Do you think having LionChief in the new Polar Express rtr set engines will improve their slow speed and smoking performance?

Smoking should improve - logically if 18V on the track.

I don't know about the slower speed - depends on the internals of the receiver.   I look forward to hearing about it.

did anyone get the set yet?

I suppose it depends on what power supply you are comparing it to: the ZW-L chops 18V, too, so I doubt I will see any difference on my layout.  Someone using, say, an old 1950s Marx power supply (pure sine-wave output with few low voltage steps) will probably see a noticeable difference. 

 

The only actual experience I have is with remote Thomas, which has just 16 speed levels (I understand - the ones I have seem to actually have only 8 within the range you normally run).  It was not spectacular as to low-speed.  I am not sure how closely related to Lionchief it is, etc. - but it came out of the same "shop" so . . . 

I would try to answer this, but the overly long body of text made it impossible to read after the second line.  A bit of formatting would do wonders.

After my experiences yesterday, I can confirm that you can run Lionchief and conventional together. (The remote Thomas set will run anyway.) Although it is not an ideal arrangement for many reasons.

 

I know that this is true, because at the show that I went to yesterday the Dutch Hornby club had an O gauge display running. After conspiring with one of the club members, we placed my Thomas onto the track, and set him off chasing a pre-war train around the layout. This caused total confusion to the operator of the transformers, as he couldn't understand why this little engine was changing direction and performing other antics outside of his control unless he shut the power off completely. 

This was on variable DC voltage too.

 

Really?  It formats for me and the text here isn't that long.  Maybe you browser is messed up or something.

Nope, one big blob of text on multiple browsers

Better now?

Thank You Allan

I think the Lion Chief plus engines can switch between Lionchief command and conventional, so this should be popular.

 

As for the accessories guess they will have to be some other way, not sure what that is going to entail since I thing the Wall Wart is DC

Lets be clear here lionchief is a rf based system. it has improved sounds and the engines runs on 18 volts. The remote has whistle,bell and sound button.plus a speed control knob. Based on the price point they probably have a puffer type smoke unit and no cruise type speed control. They are targeted to the rtr starter set crowd.
Then there is the lionchief plus.
The plus being,speed/ cruise control. Fan driven smoke units and electro couplers.plus sincronized chuffing sounds.
This is targeted and priced for the mid level operator with small layouts from 027 radius on up.
The engines are tooling that have been done before and semi scale in size and detail.
As to the polar exspress it is most likely lionchief as with all the rtr sets. The lionchief plus is avilable in just the engines in the brochure currently offered right now.
I suspect if these engines prove to be big sellers and reliable as it relates to minimale repares for the service folks at canfield. I suspect you will see more engines and lionchief plus rtr sets in the future.
I can't wait for a demo video from mike when he gets up and running.
If they were to make lionchief plus  mid line rtr sets which ones already offered would you like to see reissued or remade with this new control system?
I would like the texas special set offered with the twice around oval and the two ft diesels.
Plus just for a single steam loco they could put this in the conventional classic berkshire loco. This would be a good loco for small layouts with great running,sound and smoke and given some many people like this engine in the looks department. With the new upgraded control system it should be a win win I would think.

I would think that with running at a constant 18V even the nonplus enginnes will have greatly improved slow speed and up/down grade ops vs running on variable volatge

Yes, except power supplies like the ZW-L chop a near-constant 18 volts to vary power, too, so it may be that Lionchief Plus does only as well or just a tad better than that: I can imagine why constant 18V chopped by the loco might be a bit better than chopped 18V from the track supply, or not . . . 

 

I have two questions: 

1) Have these locos (such as 6-81295 and 6-81303) actually been released?  They are not in the Lionel shipping list, but that is not always an ironclad assurance they have been shipped.  If they have been shipped I can't find any place to actually buy one.

2) Does each loco come with a remote to operate it?  Or do I have to buy one, as with Legacy locos?  I looked on Lionel's site and could not find any Lionchief Plus remotes listed as a separate product. 

If I can find one to buy, with the remote, I'll get it just to test Lionchief plus control vs. ZW-L in conventional.

I believe the short answer to your two questions is "Yes".

 

I have only been able to play with prototype Lionchief locos at this point, but their low speed performance was quite good.  Production sets are on the way to us and we can give you a more definitive answer after we test them.

 

Since the engines run at 18 volts, I would be surprised if they are not good smokers.

 

One thing I did notice with the prototypes was that the speakers in their tenders allowed the sound systems to operate at their full potential, which was very, very good.

 

Ed Boyle

 

This should help answer the question. Go to about the 3:00 mark. It creeps...

I've seen Lionchief locos for sale, but I can't find any Lionchief Plus except listed for pre-order.

Everyone, lionchief plus is brand new (just released but not out of the factory yet). It only comes in the engines listed in the brochure that was handed out at york. The lionchief engines in the sets at the moment and the one in the video are quite different. No cruise type speed control and no fan driven smoke.
Maybe there are more differences under the shells so to speak,but those are the stand out two. Just think plus and non plus when you think lionchief. Hence the price difference. One is starter set amied and the other is mid level coustomer amimed. Both have deticated remotes that come with them and are rc based. Hence the 60 feet range in the brochure. Hope this clears up the differences a little for now. that is how I read it to be from what lionel has put out so far.

The original poster asked about performance of the Polar Express with LionChief. That is exactly what you see in the video I posted. The prototype for the LionChief Polar Express.

I have to say as a father of two small boys that originally got into this hobby for them I am very excited about this for them.  I can now let them go nuts with this compared to the legacy engines and being afraid of crashing or who knows what they will do to the pricy stuff.  My only question would be if you can control the volume level on this.  I am not sure how many times I could stand "all aboard". Super loud.  

Does anyone know if the engine in this set is powerful enough to pull all the cars including the after market add on cars?  I have the P.E. version 1 and i make out at pulling 4 cars with the smoke stack turned off.

I've run mine with 5 cars, and it has no trouble at all pulling them. It also smokes like a chimney, sounds great and has pretty decent slow speed control too.

At the Lionel  Event in NC they were running both Lionchief and Lionchief plus engines. They smoked very well. The plus engine was a steamer and it was operated at a slow speed but the others were running on two loops and being operated very fast.

Is there a volumn control on the remote?  Also can you turn off the sounds?

The LionChief Plus engines are showing up in stores now, M.B. Klien's in Baltimore 'ModelTrainStuff.com' has them on line for sale now.

 

It is controlled by the remote, if you watch the video that I posted Mike Reagan tells you how.

 

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I bought the PE Lionchief engine from a set breakup and it pulled all 8 passenger cars and 2boxcars all through Christmas with no issues and smoked great.

That's really not good enough slow speed control for switching moves.  Still, it is a step in the right direction.  Perhaps if it was lubed and broken in?