Has anyone received the new Lionel SD40 in Chessie System or Missouri Pacific yet?

catnap posted:

I think the Lionel truck side frames look more like the prototype. They have a thicker casting.

In terms of details and correctness, I'd give the Atlas Chessie SD40 an "A" and the Lionel an "A-". Overall I'd rate both engines an "A". The Atlas model has slightly better detail but the LEGACY sounds and lighting make up the difference in that category.

Thanks to Gunrunner John and the late Boxcar Bill all 3 of my Atlas SD40's run and sound amazing with their ERR Cruise Commander and Railsounds Commander upgrades.

Here is a picture of all 3...

Catnap! I think I'm in heaven!!

The Atlas paint looks much better than the Lionel. The Lionel paint looks almost faded compared to the Atlas. Still a nice looking locomotive. 

Here are a couple videos I took of my 2 Lionel Chessie SD40's pulling an auto parts boxcar train...

Cool video

Look and sound awesome 

Thx

Mark Mcclung posted:

The Atlas paint looks much better than the Lionel. The Lionel paint looks almost faded compared to the Atlas. Still a nice looking locomotive. 

+1.

(The paint issue was commented on previously as well.) 

catnap posted:

 I'm a bit surprised to see that only 2 of the 3 axles per truck are geared on the Lionel engine. All 3 axles are geared on the Atlas locomotive. Having said that, the Lion Drive trucks are the smoothest runners and will pull anything.

Nitpicking? Yes, but it just shows how awesome the Atlas models are. The Lionel models are very well done and I can't wait to run these 2 engines together.

You may have difficulties running the Atlas O TMCC engine with a Lionel Legacy engine, though - reportedly these two systems aren't compatible and don't play well together. Let us know how it goes.

All 3 of my Atlas SD40's have been upgraded to the ERR so I can run them together without having to change the settings on any of the locomotives.

If I want to run an Atlas SD40 with a Lionel SD40 I would have to set the LEGACY engine to R100 mode on my CAB-2 since that's the default setting for an ERR-equipped locomotive. Either that or change them both to TMCC (32-speed step) mode.

I guess the other option is to turn off cruise. Whatever the case, I see no need to mix my SD40's.

One day I'll post a video of a couple of my Atlas engines running so you can hear what they sound like over their original Railsounds 4.0 sound file. It's a major improvement to say the least.

I'm still on the fence how I feel about my new Lionel SD40's (GTW).  Some good things, some not so good. For the price I paid for them, I'm still a bit disappointed. I'll send Ryan at Lionel a note before i post my opinions here, but this much is sure: The Atlas models are much better pullers than these new Lionel Units not only due to the all-wheel drive which you mentioned, but also because the wheels on the center axle, while flangeless, also have traction tires. That's 4 wheels with tires.

I have a 4% grade coming out of my lower level staging yard. I have a 20 car intermodal train with die cast K-line & atlas cars. I need both Lionel units running together to get that train up the hill, and not without some significant wheel slip. They can barely do it at all under speed step 10 or so. My Atlas SD40 can pull that train up the ramp all by itself, smooth as silk at speed step 1 or 100.

The mesh radiator screens on the Lionel units are the best I've seen on any model of any scale. Very nice. I'll post my opinions on the rest when I get a chance. Thanks for posting yours catnap.