Lionel Flyer docksider?

Dave... I have the Christmas version of this, which I bought in April & have yet to run much.  Yes.... a roller on each rail, drivers must be dead.  Can't answer about the gearing & such.

I have a Pennsy version of the Docksider by Lionel and an original Gilbert version. The new Lionel version is much better than the original Flyer. It runs better and also runs slightly slower which is a good thing. For the price they are a decent little engine.

Here's a page from the Gilbert Gallery concerning the docksiders.

Rusty

"Here's a page from the Gilbert Gallery concerning the docksiders."

   Thanks for the input guys. I was thinking these little locos would make  neat power for a small waterfront switching layout. The photo by Carl Tuveson of one sitting on semi scale track looks promising. .DaveB

I have a half dozen of the little Lionel Docksiders and find them a fun little loco that's available at a bargain price. As daveb mentions, they are regularly listed on auction sites for about $90. A better bargain might be to look for one of the "Ready-to-Run" sets like the earlier NYC set or the current SP set. While these sets list for $269, they can be found for as low as $149 on the auction sites and $169 from some retailers. The extra money is well spent as the sets come with 3 decent cars, a power supply, and an oval of track. In the SP set that track is the newer FasTrack while the NYC set has "regular" Flyer track in wide radius (54") format.

One thing to keep in mind is that the smoke output of these little guys can vary greatly depending on your power supply. I can run them on one of my monster Americen Flyer 30B (300W) transformers and barely generate a whisp of smoke unless I'm at full throttle. Conversely, while operating with the much maligned 30W PowerMax transformer that comes in the R-T-R sets they smoke like a bandit. The apparent difference is the "chopped sine wave" versus "smooth sine wave" output of these devices. If this matters, I'd suggest viewing the Lionel video that explains how the two wave forms work with contemporary locomotives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ilj3p-Ov3c

Or:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMR25JoCZiU

I have observed the same smoke output differences with the Docksiders and other AF by Lionel locomotives that Craig Donath has with chop wave transformers producing much more smoke than traditional AF transformers.

With respect to the "chopped sine wave" considerations, here is an actual "scoped" view if the output of such a transformer. In this case it is a CW-80, but the results would be comparable with even a lowly PowerMax 30/40. This vid makes more sense if you watched the Lionel vids mentioned in an earlier post.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEAy_B5bVX8