Anyone on the forum have personal experience with Lionel's Polar Express with the steam whistle effect? How good a smoker is it compared to other Lionel engines? What about the sounds and is it a good puller? Finally, nyone know of a place you'd recommend with a really good price? I think a while back someone on the forum had gotten it for $250 but can't find that thread and when googling it, the only hits have been in the high $280's and up.
It was good until a flame shot out of the stack of mine and smoke came out of the engine the wife was not happy at all. The whistle steam stopped working and so did the headlight. And before that I sent it to Lionel 2 times 
The sounds are good and the tender is die cast. The whistle is also nice metal and it has two cab figures. The sounds are railsounds and MUCH MUCH better than the air whistle or trainsounds. I had it pull 22 cars with no problem. To be honest the smoke unit only worked well with the whistle steam so I am considering installing a Lionel fan driven smoke unit because I have had luck with them. Surprisingly after the Flame shot out of the stack the motor and reverse board still worked. When it did work you cant blow the whistle and have smoke when running only in idle. I still think it was worth the price of 275 because of the added features and great sounds. It also pulls a lot better because of the die cast tender. You can get it to run slow and it runs very smoothly and quietly. It will also coast nicely because of the flywheel motor. So I would reccomend it and 280 seems like a good price 
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