Lionel B-6 locomotives available.

Very cool Doug, can't wait to see mine!  It supposed to arrive tomorrow, just in time for this weekend's modular club outing.  It will certainly be a featured attraction when I'm running.

Thanks John, yes it certainly will be a featured attraction especially with the way it smokes .  My running session video is uploading to Youtube as we speak.

Running session is up

Not much smoke, and don't see the steam whistle effect. Assume you had these turned down/off.

Smoke isn't that visible in the video due to white background (and I had it turned on low), and it doesn't have whistle steam because the boiler is too small to fit it.  It really does smoke a lot though.

Just unboxed and tested our new 1670 0-6-0.

It arrived from Nassau today in perfect condition.

We have the original K-line version so I can just give some brief comparisons.

Cosmetically, it appears identical. Looks like Lionel changed very little if anything. Seems to be the same amount of detail and add-ons. Not a bad thing as the K-line version was pretty detailed in my opinion.

Even the side rods are darkened the same way as the original K-line.

Same front and rear marker lights. They don't change with a direction change.

The new has an LED bright white headlight instead of the yellowish incandescent like the K-line.

Operationally, the Legacy speed control is very smooth to say the least. No gear, side rod or motor noise that I can hear.

The chuff sound is much deeper than the original with more echo or reverb. 

The whistle on the new version is the banshee style while the old was the Lionel small-steam, Atlantic type. The quilling works fine and the bell and crew talk options all seem in good order.

The fan driven smoke unit has strong output but I am hearing quite a bit of fan/motor whine from the smoke unit.

The close coupling option using the first hole on the drawbar provides a very prototypical spacing and worked fine on my 072 FT curves. The tether is the same 4 pin style as the original K-line.

Very smooth through my FT switches with no hiccups at all. With all four of the rollers being connected, stalling should never be an issue.

Overall, very pleased. The K-line had been one of my favorite locos since purchasing it in 2003. However, I always wanted better slow speed control and a fan driven smoke unit. The small boiler didn't allow for those retrofits.

The new Legacy version provides both features and retains all of the great visual characteristics of the K-line classic.

Lots of great comments, looks like Lionel has a winner here.  I do applaud them finally connecting the tender rollers and locomotive rollers together, I've been doing that for some time on small steamers to improve running reliability. 

I have the K-Line A-5, and I've been considering trying to stuff fan driven smoke into that one as it's the one thing that it really cries for.

All I can say is WOW!  What a great little locomotive!  I unpacked it, did a quick lube job and added smoke fluid.  This one gives MTH smoke units a run for their money, it really pumps out the smoke.  As others have said, I think it'll be running on low most of the time.  The low speed performance is second to none, less than 1/2" a second, and adding the drag of the track cleaner didn't change the performance at all, quite impressive.  Great sounds and lighting, what's not to like!  The whistle is really cool, occasionally you'll get an odd note if you modulate it just right, I love it!  The background sounds as you run slowly by are very cool as well, almost like the real thing.

John,

Glad to hear that you are enjoying the new loco and yes, the background sounds are really a nice touch.

Just curious, how many drops of smoke fluid did you add before running? I know that the instructions say 20 but I wasn't sure if that was more of a bare minimum.

Listen Everybody,

I just received my Pennsy B-6 switcher like gunrunnerjohn. I could only run it for a couple of minutes before euphoria set in and I had to run to the computer. This locomotive is absolutely fantastic !!!!

When Marty Fitzhenry said this was his best smoker, I thought, perhaps, Marty had found someone's stash from the 60's and pushed it into the stack and lit it. Marty Fitzhenry saying that a small Lionel switcher was his best smoker ?? Come on, man. I know Marty has a "few" steamers as he has said, but this is a small switcher. What's up?

This loco is SURE SELLOUT. Get one of these right now. Today. Get to your phone and order this.

1) ******* amazing smoke right out of the box. I added nothing.

2) No lube, no oil, right to the track with momentum set to "8" and it crawled along slower than I do on a hot day and that is SLOW.

3) Great sound with a killer whistle. A high pitched wail of a whistle and you can modulate it for several different sounds as gunrunnerjohn said.

4) Excellent running gear detail !

5) Rollers on the loco and the tender so NO stalling.

I'm a foamer, right ?

mariostrains.com just sent an email announcing that they have all flavors of these in stock with free shipping which ends up being just as good as the pre-order pricing + shipping from most of the big guys.

Prototype question - what would have been the purpose of the two horizontal pipes along the top surface that run from one of the domes back to the cab?

I did my standard 1/2 a dropper from the JT's MegaSteam dropper to start.  That worked very well.  After about 15 minutes, I put in another 1/3 dropper.  It gets "good mileage" from the smoke fluid, even though it's sure shooting out a lot of smoke, great stuff!

Another thing I didn't mention, if you have O72 curves or larger, use the close coupling on the drawbar.  It really pulls the tender in, looks really fine!

I received my B-6 Monday but I did not get a chance to take some photos of it until today. Unlike most I purchased the Polar RR one. I do believe it will look great pulling a string of my Polar Express scale hoppers.

Lookin' good Paul, I didn't even see the Polar Express model.

Excellent idea, Paul.  That's what I was thinking too.  I received my Polar RR B6 earlier this week, but I haven't had a chance to put it through its paces yet.  Nonetheless, I like this loco so much, I ordered a Pennsy version as well!!!  

If I were a betting man, I'd say these will be tough to find in a few weeks.   Unlike the VL Big Boy, this little jewel will find a home on many a layout of all sizes.

David

We still have PRR and LI left, on sale with free shipping on our website. Thanks. 

I thought I had enough switchers but after seeing this one I think I got room for one more In the fleet. 

Here a picture of the Reading Seashore line version.  Unfortunately mine had a broken tether connector, but other than that smokes like crazy and run great.