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I just got off the phone with Chuck Ro.  He wanted my opinion on the new Lionel B-6.  He told me to let OGR Forum members know that he has a few still available for sale.  Give him a call at 781-321-0090.

 

I have run the wheels off my new B-6.  Dave_C stopped by today to give it a look.  This engine will crawl very smoothly at 1 speed step.  The smoke output exceeds any steam locomotive that I own.  I have a few.  All the tender rollers and engine rollers are connected as are the grounds.  It is impossible to stall this locomotive on any switch.

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Joe, I do not know the history behind the yellow.  I do know that was the last steam engine on the PRR to have steam.  I like it very much.  I like heavy smoke and this is the first locomotive in my life that I had to turn the smoke down.  I have run it for hours.  I did not mention that it walked away with 8 MTH Amfleet cars.

 

Brad, what would you want me to measure?  Let me know.

Last edited by Marty Fitzhenry

I'm a switcher junkie. The 0-8-0's are my go to's. My biggest gripe with the Lionel's were the huge gap between the engine and tender. It is fixable but involves some work. I have a legacy version as well as an older Odyessy. A few MTH's too. Talked with the engineers from Lionel and asked if the newer runs could offer a shorter drawbar for scale opperaters. They informed me they going with an old school tether to link the tender and engine to eliminate any stalling. Would also be adjustable. Pretty much resembles an old Proto 1 or QSI with no loop. I noticed the new setup on Captain John's video review.

 Had a nice lunch with Marty and got to see the new B6. I'm not a Pennsy guy. If I was this would be a must have. One of the best running and sounding steamers I've seen. This creeps and smokes as good as anything out there. Watching it go through a Ross #8 at the slowest crawl I think I've seen. I don't think there's a combination of switches that could stall this engine doing switching moves. I leave the accuracy to more knowledgable members than me. It's a looker. Those who enjoy switching type moves at industries or making up trains in the yard. Will love this engine. As far as price. I once owned a Williams Brass B6. Paid over 400 for it over 20 years ago. Fast forward to the present and what this engine offers. It's a bargain. The good news for me is. They will continue to 

make 0-8-0's. The new drawbar is not only an improvement performance wise. I think it looks better as well without the clunky looking IR setup. If there's a switcher in the next catalog in a roadname I want. I'm a buyer. Good job Lionel.

Marty / Captain John,

Not sure why either but I just bought my first Pennsy engine on my predominately western road dominated railroad. I liked the yellow so I went with the 5244 from Ro tonight. Plan on pushing GLa and H21 hoppers through the yard. I really liked the whistle and the smoke is great. Should be a fun engine. The other Pennsy engine I want is a T-1.

Joe 

 

You're right about that.  I have the K-Line A-5, but the Legacy enhancements to a nice PRR switcher was too much to resist.   I actually have bid on a couple of B-6 switchers in the past, but never landed one.  Now that I am moving to the sensor tracks, having stuff that works with them is making a lot more sense.   The bonus is I won't have to do any upgrades to this one, it'll have all the stuff I usually add out of the box!

 

 

Originally Posted by Marty Fitzhenry:

Joe, I do not know the history behind the yellow.  I do know that was the last steam engine on the PRR to have steam...

Yes, I posted this on another thread. PRR #5244 was the last Pennsy steam locomotive to operate. As of July 1959, it became the last one in service, under lease to Union Transportation, New Egypt, NJ. As far as the yellow, I have a ton of PRR switcher/shifter pictures including #5244 from "back in the day." All are black and white, so very hard to tell with coal dust/dirty hands, etc. to tell if there is any different color on the handrails. Having said that, someone else posted a video on the other thread I mentioned, for the Williams Grove (PA.) Railroad who operates a PRR B4 which has (a lot of) yellow handrails. Tom

Screenshot_2015-08-23-16-54-40

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Last edited by PRR8976

Hard to tell what color this walkway is, but it isn't black.  I am assuming we're talking about the walkway side and not really the handrails, those are normally stainless wire on most Lionel steamers.  I don't recall ever seeing the handrail painted.  Are we really talking about handrails and not walkways?

 

 

 

The new Legacy one doesn't show any yellow, does anyone have a picture of the actual item?  Here's the picture of 6-82184 from Charles Ro's site.  Is that what it actually looks like?

 

Two different animals posted there, John.  The top example is the USRA factory shot, where they usually deck out the loco with catchy paint detail...white wall tires and such.

 

The Lionel catalog shot shows no sign of the yellow railing detail found on the new release.  I doubt the reason for painting them yellowgoes beyond an obvious safety feature.  A lot of Pennsy from the 40's and 50's painted railing that way.

 

Bruce

Originally Posted by gunrunnerjohn:

 

 

 

 

The new Legacy one doesn't show any yellow, does anyone have a picture of the actual item?  Here's the picture of 6-82184 from Charles Ro's site.  Is that what it actually looks like?

 

You must have missed Martys original thread on these: Lionel B6 in atCharles Ro.  He has photos of the loco if you scroll down.

 

These are available in 3 Pennsy versions and 1 polar RR version. 5244 is the one that comes with yellow tender handrails.

 

BTW these don't come up on Ro's site under steam, only when you type 0-6-0 in the search. I'm not sure what heading they're under. On a side note, same goes for the ESE hudsons, they only come up when you search J3a.

 

 

 

 

 

Last edited by RickO
Originally Posted by Mike CT:

Amazing how this stuff is re-cycled/ re-introduces...

Ironically, back in 1991/1992 when Lionel re-issued the B6 then, I think it was catalog'd with Lionel's phenolic #700-series semi-scale remakes of cars originally produced in the 1940's.  6 cars were catalog'd with the B6, followed by another set of four 700-series reefers shortly afterwards.

 

I have that entire set of 10 phenolic cars, which I've decided to keep as period pieces for sentimental reasons.  They are excellent cars for their day, although the detail level on today's scale rolling stock admittedly surpasses that on Lionel's 700-series rolling stock.

 

David

Last edited by Rocky Mountaineer

Mike,

I have the K-line version and while it is a good looking model, I was never happy with the slow speed performance or the puffer type smoke unit.

Glad to finally see Legacy speed control, fan driven smoke and 4 chuffs.

 

A PRR 2-8-0 should be due in the next catalog or so. I hope they start from scratch on that one as the 2000 release was a complete dog both in terms of appearance and performance.

 




quote:
Ironically, back in 1991/1992 when Lionel re-issued the B6 then, I think it was catalog'd with Lionel's phenolic #700-series semi-scale remakes of cars originally produced in the 1940's.  6 cars were catalog'd with the B6, followed by another set of four 700-series reefers shortly afterwards.




 

The 18000 B6 switcher was first offered in 1989 and was shown with the 19709 Pennsylvania work caboose  It was offered again in 1991, and shown with the same caboose.

In 1991 the reproductions of Lionel's four prewar semi-scale cars were first offered.

The matching  C & O stock car and Lackawanna refrigerator car were offered in the Lionel 1992 Book two catalog. I don't think any of those six cars were offered in any other paint schemes.

Originally Posted by C W Burfle:

quote:
Ironically, back in 1991/1992 when Lionel re-issued the B6 then, I think it was catalog'd with Lionel's phenolic #700-series semi-scale remakes of cars originally produced in the 1940's.  6 cars were catalog'd with the B6, followed by another set of four 700-series reefers shortly afterwards.


 

The 18000 B6 switcher was first offered in 1989 and was shown with the 19709 Pennsylvania work caboose  It was offered again in 1991, and shown with the same caboose.

In 1991 the reproductions of Lionel's four prewar semi-scale cars were first offered.

The matching  C & O stock car and Lackawanna refrigerator car were offered in the Lionel 1992 Book two catalog. I don't think any of those six cars were offered in any other paint schemes.

In 1999 the Reefer was offered in a 4 pack NYC Roadname and the Stock Car in a D&RG 4 pack. The Die-Cast Hoppers have been offered in C&O and B&O road names, I believe. The Die-Cast Tank Cars have appeared with a number of Petro Company logos over the years.  I still see some on e-Bay from time to time. They are all very nice cars, IMHO.

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