Lionchief...Any Experience?

Got to play with the Peanuts Halloween set at York, basic diecast 2-4-2 loco that Lionel has made for a long time. For an entry level set, the sound is quite impressive. Can switch between regular steam sounds or Halloween sounds from the middle button on the remote.

Have Percy James Thomas in the remote control engines. Not the + version but they work well but are very slow to respond to the direction controls, turn the dial and wait very slow kids new to controller just flick them back and forth without the engines moving, very easy to over shoot a station stop.

otherwise they work well good sounds. 

They are so easy to use, even adults can learn to run the train in a very short time.

I had the opportunity to run the polar express set yesterday. It is a very impressive set. The quality of the sounds is excellent! Deep whistle and chuff sounds. The announcements from the movie are a real nice addition. The remote is very easy to use and allows for easy access to all of the engines features. In addition you can really get this engine to creep along. It smokes very well. It seems that they have improved the motor in these engines compared to the previous engines. Lion chief has really added a ton of play value to this set.

-Ryan

As far as a simple remote to play with a toy, absolutely !!!

there it is , Just a kid at mind and heart

Just last Thursday my 5 year old just got the LionChief Polar Express set that was supposed to be here for his birthday in August. Nevertheless it is a great set. Sounds are amazing for a starter set and Tom Hanks "This is the Polar Express"  is very clear and the chuff, bell and whistle are fantastic. It will creep along very slowly if you want it too as well even when run with AC from our ZW-L. We have remote Thomas and he doesn't like AC as well. Thomas will run slower with the wall pack. By the way both the PE and Thomas make the amp meters on the ZW-L bounce back and forth the whole time they are running.

We have had Thomas the Tank with the same remote as Lionchief for awhile now.  My 3 year old grandson LOVES it.  We run it on the Legacy home layout and it works great.  It is easy for kids.  It is basically the 2013 version of the old standard transformer with the exception that it has the same characteristics of command control.  Run it on any track, any loop.  I think it is the way to go for todays world.  Also the remote is unique to each engine.

We set up a display using the Santa Fe diesel LionMaster at the store the other day, and discovered you can't kill power to the track from the remote.

 

The display is on an elevated platform, and the power supply is plugged into an outlet strip installed on the platform. The outlet the stripp is plugged into is  controlled by an X10 remote, but turning it off kills everything else plugged into the strip also. So to turn off power to the track, without turning everthing else off too, we have to climb a ladder and unplug the wall-wart.

 

This probably isn't an issue for a home layout. But for any business looking to do an elevated around the wall display, such as several resteraunts in the area, it could be an issue.

 

 

you must have missed my report.

 

lionchief report

I picked up the Lion chief Peanuts set for my daughter.   It is a fun set to run and it run it on my main layout.  She operates the train while we operate others running command (legacy dcs).  I may pick up a polar express to run on my tree layout.

I am definitely interested in getting a Lionchief set, or am I better off waiting for the "plus" version?  We are set up for conventional use only.

It works ok, but the Thomas controller has a "cheap" feel to it.

 

The advantage to the Plus is that if you lose the controller, you can still operate the train.

 

My question is this:  If MTH can place full DCS in their set locomotives, why can't Lionel place some sort of TMCC lite in there set locos, with a "TMCC Chief" controller?  TMCC is over 20 years old.  There should be a way to make this stuff cheaper.  If some parts are not being made anymore, there should be some other work around to get it done.  Anyway, that engine can run on a full TMCC/L layout when the hobbiest wants to upgrade.

"why can't Lionel place some sort of TMCC lite in there set locos, with a "TMCC Chief" controller?  "

 

Lionel knows that most people still use conventional power, and don't want to invest high hundreds or thousands of dollars in this hobby.  LionChief and LionChief Plus should provide command level operability at much reduced cost compared to TMCC/Legacy equipped locos.  The fact of the matter is if you want to operate multiple locos on a layout independently (the main benefit of command control in many people's eyes), LionChief does that at minimal cost.

 

I was startled that Charles Ro will be selling the initial LionChief Plus steamers at about $310 and the diesels at $240.  These prices are one to several hundred dollars less expensive than Legacy equipped locos.  It's a different strategy than MTH is pursuing, with an emphasis on enhanced function with minimized cost.  Just as LionChief sets underprice the competition by $100 or more, these locos underprice the competition by $100 or more. Finally, these LionChief and LionChief Plus locos will operate just fine if someone moves up to a TMCC/Legacy and/or DCS layout.  They work well with fixed voltages in the high range, apparently.

 

I find it hard to find a business or even hobbyist argument against that strategy, but as always, your mileage may vary.

these lionchief trains have very good sound.  I believe Lionel did a good job with these sets.  once you hear it I believe you will agree.

I'm guessing locomotives of the original conventional PE set and the LionChief share the same tooling and if they do could the shells be swapped so the LionChief loco fame/body could have the original conventional set loco shell with the handrail? Wonder whether or not any internal antenna for LionChief wouldn't allow such shell swapping.

Also, moonman or anyone else who's run the new LionChief PE, do the chuffs seem to be controlled by a reed switch or tach in PE's motorloco itself or by a magnet in tender and speed of tender's truck wheels rotation?   

Kenn,

I haven't looked. I took the engine and tender out, connected the tender and ran it on my mountain in progress and the reversing loops as a trial for both. Then I packed it away.

I'll be investigating that soon.

 

What does this mean "anyone else who's rumotpor itself or jn the new LionChief PE"?

 

Update: I just watched Mike on the LionChief demo video. It appears to have the conventional shell with handrails and the chuffs are definitely not four per rev. The smoke puffs look like two. Appears that some lobes and\or magnets will be modified.

Would any one that has one of the new sets perhaps Peanuts or Polar Express be able to tell me is the throttle response instant or is it slow like the Thomas and Percy and James Lion Chief engines? When you turn the dial it takes a while for the engine to respond??

 

Also something to consider is that for about $50 more you can get a similar MTH engine with full command that has more features like being able to run scale lashups etc. with full responsive command on the engines. And better overall details.

So why buy a similar engine from Lionel  for $50 cheaper with far less of the controls?

 

MTH starter sets have a similar command controller to Lion Chief system!

 

"So why buy a similar engine from Lionel  for $50 cheaper with far less of the controls?"

 

Are you suggesting that new MTH Rail King steamers are available for $360 and diesels for $260,  street price?  That's not my experience.  More like $100 more expensive than these LionChief Plus locos.  For some folks that's a big difference, and most people don't use all the features of a Legacy or PS3 loco in any case.

 

"MTH starter sets have a similar command controller to Lion Chief system!?"

 

I don't think that's correct. The MTH locos have PS3, a command system, but in order to use it in command you need DCS, so add a few hundred dollars to the set price.  The controller with the set will only control one loco at a time, so if you have multiple sets/locos, you essentially have conventional control, and each loco will need to be on an isolated section of track, with conventional wiring. 

 

With the LionChief and LionChief Plus locos and sets, you're in command mode from the initial purchase as each loco can be controlled independently with the remote that comes with the set/loco. Plus the Lionel sets are $100 or so less than most MTH sets.  So I don't think the systems and approaches are equivalent in these respects.  I'd suggest these new Lionel starter sets have greater initial functionality at lesser cost than the equivalent MTH sets at this point in time, at least until one springs for DCS, which increases the cost differential even further.  Two very different technologies and approaches, and to my mind, Lionel now has the advantage in both play value and cost.

Thanks for the reply, Moonman. Sorry to you and everyone else who read my original post but that was a typo I didn't notice. It should have read "anyone else who's run the new LionChief PE"? (Note:  I've since edited my original post and corrected it.)

Overall, Lionel might bec heaper in cost but MTH sets seem more robust in construction.

it is not instant but faster then the peanuts.

 

fast enough, imo

Why is anyone talking about the other trains? Is there a problem understanding the topic of the post?

This is about LIONEL LIONCHIEF trains, just sayin'.

Just disappointed there was no LC offering in the NPC line.  Legacy Pioneer Zephyr and Diesels too...  but no LC NPC starter sets.  What's with that?  Seems like a natural for kids to operate the switchers and dump candy canes and such.

 

Here are some photos of train display I ran for a weekend we gave the kids hand sanatizer and paper towel to dry before passing them the remotes. Thomas, Percy, James and Cranky the Crane (Toys R Us purchase) remote controls.

Click on photos for larger image.

The Lion Chief engines were a real hit with the kids with line ups all day to run them.

They were easy for the little kids to figure out how it all worked. The engines ran very well all weekend.

I hooked it up to a Lionel CW80 transformer and turned the power down so none of the engines would go to fast and derail.

 

I guess that will not work so well with the newer Lion Chief + engines that might need full 18 volts for the smoke unit or perhaps couplers to work??

 

Looking forward to Lionel releasing more of these.

 

And the comment on the MTH sets was just an interesting comparison of $ per feature.

 

Think the Lion Chief is a great idea much better then having kids handle a $200 or more controller and have it get dropped and better then having them in the layout handling transformers plugged into 120 volts.

 

Way to go Lionel.

 

??????????????

the thomas remote was the first of the new remotes and played a big part in the re-naming it to lionelchief.

I was speaking of the Mike's hijacker's-Thomas is a very useful engine!