Any comments on the Lionel Polar Express Engine with Whistle Steam?

Hi:

I just purchased this on ebay and still learning how to use it.

Have to admit I am a little disappointed in the steam whistle smoke feature.  I'm not sure if its me or the engine.  I did get it to smoke while in neutral but didn't see any visible smoke as it was running.  Blowing the whistle in neutral I can hear what I think  maybe a rattle like something is loose but I'm not sure.  I may take it to my local service dealer to check it out.

The engine is nice looking and pretty heavy too, but it has a bit of a wobble as it goes around the curves.  Supposedly, this may be from the traction tires as in other PE engines.

The crew talk feature takes a little getting used to with short blasts of the horn and the steam sounds in the background.  I haven't been able to hear the crew talk feature with the bell ringing  while going at a slow speed.  I think I may be doing something wrong

I bought this based on a youtube video where the engine was smoking like a son of a gun and looked really neat.  Perhaps, a modification was made by the owner or not using the supplied Lionel smoke fluid.

Just my two cents, I will leave it to the experts to critique.

Good luck!!!

I have no experience with the newer whistle-steam models, but the knock on the old one was that unless you ran it at warp speed, the smoke unit never got hot enough to do much of anything.  In neutral, you can crack up the current and get it smoking, but actually running it with those amps would be... um... "interesting".  I've contemplated upgrading my old model with the trainsounds tender simply because the bone stock model just seems 'dull' compared to my DCS rigs.  Then again, I might just wait for a sweet deal on a used MTH PS2 engine and transplant the board 

I have the set but did not buy the "Whistle Steam" engine.  Partly, it was due to my disappointment with the TrainSounds tender and partly it was due to receiving the Legacy 1225 Berkshire as a gift.  I am still going to run my non-scale set because it will take the tighter curves and because I have all the cars but for me, I'm not drawn to putting the money into that engine.

If you are strongly considering the whistle-steam engine, I'd still consider the set.  If I recall correctly, the whistle-steam engine isn't Legacy and isn't scale and would go well with the smaller sized cars.

The easiest way to get more smoke out of one of the conventional PE locos is to get the locomotive to pull more "juice" by adding more cars thus increasing the load on the loco. A bigger draw of electricity will result in more power to the smoke unit a(s)  as well. A longer train will also allow for higher throttle settings without the loco being run at "warp speed".

From someone who has the conductor car...  If you have the skills, I'd do it yourself.

My take on smoke...  It is cool to have it smoke some but too much can make it hard for some people to breathe.  I kind of like the lighter smoke.

I have it and it is definitely worth the money. The railsounds are great and I got my for $250.00 and its well worth it. I also have all the other cars including the conductor car, elf handcar, diorama, and the lighted station. I also got the add on figures and placed them in the station. I also have the wolves, rabbits, and deer which are really nice too around the layout to add some character. I use JTs mega steam which really helps smoke out put here are my videos of the locomotive in action. I will try to get one on my new layout tomorrow as both of those videos are on my old one