You can't have MagneTraction AND steel rimmed tires. One or the other. Folks voted with their wallets that they wanted steel rimmed drivers.
Jon 
Does anyone know what the length of one of these new passenger cars is?
I tried looking up on lionel site and they don't list car length of the ones in this set or of the 2626 Sager Place observation car produced a few years back.
Thanks
Some people have always maintaned that the "pre" magnatraction engines run much more quietly and smoothly than all the magnatraction engine's. I suppose that might be a subjective theory, but in my experience, I support it. I would also suggest that I belive in general any engine with traction tires on its rear drivers will be somewhat quieter than a similar engine without tires for obvious reasons. So I would expect this engine to run more smoothly than the recent 736 for the above stated reasons. If not, I'll just hook it up to a 250W prewar Z transformer and run it at 24 volts for a few hours to break it in 
Originally Posted by Jim Rotella:
I just got my set this morning. I briefly ran the engine and tender on my layout and they performed flawlessly. The engine ran very smooth from a crawl to full speed pulling a string of 8 PWC freight cars. I haven't had a chance to get out the passenger cars out yet, but I'll do that tonight.
I didn't feel any magnetic pull from the drivers and when comparing this engine to my PWC 736 Berkshire, I found that there was no magnet between the last two sets of drivers...only an empty cavity. I know someone else had mentioned this earlier in this thread. Despite the fact these engines are not being produced with"magne-traction, the instruction booklet still claims they're equipped with it. My engine seems to pull very well without magne-traction because the rubber traction tires really grip the track well.
I wouldn't let the lack of magne-traction stop anyone from buying this set because I think it's well worth the money, even without that feature. This 726 runs much smoother than my PWC 736, which means someone at Lionel must have paid attention to the complaints they received on their last attempt at a postwar Berkshire engine.
Dennis, I'm sure that the rubber tires do make them run much quieter, but my complaint with the PWC 736 is that it jerks at low speed and stalls out when creeping. I've got an original postwar 736 that doesn't have either of those problems. I've had the PWC 736 apart to adjust the lash on the worm gear, and I've lubricated it correctly and I still have the same issues. Lionel offered to fix the problem, but I've never took them up on it because it is really something I can live with. It's the only Lionel engine that I've had this problem.
Again, I'm not complaining about this CC 726 set. I love it!
I hear ya Jim, I didn't mean to dismiss the PWC issues that some have. I think we'd all agree we have either heard of or experienced those challenges with all the worm drive pullmor motored steamers from the MPC era onward with but a few exceptions. I don't remember if the PWC 736 was made in the USA (pre China) or after, but maybe this one has "all new tooling" and the drive mech was actually modeled up and "tweeked" either to or back to some sort of tolerance eng standard. Will be interesting to see if we get a lot of " good runnign engines" or a mix of some good and some bad. Remember there has been lots of complaining about the M&STL alco's and the first CC set (2124 GG-1) about various things.
So yea, I'm hoping they got it right and done a good job. I Better get down there and open her up!!
"CC 726" What is CC? I am new to this.
Thanks,
Galen
Originally Posted by gtw5812:
"CC 726" What is CC? I am new to this.
Thanks,
Galen
Conventional Classics = CC
"conventional classics" is a term Lionel used to "sell" remakes of 1940's and 1950's sets. Sets that are a close, but not exact copy of the original. They have made 2-3 different sets a year since the 2009 volume II catalog
Thanks!
Oh yea! 
It's unwrapped on on the track. Nothing broken, nothing missing, no scratches, no dents, no squeaks. Runs perfect, nice and smooth, nice and quiet. Looks like they made sure these ran and were lubed prior to shipment. I'd say Good job Lionel, Thanks!!
It crawled away almost as smooth as a railking can motor berk but of course retains that distictive growl some of us love. Kewl man!
Originally Posted by Dennis Holler:
. I think we'd all agree we have either heard of or experienced those challenges with all the worm drive pullmor motored steamers from the MPC era onward with but a few exceptions. I don't remember if the PWC 736 was made in the USA (pre China) or after, but maybe this one has "all new tooling" and the drive mech was
The PWC 736 was made in China. They were loud.
So much accumulated slop from armature/bearings on one end through drivers and side rods to the other end seems to be the culprit causing excess noise. I swapped armatures with an old postwar 736 and it did quite it down but tolerance was a little to tight.
They were nice looking locos with good sound package otherwise.
My CC726 Berk Madison Set showed up today from Charlie Ro, NICE!!!
As mentioned previously they may have test run them, as mine ran flawlessly and was producing a decent amount of smoke. The locomotive has a nice whistle also. I ran it on it's own at first for a few minutes and then added the three Madison coaches to the engine. The engine seems to be an awesome performer.
Cobrabob.
Thanks for clarifying, I wasn't sure. That being the case, it might be interesting to pull the lids off of both the PWC 736 and a new CC 726 and compare the exact install, ie: does the 726 have different bearings or more shims, different parts all together etc. Dumb stuff like that interests me for smoe reason 
I'd happilly take a PWC 736 btw, so don't mean to sound like I was bashing.
I ran my new CC726 with it's three cars and the three from the 2124 GG1 set as well as the Sager observation and it ran just fine. I think it would need a little more weight to tackle much more though as it seemed as though the drivers were on the edge of slippage even with the traction tires. I didn't feel like messing with a thrown tire, so I went back to four cars and ran for a while.
I must say as well, this would seem to have the finest smoking action I've seen on an "old" style Lionel engine. I also noticed it was puffing just a little on each side in time with the drive rods which is an effect I definitely like.
A+ on the Smoke unit for sure.
A+ on the Running out of the box.
A+ on no broken or bent parts out of the box.
C+ on that darn plastic coupler armature on the tender, I hate those...they always seem to deflect under a heavy load.
B+/A- on getting a good acceptable mix on the right original details and the right new tech or mech updates for reasons of cost and commonality.
I would give it a straight A and I can't wait for the freight set to get here. Wish I had ordered the seperate merchandise car and a second Sager Obs. I thought about getting one when they came out...big mistake 
I would also like to say, Of all the CC sets and engine's I have purchased I haven't really had any issues other than the spurious stopping from one GG 1 reverse unit.
I'm a happy camper with them all.
Originally Posted by EJN:
Originally Posted by Dennis Holler:
. I think we'd all agree we have either heard of or experienced those challenges with all the worm drive pullmor motored steamers from the MPC era onward with but a few exceptions. I don't remember if the PWC 736 was made in the USA (pre China) or after, but maybe this one has "all new tooling" and the drive mech was
The PWC 736 was made in China. They were loud.
So much accumulated slop from armature/bearings on one end through drivers and side rods to the other end seems to be the culprit causing excess noise. I swapped armatures with an old postwar 736 and it did quite it down but tolerance was a little to tight.
They were nice looking locos with good sound package otherwise.
Received my 726 Passenger set today, this is a keeper. Lionel did a fantastic job on this. Runs like a charm. Now to get some extra passenger cars
Mike P
I just compared these CC Madison passenger cars to the "Lionel Legends" Madison passenger cars produced a few years ago. They look the same except that the color of this set is closer to the original Tuscan Red than the reddish brown color used on the Lionel Legends cars. The 2 center wheels of the 6 wheel trucks are blind like the originals, while the trucks on the Legend Madisons have flanges on all 6 wheels.
I think Lionel did a great job on these cars and when matched together with their new CC 726 engine, it appears they have come very close to capturing the look and feel of the original set. Now if they could only produce another run of Sager Place observation cars.........
Any pics of the diecast flatcar? Mine was warped (entire casting) and just want to see if it was a fluke or not.
Originally Posted by OKHIKER:
I have an all original 726 Berky from 1946 and another from 1948. Both have green jeweled classification lamps on the outside.
Some time back there was discussion about the missing outside jewels on this new Berk. However, since the outside of the light fixture is flat where the original jewel was, it seems it would be easy enough to glue one on if a person wanted to (the jewels are readily available). I don't know if the original jewels were flat on the bottom, though.
Something bothered me about this 726. I think it was the odd texture and thickness of the steel rims...and the shininess of the drive rods. The steel rims had the looks of a Chinese/Korean lower end Lionel engine. Specifically that baby hudson from a few years back. It just doesn't look like the thin durable American stamped steel. And I know China can make it look the same.
I like on the old Berks how Lionel blackened the pistons and pilot to make it more durable against use and scratches....and they painted the lower contact areas.
