Lionel Autoracks and Motor City Express ...Now with flashing ETD

Im guessing the SD80 still has the shallow fuel tank? The low end sound seems to be much more pronounced, I like that.  The auto racks look excellent. 

Thanks for sharing this. I'll look forward to more. The set looks nice and the sounds on the SD80 are quite good.

The racks are of particular interest to me. I'd be curious to see them photographed closer to track level just to see the ride height. I'm likely to try a few of the individual cars. (I'd love to get my hands on the one with the ETD if any dealers break up sets).

RM

The ETD is on the BNSF rack.

If I had time I would have photographed more of them.  Hopefully others will post too!

That sd80 sounds exactly like my lionel 28357 csx sd60, horn and prime mover.  Is it that hard for lionel to come up with actual sounds or something close to the real thing???

I guess I better start checking my credit card bill and watching my doorstep. Something good is coming from Charlie Ro! Finally!!

I was with Charlie when the video was taken today. The engine was being run with TMCC. I think it sounds good but it's probably better with Legacy. As for the fuel tank, well that personal preference. I like it where it won't hit everything track side.

Charlie,

Do you happen to know what size curve that is on your friends layout?  The overhang from that 24" auto rack didn't look too bad.

Mike, Hopefully Jim will jump in and comment on that.  I would say 060+

The curves were made with Gargrave flex track, each designed to fit the needed curve. All are 072 or wider.

I have to see the final version of the Grand Trunk Western Auto Carriers.

Andrew

I'll get one of those out tomorrow and snap some shots.  They look really nice!

Me Too!!

Thanks for the info Jim 1939,

My outer loop is Fastrack 072 and inner loop is 060.  But most of my switches are manual 036 (Because they are 3 to1 cost wise vs. CC switches)  So if I were to pick up some of the auto racks, they would be limited to the loops until I can upgrade my crossover and yard switches to 060.

Very nice autorack! The sounds on the diesel are very impressive. It would be great to see video of the entire group of autoracks.

Are the autorack sides stamped aluminum?  Similar to the catwalks on the double stack cars?

 I've ordered a bunch of the cars and now I'm glad I did. They look great!

I do like the overall look of the diesel and it sounds good. The horn is well, .....ok to me.

 It must be tough to capture the real horn sounds. Most of them never seem to hit it.

Does anybody know how tall these are?

like the LIONEL Husky-Stacks or the ATLAS Gundersons container cars?

Achim.

From deduction if the real cars are about 16' tall, 1:48th model cars would be 4" tall.

Andrew

MichRR714 or anyone who has seen the engine - how are the details esp the fuel tank.  Is it the correct length and is it lower then the typical Lionel fuel tanks.  New MTH has had longer and lower fuel tanks that look better then the Lionel ones - no flaming wars here I just want as close to scale as possible after paying this much money for scale equipment.  Mine should be here next week - fingers crossed.  Thanks Bruce

Sorry to say Bruce but they SD80 have the shallow tank. I cancelled the motor city set and will buy the auto racks separately. Very disappointed in Lionel's decision on the SD80. There are plenty of other diesels that can be run with the racks.

Andrew these pictures are for you. I know Charlie is going to post actual pictures later in the day but I thought I would put these on for you.

Charlie did you happen to measure the height of these cars? Thanks

The people at Lionel said the final version will not always be what was in the catalog. There are always details to be corrected.

Andrew

Pops I'll try to do this for you all sometime later today.  I've been under the weather, darn kids got me sick.

Charlie, Thanks hope you get to feeling better soon.

Perhaps, but I think the majority of folks will come to their senses once the hype and fascination wears off with these newest Lionel models.  Haven't seen them in person yet... and while they may look nice, they're simply too long for most folks' layouts.  But then again I never understand why folks try to run long locomotives on O-54 curves (or even smaller radius curves) either.    

I have no plans at this time to sell my MTH auto carriers.  They're all made after 2008 (with the inset trucks), and they measure just under 21".  They make quite a fabulous unit train and more than look like the real thing.  But I'd be the first to admit... a rivet counter I am not.

David

The MTH cars are nice but if the Lionel ones don't "wow" you nothing will. As for the fuel tank, I said it earlier I prefer having it high enough to not snag on something. It sure would not be the cancel my order factor for me.

I've got all of these racks on order and am glad I did!! They look awesome!! Nice video too!! Thanks for sharing this -- all I can say is WOWWW!!

Jeff you will NEVER GUESS which ones I have on order

Bill, let's see, hmmmm... um, I would bet the CN and GT 2-packs are coming your way! 

Jeff mmmmmmm I think you GOT IT, I dom't know how in the world you guessed it lol

Merry Christmas Jeff and I bet you and your boys are enjoying the season.

 I don't know the height of these. I think there was a link posted of a Lionel news page with some info listed? They are very good looking cars and I do buy other Lionel cars as well. I will keep my MTH auto racks and I also run the ATlas ones. I think they will be ok to my eyes. I'm not that picky I guess. I do appreciate the extra details. I've always wanted to take a small drill to the panels and dremel the inside  on the MTH racks to make them see through. The different lengths will be interesting to see near each other.

I totally agree with you David. While I'm very excited to get the set and the 2 add on cars, I'm not going to dump my MTH fleet just because they are a little undersized, and I have a layout big enough to handle these monsters easily. Truth is, most people I know couldn't tell the difference, unless I told them.

The Lionel cars are gorgeous, but they are also expensive, and will be for a very long time. Limited roadnames and production are going to keep prices up, not to mention the the fact that 2 railers will add to the demand.

I'm going to wait a while before I start buying 2 packs, I have a lot of layout to build first, and would rather pour that money into track and switches. At $1320 MSRP for all 6 2 packs, that's a lot of Ross switches. Something like 2 dozen.

Real ones are right around 20 feet tall. So if these are true scale, which they appear to be, they should be 5 inches.

 Thanks Elliot. It only said they were scale sized.

http://lionelllc.wordpress.com/

the page keeps loading older news as you go down. I just saw the Control post about running Legacy from your tablet. Very interesting to me.

Here you go Pops..

Those look so nice!! Can't wait until my fleet arrives- that GT is as good as it gets- thanks for posting again!! Can you please post that UP too? thanks and Merry Christmas to you guys!

Charlie wow those really look very nice. I am looking forward to seeing them run.