Lionchief Bluetooth vs Legacy Bluetooth

Trainlover160OGR Forum Member

This is just an inquiry, and not a Lionel bashing. I was given the Hallmark Santa Toymaker Express Set by a friend. She won it in a raffle, and set it up one year and it was run very little.

After dropping it off, I unpacked it and added it to our Christmas Village. I ran it for 15-to 20 minutes, and it ran fine. Turned on following night and sounds stopped. Took engine apart to find a trace on sound board blown. Ordered replacement board from Lionel, and installed. It runs fine now. However, I thought if I had paid $400 for this set, I would be more upset.

This kind of left a bad taste in my mouth. I have always wanted a Legacy Engine, and would hate for this to happen on an expensive Locomotive. I know in this hobby there are no guarantees, and I know that starter sets are there lower end product line. Any issues like this on Legacy locos? This one was out of warranty as well.

Thanks,

Joe Gozzo

3/10/2111:09 PM

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CaptaincogOGR Forum Member DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

I have number of entry level Lionchief Bluetooth and several Legacy Bluetooth along with a number of Legacy only locomotives. I am at 2 failures for Lionchief and one for Legacy. The one 080 Lionchief start set engine board went out and buying a new engine would have been only a little more but it kills me to not fix things. I guess that is a bad habit of mine. The second Lionchief engine had a speaker go bad. The Legacy unit was an RCMC newer style board that went out. I think that most of these engines will run a long time and since we all collect we see maybe more bad units and remember the bad versus the good.

To sum it up: Stuff happens.

If you really want wiring challenges try owning an old British car.

3/10/2111:47 PM

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Trainlover160OGR Forum Member

@Captaincog posted:
I have number of entry level Lionchief Bluetooth and several Legacy Bluetooth along with a number of Legacy only locomotives. I am at 2 failures for Lionchief and one for Legacy. The one 080 Lionchief start set engine board went out and buying a new engine would have been only a little more but it kills me to not fix things. I guess that is a bad habit of mine. The second Lionchief engine had a speaker go bad. The Legacy unit was an RCMC newer style board that went out. I think that most of these engines will run a long time and since we all collect we see maybe more bad units and remember the bad versus the good.
To sum it up: Stuff happens.
If you really want wiring challenges try owning an old British car.

Well said Jeff, thanks

Joe

3/11/2112:02 AM

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