MTH going bust, I barely got to start my O-gauge empire unfortunately. So, I am sticking with HO for now.
Sorry to hear that. I’m a little uneasy with MTH going out as well, but I’ve had such great luck with them I haven’t shied away. Nothing wrong with HO! Some days I wish I modeled it as well.
If you like European trains, in any gauge it's even more challenging, especially if you like to buy the ancient models you see in old catalogs. And in G scale the track costs more than the train!
I do 3 rail O, 2 rail O, HO, ON30 and some N. If you can upgrade to Proto 3 do so on MTH. Otherwise run with a conventional transformer on O. Wouldn't buy anything that couldn't run on a conventional transformer or DC. If you must run command control your best bet is to install a NMRA DCC decoder designed for 5 amps and use NMRA DCC. This is what I plan to do with my older Lionel and MTH proto 1. I fault Lionel, and the O scale industry for not adopting NMRA DCC as their standard command & control system for 3 rail O. This would have solved a lot of electronics O scale issues. That's what I like about MTH Proto 3. Too bad it will no longer be produced. I have seen O DCC decoders for as little as $60.00. You can add sound with an HO sound decoder. I plan on selling many of my Proto 2 engines and upgrading some to proto 3. Now Bluetooth is the rage, some even are urging me to convert my scale O to "dead" rail. My opinion "dead" rail is best used for outdoor G, otherwise only will create more problems.
True about hobby shops...here in San Francisco...we have lost ALL the shops. Franciscan Hobbies...in business for some 60 years...died in 2013! Sad. I have Lionel products 1935-1959. Just came into a collection of vintage standard gauge Lionel and MTH repros. The MTH stuff is quite well built and runs well. so far. I'm an "old school" guy, and avoid the electronics. I'm a mechanical gifted operator, and know nothing about the "micro-chip" tech.
Same here Larry, I’m no good when it comes to the computer chips, however I do really enjoy them when they are working! MTH has been a lot more dependable for me. Happy holidays
@@CountryBunkersTrains Your layout room is very neat! Nice views out your windows, and natural light on your nice layout. My love of all things rail goes back to early childhood. My late dad was a prototype and model rail fan. Always had a train under the tree and a large HO layout downstairs. My mom also loved the trains...one of her remarks was..."it needs more trees"! She was a nature lover and gardener. I've always been a toy train enthusiast over the picky detail of scale pikes.
A half-decade or so, I attended the manufacturer presentation at the York show, organized by O-Gauge Railroading Magazine. In his only appearance as a presenter (usually Andy Edelman handles this assignment), Mike Wolf mentioned how he saw cool things he'd like to produce, only to get dirty looks from his accountant. That set a red flag in the back of my mind, years before he announced his retirement. The sharp reduction in new tooling in the years surrounding that admission only confirmed my suspiscion. Still, I'm now buying stuff I might have held off on, to the tune of a pair of UP SD70's since the announcement, and just over $1K of rolling stock preorders from the last catalog. Also contemplating adding a Premier passenger train (10 cars) to go with my Santa Fe 2900-class Northerm (that stainless-look plating is _sweet_ ). Just hoping their January 2021 delivery doesn't coincide with the delivery of $1.6K of Golden Gate Depot's Amtrak Viewliners. As for mechanical/electrical issues, I haven't had many (knock wood). Although I haven't had a chance to test out some of the motive power I've acquired in the last few years owing to time constraints. For the past few months, Ive been trying to enter my collection into a database, but working an evening tour with an hour commute on both ends equals a lot of not much getting done before the need to sleep kicks in. Really put a crimp in my video output (which was aimed at documenting my "get 'em outta da box and run 'em" efforts) :D
Hey buddie l tell you what since that Lionel legacy Sd70ace CNW ,I'll trade you this Nice Union pacific sd70m for the CNW diesel and Nothing wrong with it at all ,Nice shape and great runner and Sound are amazing as well 😀
Main drawbacks of O gauge is that it tends to be more expensive than the smaller gauges, particularly if you're going for brand-new, high-end scale trains, and the layouts tend to take up more space. However, as the old saying goes, there's more than one way to skin a cat, and I personally opted for an O-27 vintage-style layout and buying older locomotives and cars (though I do have some new stuff too), and sticking with conventional transformer operation (good ol' ZW) to get around most of these issues.
@@Surfliner450 Yup, runs the whole show on my O-27 layout. A coworker of mine had it in his basement along with a box of rolling stock and another packed full of AF and Lionel accessories, sold the lot to me as he knew I'd use it all. Had to replace the carbon rollers and clean the contacts, but other than that there wasn't much I had to do to it to put it back into service again. I have an LW and an RW too, but I mostly stick with the ZW. It's got the most wattage and the four separate circuits make wiring a snap. I use one handle to power the track and the other three to power my accessory busses.
In HO there are some companies who skimp on QC-it is so frustrating and short sighted. You get burned a few times and after you wouldn't touch their stuff with a ten foot pole. I know life is not perfect-but a pattern is a pattern. Beware!
I have all MTH protosound and I have good ones and bad ones. The motherboards going bad is a b...h. It seems not running them often is the issue. And now parts are not available. I have purchased working MTH engines I wouldn't run on my layout just to canablize them for parts. Most recently a $800 Premier engine motherboard failed and a Z4000 transformer gave issues. The transformer was repaired easily but the engine is an on going battle for the repair center. I was looking at used ones on the internet and 3 of 4 I found have bad electronics! Must be a problem with that model run. The worst is my RS-1 railking engine that I really like. It began falling apart. It has a white metal cast chasis and trucks. The white metal is coming apart on mine. I bought a non powered one for parts. All my other MTH deisels have steel frames and mostly plastic trucks. They are fine. My advice is don't buy an MTH engine with white metal parts. We better learn electronics too because we will need to be able to repair boards.
I'm like you I favor MTH however I have a large lionel roster. For me it's about detail and how smooth they run and not to forget sound system. I hate cheep sounding whistles early models. Far as loosing MTH all I can say it sucks and yes definitely support your local hobby shop.
@@CountryBunkersTrains l have all types of goodies brand new Rolling Stock and Accessories and so so much more ,What type of locomotive would you be interested in l have Lionel diesels tmcc -Legecy as well, and l have mth locomotive, Csx,Santa fe, Nfs,and CNW diesel Ps3 Scaled sized and others ,And if we do cash ,l would have let you decide what you want as far as cash ,cause you know the perils of it and l trust you 😀 to be fair so let me know my freind, l used to live in Florida, Tampa Bay area 😀 8yr l worked the Teco Electric company
o scale trains sound louder than ho? atlas ho diesellok is to loud for me to watch it in a quiet room.. so i have josef ho with a rubber drive unit ).. i'm two weeks owner of ho railroad )
I’ve never ran the newer HO engines with sound, so really cannot compare. However from videos I’ve seen the O gauge trains seem a little louder and crisper. Have a bit more room for a bigger/better speaker in the O gauge stuff.
I came across this video thanks to RUclips. After watching it I checked out the comments. For me it's like driving by an accident and having the curiosity to look. I have this incurable model train disease so when I was retiring about 5 years ago I joined a local train club. I was thinking that I would be with like-minded people and there would be a welcoming camaraderie. To my surprise, I was wrong. Checking the comments out here I get that same vibe exists. Don't go goofy on me, I don't mean everyone here and in the Club and others I met out and about, but more than you would think. Well on to a manufacturer that wasn't mentioned here, Weaver's. I live about 20 miles from the former business in Northumberland PA. Over the many years I visited Weaver's. What a wonderful place, from the owner to everyone else that worked there, all were so accommodating. Almost all their freight cars were locally made, the plastic bodies and paraphernalia were cast in the area and assembled, painted, and decorated at the plant. I have a little over 60 Weaver freight cars and a few Weaver engines. One of my favorites is the Milwaukee Road rib side box cars. Getting to the end. Weaver's closed a few years ago. A few weeks leading up to their two day going out of business sale I was there a number of times rummaging through their stuff looking for goodies to buy and buy I did (like the MTH impulse now). Well, on one of those impulse shopping days two fellas from Lionel were there, I imagine looking to acquire some of the line. At least that's the idea I got when I talked to them. And so they did, it's the Lionscale line. Other stuff was acquired by Atlas and others. A parting thought, I'm 72 and still accumulating what I want in the way of trains and in my other hobbies. I ain't dead yet and I don't plan on slowing down, however nature might have other ideas but no one that I know owns a crystal ball. Like goes on, all the best.
Love Model Railroading No Matter What gauge or Scale it is. Can you go to Train shows. If you Are happy what you got. I am A Ho And N scale guy my Wife is the Same. Gotta Be Careful where you Buy your Trains. Hate to Hear you get Ripped off these Dealers need to stop Rippin you off I went to Train shows got some stuff I have 6 Engines on my N Scale layout. I Wanna Wish you good Luck on your Engines.
Ellery Parsons Thank you!! Yea, the train shows have definitely been put on hold this year, unfortunately.. haven’t been able to go to any as they have all been shut down. Hopefully they open back up soon! I’d like to do a coffee table N scale layout someday! Think that would be a fun project! Happy railroading!
The hobby has become too expensive. Price Switch's or Gargrave's track. Lionel's quality is in the crapper plus the parts and control system mess. We haven't had a hobby shop around here in years. MTH is still around but nothing like they were. I may switch to H O.
"what idiot would spend 300-400 hundred dollars on a train" well who would spend 400+ dollars on a rc plane that can crash at any point when you are flying it.
They all can be fixed ! Kitbash , for one thing , if the loco won't move sometimes the trucks need to taken apart, cleaned and reassembled !
Very good topic. I only have four MTH locomotives and the rest are postwar, MPC, and Williams. All conventional. I can see how unhappy/angry people can be when a $1600 steam engine fails. I'm leaning towards the simple machines because I am capable of repairing them and they are mostly more affordable. But once you've had a nicely equipped car, it's hard to go back to roll up windows. Those sounds really make this hobby come to life. Great video.
R X R Joeys TRAIN FIX For sure! I could chew nails over a $1500-2000 engine showing up, and it not work. I’d be sick to my stomach! The simpler ones do seem to be a bit more of a walk in the park. But as you said, the sounds on the new high end engines is so great! Hard to go back! I haven’t been running my Postwar loco’s as much due to enjoy all the fun of the modern stuff.
I am sad to learn of MTH's demise. I have a bunch of old rolling stock and two beautiful locomotives from them and I wish something could be done to keep them in business. I am fond of your content and glad I found this channel.
Kyle Pike It is sad for sure. Hopefully somebody picks them up. We still have a few months, maybe somebody will step up. They offer such great products. Glad you found the channel, and are enjoying it! Thank you!
Great news Atlas just got MTH O Scale tooling and is a wonderful addition to Atlas. This will keep MTH's legacy alive, even though I have HO trains
For the price of these engines they should be built better and there should be more more support in regards to parts. Bought the 2019 Fairbanks MorseTrainmaster for my daughter for Christmas, the engine did not move. Bought the Veranda and it worked for 10 minutes before completely going dead. The hobby shop made sure that I was up and running that same day. Pretty sure Lionel would have no problem if the hobby shops no longer existed. I enjoy my hobby shop and look forward to their support when I have issues. So I completely agree with you and your video.
Right on. I need to see these kinds of videos before I buy. It saves me money and time. I appreciate your work, thanks.
I'm definitely a Mth fan , still have a couple of Lionel engines on my layout but 95% of the trains running are Mth ..... converted my O-27 track to Mth real track and was very happy .... minor issues with some switches but overall I'm a happy camper .... I met Mike from Mth at Trader Jack's in ft. Lauderdale when I bought my first Mth engine ..... Tony from the Roundhouse south is my go to guy for everything now ... always great service there ..... train on Big Guy 🚆
We just had a 70 year old Santa Fa engine upgraded by John Ormandy on Medina, Ohio square. It was given to me by Santa Claus for Christmas in 1950. Great, great memories. It ran poorly. I think John said it was dragging the rear engine, fighting the front engine. He replaced the e unit with a board and we now also have a horn as the original was ruined by a corroded battery. Love your videos.
I myself, I’d say about a 1/3 of my fleet of locomotives has some kind of issues, but almost all run. Little things like smoke unit failures, lights going out. Sounds too low or off. Speed control issues. You name it. Mostly modern stuff. But it sure don’t discourage me from buying another engine! The thrill is too great to fret the little stuff. I enjoyed your positive outlook on the hobby and sharing your thoughts and your collection. And yes, when an favorite engine quits, I try not to let it affect my day, but it does. In fact for weeks.😪JR Train
THANKS!!!! I've just bought a Greenberg to learn how to clean and lube my Post War stuff. And My son built me a small workbench to do it on. Really enjoy your videos.
Thank you Joe! Glad you enjoy the videos! Awesome to hear of another postwar runner! There is a bunch of good info out on the inter webs to help as well. Good luck with servicing them!
That book is the Bible!!! Shows the cut sheets and all the part numbers too along with the prices hahahahahahah. Well now inflated. Sit at the bench get a coffee going and pull apart a motor. Watch the little ball bearings fall out of the disc holding them in place. Then refer to the book to see how many are in it🤣🙏
Great video. I have been collection post war for about 18 years and focused on the alcos and taken a very big liking to the awesome f3s and the budd cars. I found my white whale 2378milwakee road 2 weeks ago and waiting for the delivery! No boxes but the decals are in awesome condition and batt compartment is mint. I pull them and get the old grease out and polish them up. I love all post war and yes I run some modern mth runners myself. They are from the early 2000s with protosound 1. Who cares. Like you said what makes you happy and my kids love them. That's what matters. You can't put a dollar sign on that!!! But in closing I love all the post war and accessories.
mustangcircut Thank you! Great to hear!! They are all wonderful, but the F3’s are definitely special! I’m super jealous of the 2378!! Lucky!! I’ve been half heartedly searching for a set of 2242’s. Those will be my next postwar acquisition. The old Proto 1 engines are magnificent pieces as well. Very sturdy and well built. Happy railroading!
Great video. I like Lionel MTH and I even have a Williams NYC Hudson that I love. It's frustrating when we have a problem with an engine. Al
Thank you! Yes it for sure can be frustrating! However they are mass produced little machines, there’s bound to be a lemon in there somewhere lol. I don’t have any Williams yet. May have to pick one up to try out.
@@CountryBunkersTrains they are plain but smooth running and strong. But if you spend a little more, you can find an entry level mth with great sounds.
R X R Joeys TRAIN FIX I did almost pick up a Williams TX special F3 when looking for my Postwar one. I was having a hard time finding an original. I came upon a Williams one in a shop that was very nice! However I am/was a bit upity wanting the original postwar one, so held out for it.
Very informative. Thank you.
Thank you!
I'm about in the same position. I love MTH and Lionel, old and new. I like the old Lionel tin plate track. Right now I have three locomotives down, all MTH. I have a pair of 2333 Lionel F3s I've had since I was a kid, and they were used then. They still run great, have never broken down, and pull like hell. The don't have all the modern whistles and bells of the new stuff, but they perform.
g bridgman Gotta love those old 2333’s just keep chugging along!! Sorry to hear about your MTH engines being down. It is never any fun! Definitely seems to be one of the trade offs with these newer engines. All kinds of great stuff on them, however more stuff to break.
@@CountryBunkersTrains I love my old Lionels. They're indestructible and have a nice sound to them even without all the whistles and bells of the new stuff. Another great Lionel is the 726 Berkshire. I had one of those, too, as a kid, but sold it. I regret doing that now. Today you can't find a good one for less than 5-600 bucks.
First of all I am terribly disappointed with this vid. The title led me to believe their would be lots of train wrecks. LOL Last months I posted an upload "Mike's Train House Closing? Opinion." It got over 1000 views, 44 likes, 8 dislikes. I had no idea it would be so controversial. I mentioned how powerful MTH motors are, how well made the boards had been when made in South Korea, and how impressed I was with the shells. Then I talked about the problems I had encountered while repairing my friends MTH items, mostly with the electronics. Unlike some newer Lionel boards I have encountered, the MTH boards were well made. The problems were the plug-in Proto chips go bad. After upgrading the chips his trains ran fine except for one. The chip they sent me was no good. The second one worked fine. In my opinion the quality control is generally better with new MTH items than new Lionel. I have had to re-solder Lionel boards with cold solder joints. Lionel/China sent out all there reissue Red Comets with the smokestacks mounted backwards on the shell. I just had to laugh. I only have a few MTH items given to me by my friend before he passed. I will be keeping them. I am sure you will be able to repair your 2363 in under an hour. Clean the wheels, the center contacts, check the solder joints on all wires, clean and replace the old grease on the gears, clean up the commutator plate and replace the brushes with new ones. give the contacts on the E-unit a good spaying with electrical cleaner, add oil where needed and it will run like a new train.
Lance Boil No trains wrecks here! At least no planned ones! LOL I’ve had my share of mini panic attacks when a train comes uncoupled and the engine circles around and runs into the rear. Ha! Yes, people get very protective it seems of their “pick of brand” or era. I do enjoy them all, however the stories of problems with Lionel seem endless. Hear of lots of issues, and as seen in the video all of mine have an issue. It hasn’t forced me to stop buying from them, however my wallet now focuses mainly on MTH (as long as I can). The build quality of the Korean built MTH Proto 1 engines is fantastic to me as well. Beautiful rugged engines for sure. Enjoy them all however!
i got a postwar 2023 alco diesil set from my grandfather and those are some of my best runners
Those little Alco’s are some great runners!! They are a bunch of fun!
I'm just starting back into the O scale hobby and I have post war and some lion chief plus I personally like the sounds and the way I can creep, but I also love the older post war for there reliability and service ability . Tell ya one thing I am hooked and it feels good to be occupied with a hobby again.
Nice review, thanks! Question: what set up are you using to run both Lionel and MTH? I’m still budgeting, and have been looking at the DCS Explorer to use for the next year or so and swop in the Legacy when wanting to run those trains.
Thank you! I have the TMCC base hooked up to the DCS TIU. So the DCS system controls the Lionel engines as well. Only downfall is you only get access to TMCC control through the DCS system, not the full Legacy system. For Legacy, you have to have its own stand alone system. Looks pretty easy to add though. Just add the ground wire like normal, and can use the legacy system along with the DCS system. I don’t have the Legacy system yet. Need to get a proper legacy equipped engine before I make that investment.
Hi Zac...I have been out of the Hobby for 43 years. After watching your pod cast for 1 full year. I began purchasing New Modern Deisel and steam Engines.
I have 3 Units Williams by Bachmann. 3 MTH Units and 5 Lionel Units. The Lionel Units have given me nothing but problems. 3 of the 5 units have been back to Lionel for repair. 8 to 12 weeks later they show up at my home. They run good for 24 hours to 2 Months then break down again. I'm tired of calling Lionel getting RO numbers then running to Fed Ex to ship them back before the 1 year warranty expires. In one cas Lionel said we dont have parts to fix the problem. I have given up on Lionel and will never recommend any one to buy their Deisel or Steam Engines because they don't hold up. When I had Lionel Steam and Deisel engines in 1978 they were made like Mack Trucks. Lionel has done nothing but cheapened the Quality of the product and jack the prices up through the Roof.
It's the smoke units in the Conrail SD70 Ace and the sound in the Southern Pacific Steam engines. The Smoke unit in the Hallmark Xmas train.
I'm just going to drive to Cleveland Oh or Sterling Heights Michigan. Where 2 Hobby Shops have Lionel Repair facilities and have the work done.
Hey George, thank you for watching! Very sorry to hear of the troubles you are having. I know the pain all too well myself. Mainly why I stick mostly to MTH stuff. All but 1 Lionel item I’ve received has had an issue of some sort. It’s really sad.. the closest Lionel service station to me is over 3 hours away, which is not a big help either…. Need to get their act together! Hope you had a good Christmas, and Happy New Year!
Sir, WITH GREAT RESPECT I LOVE 3-rail O gauge trains - I could be wrong, but they appear to operate BETTER than 2-rail O gauge trains: UNFORTUNATELY, I can't wrap my head around 3 rails. Everyone appears to be fighting to acquire realism, and the 3rd rail, just kills the realism thing. i wish that the middle rail could be reduced in size, so it was less visible - or even eliminated. Your comments are good, fair and accurate: these are toys for MEN (and women) - perhaps we should say that they are toys for adults. I get it. Thank you for your kind and respectful comments. 2 thumbs up.
That Chicago Northwestern is impressive. And nice postwar Milwaukee Road on the shelf, that's a great engine.
Love your Videos keep up the great Work
Thank you!
I am not sure if this has already been mentioned, or if the volume issue on the LionChief Plus GP7 has been resolved, but some of the Lionel manuals incorrectly state how to adjust the volume, depending on when the LionChief Plus engine was manufactured. I have both older and newer LionChief Plus, and the volume control is not the same. Early versions: Press down both the bell and whistle buttons at the same time until red light flashes, the turn speed control to desired volume. Later versions: Press and hold Announcement button and turn speed control to desired volume.
Thank you! Yea, I tried both ways on the remote, as well as the app on the phone but no dice unfortunately. Still running though surprisingly!
Excellent video, and advice. My thing has always en, if I can’t maintain it, or fix it, I don’t want it. I buy trains to be run, not for static display. Was in HO from the 1970’s, until about 10 years ago, so O has changed, since 1968. Bells and whistles are nice to haves, but to me if if they result in too much shop time, not worth it to me.
Thank you James! I hear ya, it can definitely shy some away. Luckily I haven’t had too much trouble from them, but can be a downer. It is nice being able to work on the stuff easily yourself! Take care and happy railroading!
HI ZACK ... I have the Illinois Central engine ... one of the best running engines on my layout ... post war and wouldn't take anything for it ... will pull anything I put behind it ... will easily pull thirteen cars at 11-13 volts ... smooth running
Looks really nice, I've subscribed to your channel
Thank you!
Your Louisville Nashville engine that the sound was going out on, I'd buy that from you. I'm from Louisville and my dad was CSX and ran the main line from Louisville and Nashville. I'd send it off to get it fixed and I'd love it, and it would have a loving home. I'm doing a CSX/Conrail build, want to get some Penn Central stuff and I'm always looking for Louisville and Nashville engines. Just shooting that out there. Also love your videos. Been watching them all, and they have helped me.
Same happened to mine, mth uses nylon gears and when I bought it it ran 2 weeks and had to rebuild....crazy same train... had a train tech replace nylon with brass.
Those first generation Lionel ACes were prone to board failure, especially the UP heritage engines for some reason. My guess was the heat sinks in the engines weren’t stout enough and the board would get too hot. But my regular yellow and gray UP ACes don’t seem to have that problem and they came out around the same time. Just sucks when they break down because you may not be able to get parts. I have my UP E9s from Lionel being sent back for repair due to board and smoke unit failure. Hopefully they come back in a timely manner.
The few MTH engines i have in my roster have been trouble free except for one, my DD40AX #6940 but i knew going into it that it would need a PS2 3 volt system installed in it. That was done a few years back and she’s been fine ever since.
As always keep up the good work on the videos!
-Mike
Thanks Mike! Good to know about the issues of this era engine. It is a shame, as it it’s a pretty cool engine. Glad to hear most of your MTH engines are holding up. I can’t say enough good about em personally. Happy railroading!
I miss the hobby shops in Chicago. There is only one left, Chicagoland Hobbies. LGB and MTH Standard Gauge are impossible to buy in person. I got most of my LGB from that store and a good chunk at the Great Midwest Train Show. Cannot wait for that to start up again.
Awesome
I like lionel, mth, williams and old k-line... they are all great to me
have you been to Gulf Coast Trains in Sarasota. been in business 30 years. very helpful. they just serviced my American Flyer 565. hasn't been run in about 45-50 years. works great
I have not heard of them before. Gonna have to check them out. Thank you for the info! Great to hear they got your 565 back in action!
So what would you say about my Chessie Special that has a grinding sound? I have only 9 cars in addition to the tender, and it acts like it
can hardly handle the load, especially on grade.
Great video.
Thank you!
Collect what you like, and remember its not always the locomotive that is the problem. I have used the MRC tech II transformers since the early 90's and my Lionel, Williams, and K line stuff that I have run have never had an issue. Set up a maintenance schedule for your trains and you can avoid problems before they happen.
Have you encountered the issue with MTH Protosound 1 engines where you put on one the track, apply power, and (not knowing the engine's rechargeable 9V battery is shot) end up "scrambling" the board and now it's all messed up? I'm in that very situation now with a Rail King Dash-8. Any suggestions?
Luckily I’ve never had this issue, but only had 2 PS1 models. I’ve heard of this issue quite a bit. My old PS1 Empire State Express would act up sometimes. It used to get stuck in “neutral” and didn’t seem to want to go into forward or reverse. I would get tired of trying, come back a day or 2 later and it would run fine. Idk what it’s deal was. It’s since been upgraded though... sorry I’m not any help....
I wonder if there are diagnostic tools for “modern” electronics.
We used to have a hobby shop in Orange Park but they closed down last year. I'm still in contact with one of the repair guy's named Greg whom I have occasionally service my stuff if I don't have the time to do it myself. I have a feeling the hobby shop you mentioned in this video was the one off of Blanding Blvd
I wondered if they had closed or not.
Yup, that was the one!
I went in there when they were having their big clearance sale. I asked one of the guys if they were closing, due to the big sale. He said no, just liquidating some inventory and were not planning on closing. A week later the doors were shut for good.....
@@CountryBunkersTrains I was really hoping to get my hand's on the FEC GP38 they had in the display case (hopefully you know what I mean), but as fate would have it I never got it. I'm happy with my TMCC GP9 which I'm custom painting for the SCL though. I saw on one of your videos you custom paint your stuff too
This is why I like my mpc era stuff
Don’t have any MPC at the moment. Would like to grab a set to check out. It’s never fun when a train is down/broke...
Your Illinois central looked to be in great shape. I have the 1954 Milwaukie Road F3 that my dad bought me for Christmas. Your F3 and mine are the same as mine and I had old wiring issues. soldering new wires she was running like new pulling fifty cars no problem by it self. My opinion I hate how the new locomotives have the rubber tires there always coming off. I started dipping a toothpick tipped with superglue just under the tires in four places problem solved. However I learned the hard way make sure you have the tire center to the wheel befor it drys or she will wobble and we'll have none of that.
I’ve heard of a few people doing that. May have to give it a try, thanks!
Hey with the Pennsylvanian loco, you could take some extra straight piece’s and make a little memorial in a park
We could!
Lionel should honor the Warranty ! why settle for a failed engine after paying $300 bucks .or more . i would be pissed if any of my new engines started having problems !
It is a crappy situation, however I personally can’t hold Lionel to the warranty stuff, as I never made any move on them. As I said, the dealer I got em from closed basically right after I bout them. And I wasn’t feeling like mailing them out. I may or may not get em fixed in the future.
Sucks to say here in my area of Kansas we are down to one hobby shop left. Had two or three 4 years ago now its just the one. Even then this hobby shop has most of everything. Other places only have HO, N etc.
having 20+ mth premier engines, run by a mth z4000 or sometimes tiu, many proto 1, now more than 10 years old, have sound boards and other things go very, very often, approaching a 30 percent failure rate. that's after oil, changed battery, power leads every 5 feet, and replacement parts completely not available from mth for a long time. most engines have less than 15 hours run time. my 1942 lionel, k line, and weaver stuff run first time, every time. but us train lovers do it all for happiness. Just realize the significant pitfalls. good video.
Thank you for watching! Sorry to hear of the issues you are having with the MTH stuff. It is interesting to see the differences people have with the products. Some have great success with Lionel, while others with MTH, and so on. Luckily we have options. Hope your are able to rid all of the problems with them. I’m kind of opposite. All my modern Lionel’s have giving me issues, where as very few with MTH. As mentioned the old stuff does keep going! Gotta love em!
What kind of transformer do you have because old ones can fry the mother boards
conrail modeler The SD70ace was on a Lionel 135w brick. Challenger was same way, but wouldn’t run on anything. The LionChief engine was a mix of brick and transformer here and there.
@@CountryBunkersTrains ok
how and from whom do we learn to tinker and fix post war lionel. found very few videos on youtube. please do a video to help us
I did do a little video on servicing them a while back. Not completely in depth, but the basics to get em going again if you will. As I mention in the video, I’m no expert, but have had great success with em. If interested, can view it here-
ruclips.net/video/EDrE3pOrQLI/видео.html
Thanks again for watching! Talk at ya later.
I have agree it's said to see the old hobby shops closing. Mine closed about 2 years ago I really miss the good times I had hanging out there.By the way I'm strictly a lionel man lol
The hobby shops should treat all customers matter what they want to buy with respect.
Absolutely!
The shop clerk had a disrespectful way of doing business and does not sound like a people's person. To insult someone based on what they spent on a train should not be tolerated, not to mention, it's none of his business. More importantly, I bet you if the clerk was selling the engine at his store for the same price, I bet he wouldn't be talking like that then. As I've told people like that time and time again "Hey, my money is paying into your customer service, not your insults."
l used to model N scale and had problems with the locos, even the Katos.
With a shelf collection of postwar Lionel, the grease hardens in the F3 trucks, so how about a video on repacking those with fresh grease!
ruclips.net/video/EDrE3pOrQLI/видео.html
MTH has always been higher priced and they do have good sounds and very detailed and all, but another friend of mine says that MTH is for the rich man's model trains only and when you can not afford it because you are not able to at all, it is sad. I like different brands of 0 scale trains, it depends on how it pops out in colors and all for me.
It's an absolute fact of model railroading.
Whether the trainset is worth only $100 or $3000, they all have one thing in common.
They're made to >RUN
Absolutely!! Gotta run em! Can’t buy em to watch em sit on a shelf!
Hey Bro, you are the only person that speaks the truth on RUclips with train hobbyists. I have mostly MTH’s trains. Very few problems. Sad to see MTH left the scene tho.
I bought an sd70ace legacy up heritage, smoke unit not functioning. I can’t work on them either. 4 hrs to nearest service center.😫 what’s a guy to do? Road trip I guess.
I know the pain all too well!! Just posted a video on it yesterday. But like you said, what can ya do….
Cool Engine’s! It’s sad to hear about the trouble your having with them. I have a LC + Seaboard System GP38 I bought from trainworld that’s been giving me issues. The couplers weren’t firing out of the box (Maybe just needed to be broken in, but they fixed themselves), and the smoke unit was louder than the engine sounds. I found out that after taking the smoke unit apart that I needed to oil under the fan blade. A few months later hear I am, with the same tedious issue. There’s nothing more disappointing to me in this hobby than buying a locomotive brand new and having to do maintenance on it when you should be running it and enjoying it. I hope you get your engines fixed soon! PS Lionel dropped the ball on the GP style locomotives trucks. Unfortunately the coupler mechanisms takes up more space than the original couplers and the step ladders sit farther away from the trucks, so the step ladders don’t line up with the shell. Take at look at your GP and you’ll see what I mean
At least we are not alone!! LOL That was one thing I forgot to mention about the LionChief engine. The smoke unit is horribly loud! Beyond the point of a little oil to fix I believe. Sounds like a blender. I see what your talking about, about the trucks/steps. They don’t line up. Sorry to hear of your troubles as well. One of the dealers I visited say these LionChief plus locos are a bear to repair. They are almost disposable as parts are hard to get. Another reason I haven’t looked at getting it fixed currently.
Good video Zack. Reference the pw lionel illinois i would be suspicious of solder joints and wiring. Good luck.
Thanks Thomas. This one seems to ruffle some feathers lol. I kind of expected that though.... On the F3, that is exactly what the issue was, as normal. I did a little video on it a while back that can be seen here if interested-
ruclips.net/video/EDrE3pOrQLI/видео.html
Thank you for watching!
Good information
No matter who the manufacturer is they are more than just toys
I wish there was a local hobby shop here, would have to travel hours to nearest ones. I will always be a Lionel person my first trains 50 yrs ago were Lionel, have 2 MTH's not much luck getting them to run with wifi. Nice layout ya got there
I hear ya! The hobby shops are definitely getting few and far between. Yea, I’m not big on the WiFi myself. Takes some of the fun out of it for me. Thank you!
The problem with MTH going out is, who's going to keep Lionel honest, now? (Maybe Menards?) For a long time it was MTH, K-Line and Williams (before Bachmann). My view of the main reason MTH had such a good run was that they LISTENED to what individuals WANTED & made those things. Lionel has "the NAME" but has a long history of NOT doing that, plus making really poor-quality, entry-level engines, so parents (and would-be lifetime trainiac kids) give up when their first train experience is bad.
I am a huge fan of the channel and i am really new to o gauge trains, so i have a question i dont want to sound stupid but what is the difference between post war and modern trains. I own a post war engine, 1958 i think. keep up the great work!
Thank you! No such thing as stupid questions! Postwar is the time frame after WW2. Lionel trains produced between 1945-1969. Modern era to me would be 1990 or so and up, however everyone has their own definition of that makes sense. Thank you for watching!
I've stopped buying the newer crap, I like the postwar and MPC where you can actually take every component apart and it runs like a swiss watch. Plus the older stuff is a bit cheaper to buy, especially if it's in bad shape.
I have owned an O gauge Railking freight car when I was a kid however I sold it at a yard sale because I never got into MTH products
because I was always more of a LIONEL guy.
Hey bud do you still have that diesel ,l would love to get it from you 😉
I know what ya mean I'm from Florida to and hobby shops ain't around as much anymore
I would love to buy trains more locally at a shop, but Ready to Roll needs to discount their prices more on model trains compared with Trainworld. I wanted to do O-gauge, but once I heard MTH going bust, I barely got to start my O-gauge empire unfortunately. So, I am sticking with HO for now.
Sorry to hear that. I’m a little uneasy with MTH going out as well, but I’ve had such great luck with them I haven’t shied away. Nothing wrong with HO! Some days I wish I modeled it as well.
How big is this room where you have this layout?
It’s 9’ deep and about 40’ wide. Was an addition added in years ago.
@@CountryBunkersTrains thank you 😊
Does the cat like your trains? If so, that is all that matters...
Side question: What do you think of Sunset Models?
nice layouts im the same way O tubular track all the way its the cheapest but works
By the way l was talking about the Cnw Sd70ace diesel
No he knows how to make you spend your money wisely he knows what you need and what you want I'll give him a lot of credit for that
Chicago North Western Diesel Green and Yellow diesel??
liked video 🚄🚂👍
Thanks!
If you like European trains, in any gauge it's even more challenging, especially if you like to buy the ancient models you see in old catalogs. And in G scale the track costs more than the train!
I do 3 rail O, 2 rail O, HO, ON30 and some N. If you can upgrade to Proto 3 do so on MTH. Otherwise run with a conventional transformer on O. Wouldn't buy anything that couldn't run on a conventional transformer or DC. If you must run command control your best bet is to install a NMRA DCC decoder designed for 5 amps and use NMRA DCC. This is what I plan to do with my older Lionel and MTH proto 1. I fault Lionel, and the O scale industry for not adopting NMRA DCC as their standard command & control system for 3 rail O. This would have solved a lot of electronics O scale issues. That's what I like about MTH Proto 3. Too bad it will no longer be produced. I have seen O DCC decoders for as little as $60.00. You can add sound with an HO sound decoder. I plan on selling many of my Proto 2 engines and upgrading some to proto 3. Now Bluetooth is the rage, some even are urging me to convert my scale O to "dead" rail. My opinion "dead" rail is best used for outdoor G, otherwise only will create more problems.
True about hobby shops...here in San Francisco...we have lost ALL the shops. Franciscan Hobbies...in business for some 60 years...died in 2013! Sad. I have Lionel products 1935-1959. Just came into a collection of vintage standard gauge Lionel and MTH repros. The MTH stuff is quite well built and runs well. so far. I'm an "old school" guy, and avoid the electronics. I'm a mechanical gifted operator, and know nothing about the "micro-chip" tech.
Same here Larry, I’m no good when it comes to the computer chips, however I do really enjoy them when they are working! MTH has been a lot more dependable for me. Happy holidays
@@CountryBunkersTrains Your layout room is very neat! Nice views out your windows, and natural light on your nice layout. My love of all things rail goes back to early childhood. My late dad was a prototype and model rail fan. Always had a train under the tree and a large HO layout downstairs. My mom also loved the trains...one of her remarks was..."it needs more trees"! She was a nature lover and gardener. I've always been a toy train enthusiast over the picky detail of scale pikes.
Whis I had a local hobby shop.closest about 3hrs away.all mail order for me👌🇺🇸
A half-decade or so, I attended the manufacturer presentation at the York show, organized by O-Gauge Railroading Magazine. In his only appearance as a presenter (usually Andy Edelman handles this assignment), Mike Wolf mentioned how he saw cool things he'd like to produce, only to get dirty looks from his accountant. That set a red flag in the back of my mind, years before he announced his retirement. The sharp reduction in new tooling in the years surrounding that admission only confirmed my suspiscion.
Still, I'm now buying stuff I might have held off on, to the tune of a pair of UP SD70's since the announcement, and just over $1K of rolling stock preorders from the last catalog. Also contemplating adding a Premier passenger train (10 cars) to go with my Santa Fe 2900-class Northerm (that stainless-look plating is _sweet_ ). Just hoping their January 2021 delivery doesn't coincide with the delivery of $1.6K of Golden Gate Depot's Amtrak Viewliners.
As for mechanical/electrical issues, I haven't had many (knock wood). Although I haven't had a chance to test out some of the motive power I've acquired in the last few years owing to time constraints. For the past few months, Ive been trying to enter my collection into a database, but working an evening tour with an hour commute on both ends equals a lot of not much getting done before the need to sleep kicks in. Really put a crimp in my video output (which was aimed at documenting my "get 'em outta da box and run 'em" efforts) :D
Hey buddie l tell you what since that Lionel legacy Sd70ace CNW ,I'll trade you this Nice Union pacific sd70m for the CNW diesel and Nothing wrong with it at all ,Nice shape and great runner and Sound are amazing as well 😀
Main drawbacks of O gauge is that it tends to be more expensive than the smaller gauges, particularly if you're going for brand-new, high-end scale trains, and the layouts tend to take up more space.
However, as the old saying goes, there's more than one way to skin a cat, and I personally opted for an O-27 vintage-style layout and buying older locomotives and cars (though I do have some new stuff too), and sticking with conventional transformer operation (good ol' ZW) to get around most of these issues.
You use a ZW too!!! Awesome
@@Surfliner450
Yup, runs the whole show on my O-27 layout. A coworker of mine had it in his basement along with a box of rolling stock and another packed full of AF and Lionel accessories, sold the lot to me as he knew I'd use it all.
Had to replace the carbon rollers and clean the contacts, but other than that there wasn't much I had to do to it to put it back into service again.
I have an LW and an RW too, but I mostly stick with the ZW. It's got the most wattage and the four separate circuits make wiring a snap. I use one handle to power the track and the other three to power my accessory busses.
In HO there are some companies who skimp on QC-it is so frustrating and short sighted. You get burned a few times and after you wouldn't touch their stuff with a ten foot pole. I know life is not perfect-but a pattern is a pattern. Beware!
wish I could afford one of those -9
I have all MTH protosound and I have good ones and bad ones. The motherboards going bad is a b...h. It seems not running them often is the issue. And now parts are not available. I have purchased working MTH engines I wouldn't run on my layout just to canablize them for parts. Most recently a $800 Premier engine motherboard failed and a Z4000 transformer gave issues. The transformer was repaired easily but the engine is an on going battle for the repair center. I was looking at used ones on the internet and 3 of 4 I found have bad electronics! Must be a problem with that model run. The worst is my RS-1 railking engine that I really like. It began falling apart. It has a white metal cast chasis and trucks. The white metal is coming apart on mine. I bought a non powered one for parts. All my other MTH deisels have steel frames and mostly plastic trucks. They are fine. My advice is don't buy an MTH engine with white metal parts. We better learn electronics too because we will need to be able to repair boards.
I'm like you I favor MTH however I have a large lionel roster. For me it's about detail and how smooth they run and not to forget sound system. I hate cheep sounding whistles early models. Far as loosing MTH all I can say it sucks and yes definitely support your local hobby shop.
I have both Lionel and MTH I on buy North Pole central o gauge I have a few
If so how much for it and maybe we can do a trade ethier way lam interested 🤔
I still have it. It’s been a “static display” piece on the layout. I could be interested in selling/trading. What is your offer?
@@CountryBunkersTrains l have all types of goodies brand new Rolling Stock and Accessories and so so much more ,What type of locomotive would you be interested in l have Lionel diesels tmcc -Legecy as well, and l have mth locomotive, Csx,Santa fe, Nfs,and CNW diesel Ps3 Scaled sized and others ,And if we do cash ,l would have let you decide what you want as far as cash ,cause you know the perils of it and l trust you 😀 to be fair so let me know my freind, l used to live in Florida, Tampa Bay area 😀 8yr l worked the Teco Electric company
o scale trains sound louder than ho? atlas ho diesellok is to loud for me to watch it in a quiet room.. so i have josef ho with a rubber drive unit ).. i'm two weeks owner of ho railroad )
I’ve never ran the newer HO engines with sound, so really cannot compare. However from videos I’ve seen the O gauge trains seem a little louder and crisper. Have a bit more room for a bigger/better speaker in the O gauge stuff.
@@CountryBunkersTrains i do not use speaker yet for special effects, only listen small engine sound of a loco
So you’re saying that O Gauge trains are not very good quality and smaller scale trains are better quality?
Do you want to sell it to me or trade for a mth protosound locomotive? PS 2-3 ???
I might be interested in selling or trading it. Shoot me an offer - dukezac@hotmail.com
Thanks
I came across this video thanks to RUclips. After watching it I checked out the comments. For me it's like driving by an accident and having the curiosity to look. I have this incurable model train disease so when I was retiring about 5 years ago I joined a local train club. I was thinking that I would be with like-minded people and there would be a welcoming camaraderie. To my surprise, I was wrong. Checking the comments out here I get that same vibe exists. Don't go goofy on me, I don't mean everyone here and in the Club and others I met out and about, but more than you would think.
Well on to a manufacturer that wasn't mentioned here, Weaver's. I live about 20 miles from the former business in Northumberland PA. Over the many years I visited Weaver's. What a wonderful place, from the owner to everyone else that worked there, all were so accommodating. Almost all their freight cars were locally made, the plastic bodies and paraphernalia were cast in the area and assembled, painted, and decorated at the plant. I have a little over 60 Weaver freight cars and a few Weaver engines. One of my favorites is the Milwaukee Road rib side box cars.
Getting to the end. Weaver's closed a few years ago. A few weeks leading up to their two day going out of business sale I was there a number of times rummaging through their stuff looking for goodies to buy and buy I did (like the MTH impulse now). Well, on one of those impulse shopping days two fellas from Lionel were there, I imagine looking to acquire some of the line. At least that's the idea I got when I talked to them. And so they did, it's the Lionscale line. Other stuff was acquired by Atlas and others.
A parting thought, I'm 72 and still accumulating what I want in the way of trains and in my other hobbies. I ain't dead yet and I don't plan on slowing down, however nature might have other ideas but no one that I know owns a crystal ball. Like goes on, all the best.
these are faults with quality, not the gauge.
I have both mth and Lionel but I prefer Lionel fore I have had the best luck with them
Thanks for liking this comment, i didn’t realize this video was gone two years ago until after i commented
Lionel is superior in quality (vintage )
K line is great for its cheapness and budget
Hobby shops are done.
Love Model Railroading No Matter What gauge or Scale it is. Can you go to Train shows. If you Are happy what you got. I am A Ho And N scale guy my Wife is the Same. Gotta Be Careful where you Buy your Trains. Hate to Hear you get Ripped off these Dealers need to stop Rippin you off I went to Train shows got some stuff I have 6 Engines on my N Scale layout. I Wanna Wish you good Luck on your Engines.
Ellery Parsons Thank you!! Yea, the train shows have definitely been put on hold this year, unfortunately.. haven’t been able to go to any as they have all been shut down. Hopefully they open back up soon! I’d like to do a coffee table N scale layout someday! Think that would be a fun project! Happy railroading!
No money?
The hobby has become too expensive. Price Switch's or Gargrave's track. Lionel's quality is in the crapper plus the parts and control system mess. We haven't had a hobby shop around here in years. MTH is still around but nothing like they were. I may switch to H O.
"what idiot would spend 300-400 hundred dollars on a train" well who would spend 400+ dollars on a rc plane that can crash at any point when you are flying it.
Lionel is pricey as can be.
GET TO THE TOPIC