LionChief Plus Engines are up!

so to hopefully end this argument,

the plus engines are NEW and are not any that have already showed up in past catalogs.

 

correct?

Charlie

 

Is this Lionchief plus going to end up in the starter sets?

Wow. 

 

If these are intended for the enty-level market, I think they miss the boat, price wise.

 

Rusty

My take is these are not meant as entry level locos, but rather mid-level.  They fall in cost and capabilities between the entry level locos without LionChief or LionChief+ (<$200), entry level LionChief set locos (<$150) on the entry level,   and locos that are "high end" with Legacy (>$450) for the committed, higher spending hobbyist. 

Charlie, two questions
1) are these being built as preordered like the legacy engines in 2014?
2) the hudson that was shown in the youtube video with jaydon reese was not the same on shown on your site. Are the hudson and pacifics pictured the models we are going to get in the end(tooling wise)?

Not at this point John.

Rusty they are mid range engines. More like Railking.

LionelZW

1- No

2- I can't answer that. They were shown at York, Mikado is new tooling

sir-I reviewed the catalog pics and the tooling looks lie traditional or pw .I take it these are entry level  engines

I dunno'. $24.75 for a GP7 or $32.25 for a Hudson strikes me as fair. I think I'll order them all.

I believe these will be very popular when people decided to upgrade from the starter sets. 

 

It is also a good way to see if you would like command but yet keeping conventional. 

 

I think it is a winner.

Need new glasses?

 

Pre-Orders: You will be charged 10% of the Pre-Order price when you place the order. The Rest of the bill including shipping and any taxes that may apply will be charged at a later date. The total Pre-Order price will be displayed in the product title (this does not include the cost of shipping or any taxes that may apply).

(Yea I know tough audience)

Yeah, I do. but it was fun for a moment.

That Lionel Mikado in Chessie Steam Special colors was a big surprise...

Thanks Charlie, I pre-ordered a LionChief+ B&O Pacific.

I thought Lionel did most of these engines over the past several years with both TMCC and Railsounds. I think some of the steamers even had Railsounds 5.0 and the prices were about the same.

 

So, what's the point of making them with a limited control system.

 

Please don't take it the wrong way I'm just trying to understand the logic with this move on Lionel's part.

Trainman9 - for me, I don't run TMCC or Legacy, so this allows me to play with some command control with walk-around remotes, without the larger commitment.   I can run this loco on my main layout, on my Holiday layout, on a club layout - wherever with no changes or conversion needed.     And its easy for kids to operate.

Do these engines come with the controller or do you have to purchase it separately.

The handheld controller comes with it and is unique to the specific model engine.

Looks like the RS-3 models are on EMD Blomberg trucks - rather odd looking under those Alcos...   

I will not be pre-odering one but I will be getting one around May for my son when he turns 4.  This will be perfect for him.  On the Legacy remote there are way to many buttons for him to push and stuff and he is frustrated with it.  This simplified remote to run His Loco is exactly what he needs.  He can run it on my layout with no modifications needed, just set the loco on the track, turn on the power and off he goes.  

Thanks Charlie, I pre-ordered a LionChief+ B&O Pacific.

 

Thanks Ken!

The "target audience" for these will likely not know, nor care. 

I agree with RickO, though I am not interested in the RS-3.   At a price point of $250 or so (preordered), consumers at this price range are not all terribly concerned about details.   The folks buying $1000-$2000 locos (and even those in the $500+ range) should reasonably expect that details should be correct - certainly something as obvious as the trucks.

For those of you interested I emailed mike reagan about the hudson and pacific engines. He told me they were going to be the semie scale ones that were tmcc command and command ready anouced in 99 and delivered in 2000.
I asked because the hudson in the brocher looked different than the one jaydon was demoing in the trainworld video.
This is a big deal to me at least in my pre order desicion.

• Remote Features
• The "throttle" rotates to increase and decrease speed in both forward and reverse
• The red light at the top of the remote is a speed indicator; steady when in neutral and blinking faster as it accelerates
• Long range control, up to 60 feet
• Buttons for whistle sound, bell, special announcements, and ElectroCoupler activation
• Multiple frequencies available, so multiple engines can run in the same layout at the same time
• LionChief locomotives can run on any Legacy , TMCC, or conventional transformer layout with 18 volts of power supplied to the track
• Requires three AAA alkaline batteries (not included)
• Special "Sleep" feature prolongs battery life

Gauge: Traditional O Gauge

 

Do the remotes have multiple frequencies so that one remote can operate more than one engine or are additional remotes required. I think the remotes are unique to a single engine.

Do any of these engines come in the Lion Chief Plus Sets? If so what do the sets cost?

Do not belive at this time there are any lionechief plus rtr sets. Give lionel some time and I am sure they will have some. These engines seem to be the product roll out. Only time and how they are recived will tell I guess.
I have had all these engines and from a operating stand point. With speed control and fan driven smoke I think they will be better than the old versions. Just my opinion though.

Currently, the remotes are all keyed to a single frequency/engine.  Would be logical to expect a multi-loco (multi-freq) remote to come out if these sell well.

It would be nice, otherwise I will have them lost just as I do for the TV, Cable, Surround Sound, PS-3, DVR, VCR Remotes.

 

It will really be bad since they will all look the same! LOL

I was just looking on the Lionel website before looking on the forum, and Lionel now has the LionChief Plus locomotives listed in the product finder. The lengths are listed, so assuming the info posted on the Lionel product finder is correct (not always the case) it gives us more information.

 

Pacific - 19-3/4" - This agrees with the semi-scale Pacific locomotives listed in the past (listed at either 19-3/4" or 20").

 

Hudson - 18-3/4" - There is a discrepancy here. The Hudson Jr. locomotives are listed at 18-3/4". The "baby" semi-scale Hudson locomotives are listed at 20-1/2" long. So, something appears to be inaccurate.

 

Mikado - 19" - Charlienassua posted this is from new tooling. The Mikado Jr. locomotives are listed at 19". So, if it is a new locomotive, it is going to be about the same size as the older Mikado Jr. locomotives.

This area has been a noticeable hole in Lionel's product line and so I think it is a good move on their part.

I was studying the pics that Lionel has posted, and the Mikado seems to have substantially more complexity to its running gear.   If as mentioned above that the Mikado is new tooling - I may have to order a Mike to keep my Pacific company.  But its probably not new tooling for this release, just "newer" than the Hudsons and Pacifics.   This loco looks like a bargain with all the features at Charlie's pre-order price.  

The Mike looks exactly the same as my NYC one that has TMCC/RailSounds that I upgraded to Cruise.  Nice detail!

 

Jon

They seem to be very well received

When lionel came out with lionchief I felt these were the steamers to put these in. I am so glad they choose these for lionchief plus.I hope the 080 switcher with the upgraded side rods is next on the list. For diesels I hope the ft's are next. When the line expanse at some point.
This line was long overdo in lionels line up  IMHO! At least from a control point of view. The only thing that could have been added is dedicated buttons for the forward and rear couplers on the remote. Although thats just being nit picky. All in all I cant wait to see it in person and witness the speed control and smoke volume for myself. I am all in when I have the money.

I am a little disappointed.  The are releasing several Canadian engines, which I think is great, but they missed the boat.  They offer a Canadian pacific but did not copy Steamtown's 2317, which would have been awesome with the feedwater heater and number boards.  And instead of offering the mikado in a 3254, they chose a hudson instead.  While a little high for my usual train budget, I would have bought both of these as I have ridden behind both engines...

 

The rest of the starter sets should be in shortly

Charlie,

 

  Are the Legacy powermasters in stock yet?

 

Art

Originally Posted by MTN:

Looks like the RS-3 models are on EMD Blomberg trucks - rather odd looking under those Alcos...   

The "target audience" for these will likely not know, nor care. 

 

When I was at the Lionel booth at York, I believe the RS-3s had the correct Alco trucks.  The reason I believe this is that Blomberg trucks would have stood out like a sore thumb and I don't remember thinking they had the wrong trucks.  My gut instinct is that the production models will have the correct trucks.

 

As for saying that the target audience will not know or care, that may be true for some or even a majority of the target audience but how could you possibly know that is true for all potential buyers?  Manufacturers can only lose sales by putting the wrong trucks on a model so why lose those sales?