general inquiry regarding current 2--E series locomotives

From my limited experience, after 80+ years all of the engines have gotten their own personalities. That being said, they are usually all good runners, though the size of the engine is a factor to how much it pulls.

thanks carguy, and just for the record I was only thinking of express trains so thats probably just 3-5 coaches per train catalog-wise

rural D,

   All are great Tin, MTH has done a great job on the Reproduction, my 263E runs like a top and I love the P2 version.  I am looking at a 260E Christmas Train, I want to pick  up at the end of the month. 

PCRR/Dave

RD,

I'll let the others explain this in detail. What you do need to keep in mind is the size of the locomotive. This will determine what size of cars you will need behind it. An example would be the, 260E is the largest of the O-Gauge steam. It will need the larger cars which do cost more.

RD,

   Pappy is absolutely correct as usual, the Lionel 260E & 263E both came with 800 series rolling stock, the Lionel 259E and the 264 came with 2600 series rolling stock, Lionel actually had 3 different sizes of O gauge Tin Plate trains, as the engine and rolling stock got larger, so did the cost.  The 259E is the smaller engine, the 264 is the mid size and the 260E & the 263E are the larger of the O gauge engines & tenders. 

PCRR/Dave

So far no one has mentioned the 262E. It was sold with 4-wheel freights (800 series), eight-wheel freights (810 series), lithographed 1710 series, 613,614,615 pass., 610,612 pass. for example. The 262/262E was packaged with a number of cataloged outfits from 1931-1934 and was used in promotional outfits from 1935-1938.

This loco was/is a smooth runner and will continue operating smoothly if routine cleaning and lubrication is done on a regular basis.

Ron M

didn't realized I missed mentioning that at first but I probably should had mentioned I was looking at the more current MTH offerings (but it does appear that I'll be getting into the 2600 series wagons alone)

happy pappy and PCR, thanks for mentioning that. I had actually been privately wondering for awhile about the 260/263E indeed having a more beefy looking boiler beside different trim mount origins compared to the 216E/262E

The 260 family of locos dwarfs the 262 family both in length and height. 260E loco length is 11-5/8" and 4-1/8" high.The 262 loco length is 9-3/4" and 3-1/2" high.

Ron M

Ron, 

My typing is getting hard. Thank you, for posting specifications.