Lionel Consolidation Thoughts, Musings, and Wonderments

More ”idle thoughts:”

I first saw Lionel’s Harriman Consolidation (SP 2685) displayed at the fall 2002 York meet. A “must have” for my modest sized family room layout. I bought one at a SoCal MSRP hobby shop when the loco was released the next year (for about $649).

A beautiful piece of work by Lionel, it was from the start , and remains to this day, my smoothest and most  responsive runner. That drive train is absolutely silent, allowing full attention to its TMCC sound. The only disappointment has been its one chuff per driver rev. Because this locomotive so beautifully met my need for a smallish but model quality steamer, It has been an almost permanent resident on my layout over the past eighteen years.

Hopefully the new release will please buyers as well as mine did.

I have the Legacy SP version from the 2015 catalog.  It had two issues:  the boiler smokebox was an ugly light gray paint, and because of poor ground pickup in the locomotive, it would stall very easily if the smoke unit was on.

I fixed the first issue by painting the smokebox with Neolube, and fixed the second by running a tether from the tender to provide better connectivity to the outside rails. Now it looks and runs fine.

With all the hue and cry over pricing in the new catalog, no one seems to have commented that MSRP for the Consolidations is $50 cheaper in the 2021 catalog than in 2015 ($749 vs $799).  

I think these fall into the category of close enough. Tough to charge a high price for a model not totally accurate to the prototype in most models. The 10 Wheelers fall into this category as well. I have one redone into a Rutland. Close enough for me. My only knock is the inability to doublehead without it being the lead engine. Enough models produced over the years. Parts should never be a problem.

Imo, there's no comparison.

When the original MR S3 was offered it was ALL NEW tooling along with a new cylinder steam feature. As well as the first time multiple whistles could be selected.

The $899? Price was possibly the deal of the century taking everything in consideration.

The modest pricing of the 20 year old consolidation is right in line with other small steamers like the H10, 4-6-0's, and 2-6-0s.

Of all of these models. The H10 has the feature edge with the added swinging bell.

Not everyone can run a big 4-8-4 around their layout. These smaller consolidations on the other hand, can run on most layouts. Thus the plethora of roadnames, I bet these sell very well.

Jim - I don't know about Musings but I'm very thankful that Mr. Muffins is prepared to do a Custom Run of a Canadian National Consolidation - provided a minimum number of 20 are pre-ordered, even though Lionel requires a minimum order of 40!  That's what I call stepping up to the plate!  Now I'm just hopeful that he receives enough pre-orders by early August.  (An additional bonus is that his selling price of $675 is $75 under the MSRP.  😀)

Over the past 30 years I've been hopeful that Lionel would produce either a CN or CP 2-8-0 but unfortunately they've done neither, which is surprising to me because both of these roads had Consolidations on their roster right up to the end of the steam era, that lasted into the early 60's in Canada.

For anyone who may be interested in this engine it can be viewed on his website under '2-8-0 Custom Runs', just click on it and when you get the next screen just scroll down where it says 'Title' to Canadian National #2616 and then click on it.

@OddIsHeRU posted:

The only disappointment has been its one chuff per driver rev.

That can be fixed.

Chuff-Generator

A little historical article on the "Harriman Common Standard" locomotives here.

Interestingly, the article states that the HCS 2-8-0s were built with cylindrical (Vanderbilt) tenders, as were the original Lionel SP and UP offerings, but that they were coal-burners.

Did Lionel use die cast boilers and tender shells for these or are they just plastic?

@ChooChoo1972 posted:

Did Lionel use die cast boilers and tender shells for these or are they just plastic?

I've never seen a plastic boiler on any of Lionel's Consolidations

@Jim Brenner posted:

Finally, I wonder if this engine, like the Milwaukee S3 Northern 10 or 11 years ago, is Lionel offering something attractive at an attractive (!) price to keep us all interested?

And, yeah, I'm gonna bite on a MR Consolidation.

One thing I learned while working for Lionel: Lionel did offer a lower price on the S3 Northern to see if it would increase sales. Since the lower price did NOT result in increased sales, Lionel decided not to offer a lower priced locomotive again.