BLUE COMET LOCOMOTIVE/TENDER

The Lionel Classics Line was produced in the 1990s by Mike Wolfe under contract to Lionel Trains Inc (Richard Kughn) by Samhongsa in Korea. Later Mike and Lionel split and Wolfe started MTH as his own company and among other things produced 'Tinplate Traditions' and resurrected many pre war tinplate trains and accessories over the years. Both are quality products so it is truly a matter of personal preference. Many Tinplate Traditions can be had with original type motors and parts for 'traditionalists' as well as with modern can motors and electronics including DCS and smoke. The Lionel Classics are considered 'Lionel products' although the same tooling was used for both companies.

I was thinking about this very subject recently, so I will flag this thread for future reference.

One thing to note about the Lionel CLASSICS version is the frame and steam chests are very common to zinc rot.

Mine had this problem, and I bought a replacement set from Henning's Trains. A friend of mine painted the replacement set.

The CLASSICS example is probably the most common repro of the 400E Blue Comet out there right now, but I'd inspect it to see if the rot is well underway.

I'm not sure if any of the MTH TT examples have experienced this...

Thanks Thomas, I'd not heard that before. We had a Classics full set for a long time (20+ years) and my wife wanted
it when we divorced. She later had to sell it and has always regretted her decision. As far as we knew it was fine.

Hey Haman, C.Sam and Mikado 4501 are both spot on as always!!

With the Lionel Classics Blue Comet 400E, there were a very good amount that had bad castings on the steam chest and the frame.  Look at the steam chest, and if the paint is cracked, then the casting is bad.  Same for frame.  Fortunately for C.Sam, he got a good one.

I am in the process of replacing the frame and steamchest on two of these engines.  I got my parts and painting from JLM Trains (Joe Mania).  Hennings is a great place too, know folks there and they are great.

One of the things C.Sam brought up is personal preference.  If you like traditional, then Lionel Classics is a good way to go.  However, MTH Tinplate Traditions and Lionel Corporate Tinplate offered these engines as traditional and with sounds.  The MTH Tinplate Traditions had Traditional and PS1 and/or PS2.  The Lionel Corporate Tinplate offered them in Traditional and with either PS2 or PS3.  So with PS2 or PS3 you had smoke, sounds and will operate on DCS.

Now, do you want nickel trim or brass trim????  Ohhhhh the choices!!!

I have the MTH proto 1 Blue Comet and love it. The DC can motor runs smooth and can run at a slow speed. The smoke and sound are a great add.

Gotta love the Blue Comet. This is the MTH Tinplate Traditions version with PS2.

Gotta agree with Joe. Here are a few shots of my first issue MTH Tinplate Traditions Traditional 400E Blue Comet, circa 2001. Still is perfect cosmetically and operationally after a quarter century. Has a true air whistle which adds to the fun and tinplate "feel".

Bob