Anyone have EM-1 news?

Wild Bills just got their order in yesterday. The EM-1, the 3 Pacific's, and some diesels that I easily ignored, being a steam guy.

The EM-1 looks fantastic. I have the original and it looks very like the old one. Bert did not let me take it for a test drive for the store was busy. But he said the sounds are great and the speed steps are nice and smooth.

The Southern unit does have the Elesco Feed water heater on top of the boiler like the previous issued engine. They all look very nice.

Hoping that at least one of the speakers is in the engine; the B&O EM-1 was a very large engine and there should be room for a speaker in that location and one in the tender.  Then one would have a stereo effect. 

I do hope that have the correct whistle for this engine and not a generic whistle.  I wish that Lionel made it possible to change the sound of their whistles .  For example, their Legacy Big Boy has the incorrect whistle.  It would be nice to be able to change out that whistle sound chip and install the proper sounding whistle.

Steve

Better have a Hooter whistle on that badd boy EM1, or Lionel is going to have

a world of #$%@(*%#$ headed their way!

I agree jaygee!

Steve

My EM-1 arrived today, too bad I am in Florida on vacation through Sunday. Or is it?

I received mine on Tuesday but someone forgot to paint it. No, really, I got the pilot version (uncataloged engineering edition) and the detailing is pretty much the same as the one previously produced. I hope they fixed the drive shaft issue.

Well it a good way to end your vacation to set it up and run it around.   I am still undecided to pick one up this week or not.

The unpainted version (pilot) sounds very interesting.

Don't know if you ever saw the original but does this version have cab detail, even though unpainted.  If I remember correctly the original Lionel EM1 was void of cab detail ( unpainted add on gauges, etc.)  Also is  the cab lit?

thank you

Mikes been working overtime again:

They appear to have an pretty good B&O whistle, although not quite high enough in pitch, as a "hooter" would sound. A nice job, non the less.

Looks like another great locomotive from LIONEL. Thanks to Mike Reagan for getting this info out to us so quickly.

It would have arrived yesterday, but since I am away I had FedEx hold it, instead of having it sit out on my doorstep for 3 days. 

I will pick it up after work on Monday. 

Received Western Pacific EM-1 Thursday evening.  What great fun and fine detail.

It's a keeper!

Mike

For the past several years, I was waiting for the B&O EM1.  I  pick up mine yesterday and ran it. The model looks greats and I like the sounds.  I reviewed the EM1 video posted by Rick O on this thread.  I never used the automatic sequence control.  This is a neat feature and add another nice way to run my locomotives.  I tested this features on my newer Diesel locomotives as well. The whistle feature is nice. This is my first locomotive with that feature. 

Chris

Nice. I can't wait to get mine.

Nice photo too, looks great on your layout.

Maybe we can double head them at my NCHR party in June.

Craig,

You can double head.  I recommend you review the video from posted above.  I learned some new features on the EM1.  They have a nice water and coal fill feature.  It also responds over the chatter when they complete these features.

Chris

.

Excellent pictures.  Can you tell me about the cab detail; painted gauges or wheels if any?

Thank you

Daylight,

Here is a picture of the CAB.  It is hard to see with the tender attached, so I separated them for the picture.  I did not have the engine on to show the firebox.

Thank you Chris!!!!!

I got mine on the way home tonight from Fedex.

Thoughts:

-everything was perfect right out of the box

-nice paint job, and finish

-good details, sliding hatches on roof, opening hatch on smokebox front

-very smooth cruise control, 1 mph right out of the box

-smoke production is great, smokes while stopped, and the smokin whistle is really really cool!

-lighting is very good

-the sound package is great, and the auto sequence is a neat new feature

-the loco walked away with 41 boxcars cars a few minutes after being tested, run it for 90 minutes

-the tender and engine couple pretty close together, without interfering with each other on curves

-the controls under the domes, and tender hatch are terrific, and well thought out.

Conclusion:

I think the Lionel EM-1 is the best steamer I have ever had, in every catagory.

I have been dreaming of owning a new B&O EM-1 for 12 years years. I was so happy and surprised to see this in the Sneek Peek, and boom 10 days later its on my layout. What a great surprise! Good show Lionel!!!

Great to hear everyone is so happy with their EM-1's.  Appears to be a real winner.

Just curious though, did anyone here take the plunge for one of the "what if" paint scheme versions?  A little voice inside me keeps whispering, "Get the DM&IR version!", and another voice keeps saying, "Yeah, but remember it's not a 'true Yellowstone'."  Decisions... decisions.    My LHS might have a DM&IR on display -- (and then again, I realize they may have only been allocated 1).  But if anyone has a picture or video of the DM&IR, that would be terrific!!!    Thanks!

David

Craig, I too have been waiting for years and I would have purchased it from either MTH or Lionel.  Lionel got my money and it should be at Engine House Hobbies today.

Mine (a B&O) arrived at my LHS today.  I picked it up and gave it a quick run upstairs a few minutes ago.

I won't post pictures: it looks like all the others.  I will say it has an impressively wide boiler - wow, it looks powerful (okay, yeah, I know it was, still . . . )

I won't give a review, others (above) have mentioned all its features.

I inspected it carefully and it was perfect out of the box and everything worked as it should.

EDIT: forgot to add: mine won't run on 60" radii curves (not that it should - it's rated 0-72, but I tried anyway).   Its the front set of drivers that derails. 

Hi,

I also would have gone either way, whoever was first to offer an EM-1.

I am glad it worked out this way though.

Enjoy.

Does it have a round boiler, or just an open slotted one?

I received my GN 2060 yesterday.  Truly a fantasy engine as I don't believe the GN ever had a Yellowstone on its roster.  However, I have wanted Lionel to make a GN articulated engine for so long that it doesn't mater to me.

The engine performed flawlessly right out of the box.  Thanks to Lionel's you tube video I was able to hit the rails running.  It looks much better in real life than the pictures in the internet catalog.  Truly a handsome engine.  Even runs on my older 072 tubular track and with a little tuning of my finicky Lionel 072 switches runs good through them as well.

The only complaint I have is that the GN herald on each side of the tender are the only makings that identify the engine as Great Northern.  Nothing on the cab other than the number.  No classification markings at the bottom of the cab and nothing on the rear of the tender.  Makes it look a bit plain.

That not withstanding, the engine is definitely a keeper.

Just correcting myself in my earlier post above.  Technically, these ARE "Yellowstones"... it's just that only the B&O had the EM-1 class of Yellowstone.  The DM&IR had M-3 and M-4 classes, so this Lionel version isn't quite correct.  But frankly, I'm as far from a rivet-counter as one can get these days... we can't take this stuff TOO seriously, right? 

Here's a link to some interesting info on Yellowstones for your reading enjoyment!

David

You are correct, and I'll stand alongside you in the "never have counted rivets" lineup, too.  Had they offered this in SF or UP version, I would have preferred that. 

I had wanted a Yellowstone for some time.  I'll call mine an EM-1 because it is the B&O version and is an EM-1 pretty much, but its still a Yellowstone.  I understand some of the other Yellowstones were a bit bigger and frankly I would have preferred to have one of those (side by side, my new EM-1 is amazingly similar in size to a Challenger, although it looks more impressively powerful). 

traindriver 5261 observed: "It looks much better in real life than the pictures in the internet catalog."  Absolutely!  It is just a very, very good looking loco. 

 The whistle on mine sounds different/better,shirller than on other recent Legacy locos (the Mallet, Northern, Southern Crescent).  Not sure that is prototypical, but its nice to have a difference. 

Sure wish it had that swinging bell, though.  Amazing how easily a guy gets spoiled!

Here is a video I found.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...&feature=related

I'm sure the B&O wagon top boxcars from Weaver would go nicely with the Lionel EM-1. I am working on getting mine but don't 72 radius track, all I have right now is an 8x8.

Picked up my B&O EM-1 at the Electric Tain Outlet in St. Louis earlier this week.  It was perfect right out of the box.   I've asked Lionel to produce another EM-1 each time the topic about what locomotives we wanted came up. The features have already been discussed by others.  All I can say is a am glad I didn't pass this one up.  In my view the  EM-1 was a beautiful locomotive and the model does it justice.  Very pleased with this offering from Lionel. Bill B. 

Well... I took the plunge with one of these jewels done up in the DM&IR paint scheme... just couldn't pass up the extra 10% discount that Sidetrack Hobbies was offering on an already great price last month during their "March sale".   Thanks to Lionel for shipping these steamers so quickly, 'cause they arrived at Sidetrack Hobbies just a few days before the end of March!!! 

Can't wait to power up this locomotive for its trial run, but for now here are some pics in the studio. 

I can visualize this loco pulling a string of ore cars some day...

Although built from Lionel's EM-1 tooling for the B&O, the graphics indicate a Class M-4 for this DM&IR version... indicating it was from the 2nd batch of Yellowstones delivered to the DM&IR.

Fortunately, the graphics on the tender are MUCH larger than I remember seeing in the catalog previews.

You'll need a magnifying glass (or a macro lens on your camera) to read the builders plate and various graphics... but they're all legible.

Lastly, here's a comparison photo that highlights just how HUGE these "giant" Yellowstones are next to non-articulated locomotives like this B&O Pacific I happened to have in the studio as well.

Honestly, this wasn't even on my radar screen this year, as I've become very selective with purchases of late.  But the paint scheme caught my eye, despite the fact that this may not be a 100% accurate rendering of an M-4 class Yellowstone.  My future layout will see lots of coal traffic, so this will add a nice variation with a long string of ore cars in tow. 

I also purchased an MTH extended vision DM&IR caboose.  Now for the ore cars...  the hunt will begin, and I wouldn't want to settle for anything but the "best of the best" to follow this fine locomotive.  I know MTH offers 6-pack ore cars in a variety of roadnames, but I'd really like to find some of the cars K-Line had produced about 10 years ago in the yellow & black boxes.  Those were some of the nicest scale cars in their day... and they'd hold their own even compared to some of the detailed stuff being produced today.

David

Ok, figured out how to do this:

Man i have to get one now lol... My wife is gonna kill me

Thanks for the video, Jeff. 

Ok  I have to get Jeff out of retirement to paint one of these in Erie

It is a beautiful paint job.  However it's not even close in my opinion to what a DMIR Yellowstone should look like.  Without the pumps on the front and the centipede tender... it's just not close enough for me.  It's an EM-1 painted for DMIR!

Agree completely... and if I were paying Vision Line prices up in Challenger territory, I would be more inclined to hold out for a more accurate model like the one MTH produced a few years ago.  But I paid just a shade over what folks are shelling out for the Blue Comet and Southern Crescent locomotives for this puppy... so to me it was well worth it.