KLine Steam

We've had a couple of the scale steamer s- The Hudson, PRR K4, and a Mikado.  The detail is exceptional and they are fine appearing locomotives. The sounds are quite dated by now being generic Railsounds. Puffing smoke that again, not very good compared with the newer Lionel and MTH systems if that's important to you.

The Mikados and Pacifics are now being used by Lionel as their Legacy models and are excellent pieces.

I have a couple of K-Line scale Mikados (one TMCC, one PS-2), a Berkshire, and a scale Hudson that I upgraded to PS-2.

As Sam said they are great locomotives in terms of detail and running.

Lionel is also usng the K-Line Berk tooling for it Berkshire offerings.

The fan driven smoke units work pretty well, especially when upgraded like you would a Lionel.

The ones upgraded to PS-2 of course can smoke you out of the room in short order.

The original K-Line mechanical puffer type smoke units are kind of anemic, but they do work.

There was a post on here a while ago where Alex Malliae modified a puffer smoke unit and improved it dramatically.

You need to be careful that whatever you are looking at is indeed scale, if that is important to you. The scale stuff started in about 2002.

The Allegheny is semi-scale at about 1:58.

The Bigboy is also smaller than true scale.

Rod

Texas SP, K Line made some REALLY Nice Steam, but their Big Boy and Allegheny are way undersize in length width and Height.  I had a K Line BB, it was very small, I have heard from those that have both, the Allegheny and the BB were comparable in size. The K Line BB was very Nicely detailed, but was even SMALLER than a Lionel LionMaster Challenger.

          Right column from the Top

         1 Lionel Scale Big Boy

          2 Lionel LionMaster Big Boy

         3 MTH Rail King Big Boy

         4 K Line Big Boy

         5 Lionel LionMaster Challenger

         6 Lionel Scale SP AC-9

Doug

I have a K-Line PRR B6s switcher that is a super looking loco IMO.  It is scale and has TMCC. 

I have eight of them. All scale and love them. Yes the smoke is not great and the sound is dated but it doesn't bother me at all. I think they run and look great. Don

K-Line's scale Hudson is still the most accurate diecast model of a J1e class on the O-Gauge market today. Really wish they were still around.

I am forgetting my K4s post war scale PRR with TMCC.  I also like this loco very much.  It is a good runner and looks great.

I have two K-Line steam engines.  A B&O and a GTW Pacific.  They are scale.  I love the detail and the way they run.  And...I liked the prices I bought them for.  Matt

The Kline at least the one I bought Big Boy is "S" scale made to run on O guage track and is great if pulling 027 and slightly larger cars on a small lay-out. 

Everyone above pretty much nailed it about K-Line steam.

The GS-4 that you mentioned is not a scale model; it's selectively compressed.  The streamlined side skirting above the driver wheels is straight instead of tapering inwards towards the rear like the prototype does; the running gear isn't accurate for the prototype either but out of all the non-scale GS-4 O gauge locomotives made from various manufacturers over the years it's arguably the best-detailed non-scale rendering of a GS-4 made to this day.

Nick;

Could not agree more!

Presumably Lionel owns the tooling, and it would be nice if they would re-issue a full blown Legacy version.

But I guess this is unlikely since it would compete with their own scale Hudson tooling.

Rod

Well if there was nothing else but for the pictures I would call this thread a huge success.  Much thanks to all for the feedback and information.  Gives me a lot to go on.

Shame about the GS4 not being scale as for the price I just don't feel it's worth it to me considering the effort to change over to SP decals and PS2.

I knew the Big Boy wasn't scale but did not realize the Allegheny wasn't.  That's a shame as it's a beautiful engine.  

I really do like those Pacific's and the Hudson though, will keep my eye out for those.

Add to the list of Scale K-Line the PRR B6 0-6-0 and A5 0-4-0. While the Lionel Berks got bigger motors I believe the remake of the Mikado got the same Mabuchi RS385 that powered most of the K-Line steam.

Pete

I'm a huge K-line fan. I was not active in the hobby when they were still in business. I have managed to pick up some NIB steam engines in the last few years at great prices. My favorite is the Mikado, I really love the whistle on it.  Pretty much no matter what I'm running in a train session at some point I fire up the Mikado just to sound the whistle.

Ive added cruise to some and they run really great with it.  One of my many pursuits is more K-Line steam

I forgot one more - the Shay. Lionel is using the tooling for the K-Line Shay for their current two-truck Shay (the three-truck Shay is a Lionel original that predates the K-Line unit). 

I had both the Hudson and Mikado - or I should say, a Hudson and Mikado - for all I know K-Line made other models of both locos.  Mine were scale, as I measured them, and quite nice and detailed - and heavy.  In particular K-line had thick and very well molded metal castings and it gave the locos good heft and traction.  Mine were both reasonably good runners, and I liked them.  However, I gave away both last year.  Nothing wrong with them, really, but they had become increasingly obsolete compared to modern locos.  The K-line Hudson had details some folks prefer to the Vision Hudson - more accurate, etc., and was great looking.  Those more accurate prototypical details were not important to me but might be to you.  But the Vision Hudson was a whole other level as to modern running and features - the loco runs smoother, slower, and controls more linearly (and has awesome cruise control), and has sound that is simply another generation better, and of course, the bell.  I only need one Hudson, so . . .

I am mostly looking to these for the looks and not so much the electronics.  Will probably update to PS2/3 anyway.

I have found honestly, that 2-3 engines with sound running at one time is plenty.  3 really is on the verge of being too many and a lot of times I mute one or more.  I tend to like a loud chuff at low speed when you can here each one perfectly and the smoke puff matches.  At running speed I tend to like the volume lower.

I have my eye out for some of these locos.  Hopefully will get lucky.