Legacy N&W J Review

Yea the new daylight has the added sounds to.. Sounds neat on take off.

The sounds on both my J and GS-2 are good- the creaking, a bit of brake squeal, and some sort of steam release sound upon stopping are nice but I'm not sure how new. The chuffing in both is not quite as deep or rich as on a few others that are recent - the shape and size of the tender seems to matter, and not always the biggest being best (my Southern Crescent has fantastic depth and richness to its chuffing and it has a smaller tender than these two).  Anyway, I run only conventional so I am not able to activate crewtalk, etc., which is good since I find it terribly annoying. 

 

I don't miss the whistle steam at all.

 

And I love the sliding windows in the cab!  But the J and the GS have this, which as far as I know is new in Legacy.  I've checked all my other Legacy, Vision, and older TMCC scale (premium at the time) locos and only the vision Challenger and JLC Big Boy and Allegheny have that feature. 

>>>I love the sliding windows in the cab!  But the J and the GS have this, which as far as I know is new in Legacy.  I've checked all my other Legacy, Vision, and older TMCC scale (premium at the time) locos and only the vision Challenger and JLC Big Boy and Allegheny have that feature. <<

 

Joe, I agree that the adjustable draw bar should be included on all new Legacy steam engines.  To me it's much more important than whistle steam.

An EXCELLENT suggestion! I have been unable to figure out why Lionel didn't/doesn't provide that "special" close coupling, self adjusting drawbar arrangement installed on the Milwaukee Road S3 4-8-4 models, on ALL their recent Legacy steam locomotive models. Besides, Many, or MOST, of the large SCALE SIZE steam locomotive models are designed for 072 curves, so why does there have to be 6 to 10 feet between the tender and the engine cab?

 

Just my opinion but, I believe that all the smoking whistle and swinging bell stuff is NOT near as important as close coupling of the tender to the engine cab, just as was accomplished on those Milwaukee S3 models.

Lionel even managed to fit the adjustable drawbar on the American Flyer S Gauge Y3.  The Euro HO manufacturers have been doing it since the 1980's!

 

Rusty

Although the gap between the engine and tender on the J is better then most I agree the close coupling like the s3 would be great. 

Lee,

 

the chuff on the J is nice and deep. You can't adjust the chuff because you run conventional. 

 

 Just another reason to run these engines under legacy, you are missing out on allot by not .

I am very happy with my Legacy 612.It's an slight improvement over the earlier Lionel scale 611 from a few years back that I also have.I also have 4 other MTH Premier J's w/2.0.The Legacy sounds are superior.I am very happy with these three latest Lionel purchases.The other two are the NYC Mohawk and SP Black GS6.

Again, I agree with Hot Water. As much as I love the whistle steam and other do dads, the close coupling mechanism in the MR S-3 is a great innovation. Though I absolutely will not buy another steam loco from Lionel without whistle steam, the close coupling is THE best looking and best innovation recently.

 

Typical Lionel to be so mystical about not including it. I'm sure the marketing people will tell me at York:

1) it would be just too expensove

2) oh, there is not enough room

3) we did the research and you operators don't want it

4) it's planned on all future locos including diesels.

 

since it was included on the S-3 with such a low MSRP, who can possibly predict the next marketing decision for Lionel? I expect a Vision Big Boy to cost $2,000.

 

Scrappy

I get to see some of these engines run and I was very impressed with the new J.  FYI, I have see the adjustable draw bar on recent Flyer S gauge locomotives.

Rather ironic - I've read dozens of posts where people go to great lengths to have "realism" in their trains and layouts and are appreciative of features (like the drawbar discussed here) because it is more protoypical (spacing).  Yet many on this forum also say they don't care about steaming whistle and other smoke effects, operating bell, etc. - even though these features also lend to "realism."  I just don't get it...  

 

Peter

 

First, MANY, MANY real steam locomotives do NOT have "swinging bells", i.e. NKP 700 Class Berks, SP Daylights, UP FEFs, Challengers, and 4000 Class, etc., etc., etc..

 

Second, unless it is pretty chilly outside, you can't even see the steam comming out of the whistle on real steam locomotives.

 

Thus, I would much rather have the "realism" of the close coupled tender to the engine cab!

I think the self adjusting drawbar is an interesting feature and I do wonder why it isn't a universal offering by Lionel.  Whistle steam is not something I really care about so I don't miss it - a swinging bell like on the V Hudson, yes, whistle steam, not important. 

 

Overall, I think all the recent Legacy locos are value for the money in this sense: where would I get more?  I have several recent MTH Premier PS3 steamers and while good, they cost roughly in the same ballpark and have noticeably less sound quality and no more detail or features.  Yes, I'd like the pay less, but the Legacy price is acceptable and I will keep buying, I'm sure.

The gap between cab and tender is visible all the time. 

 

Swinging bells and whistle exhaust, not so often.  Unless you're blowing the whistle and ringing the bell constantly.

 

Rusty

??

 

Hot Water - don't undertsand your post.  

 

If the real-life loco doesn't have a swinging bell, why on earth would you assume that I'm suggesting the model version have a swinging bell?  Obviously that wouldn't qualify as prototypical.  

 

And, don't understand your "steam whistle visibility due to cold" comment either.  Temperature has zero to do with whether a feature is prototypical or not. 

 

What I've taken from your post and the next two posts (Lee and Rusty) is that "prototypical" features matter on a purely subjective basis.  Hmmm.... 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, you obviously have not seen all the complaining posts on the OGR Forums about why the Lionel Legacy models don't come with the "swinging bell" feature, regardless of whether the REAL LOCOMOTIVE had a swing bell or not! 

Nope.  Haven't seen those. 

 

A - I try to avoid the nonsense because B - I'm still very much a novice and just trying to build my father-son layout project with my sons while I learn all I can about layout building, wiring and products that we can add to our small toy train collection - and share what I can as I gain experience going along.

 

Peter

It's all going to come down to personal pref. regarding what features are sought after and by whom.  This guy likes this and the guy over there likes that and so on. 

 

Chris

It's not ironic, it's a matter of priorities and mine and some others are just far different than yours is all.  Smoke and whistle/horn just don't matter that much to me. I turn the smoke off right out of the box - before I ever operate the train - my wife hates the odor and has a very sensitive sense of smell. For all I know I could have forty locomotives that have smoke that doesn't work and I wouldn't know it. This doesn't bother me because I was raised without smoke in toy trains - my mother forbid me to run my trains in the basement with smoke.

 

In an average week I probably operate a whistle or horn or bell maybe one time, for all the running the trains do (if I'm in the trainroom or workshop they are running). The only sound I want them to make is the chuffing and diesel rumbling, etc.  The sole exception is the MTH 241.A with its shrill European whistle.  I sometimes run that just to hear that whistle.

I really like the steam whistle effect on both my K4 and Hudson. I expect these to become standard features in the near future!  I have not seen products from any industry come out with special features like this and then abandon them. Take autos for an example, they don't come out with power steering and then say, " nah, it costs too much". I think in five years all legacy , or whatever is the control system is, will have these features, The Genie is out of the bottle, you cannot put him back. Fred

Amazing, I state an observation and people get defensive and bent out of shape. Lee - with all due respect, what are you talking about? Given I never even stated my "priorities," how do you know that your priorities differ from mine? I happen to agree on the drawbar. In fact, I read many of your posts and have learned a lot. Here, I was simply trying to understand why forumites arent consistent in the "prototype" comments. Now I know - concern over whether something is prototypical is often a function of personal preference. Peter

Let's agree that we just don't communicate.  I read your comments (and still do) as critical of people who really don't care about the "realism" or lack of it of whistle steam, etc.  Clearly you have different values - priorities.  But it doesn't matter.  No purpose served is talking any more.  With no rancor at all meant, do what you want - I surely will.

Since this thread is about the N&W J, and some are mentioning a swinging bell, does this model have the bell mounted on top or under the left front steps? If it is under the steps, the bell would not swing.

Now that there is  funny. Funniest thing I heard in a while

Wish would somebody imported a N&W 610 which tested on the PRR.