Anyone have this engine and has anyone done a review on it? What's the pros and cons
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mine runs great,no problems,don't expect any
Rod
I was able to find one at Eastside Trains in Kirkland Washington earlier this year when visiting my friend Larry Brown. It is the good one 6-38402 with all the right stuff. I will get to it and operate it from the catenary. I live on the Northeast Corridor and get to see several real ones each day.
Will legacy work with this engine? How are the details
It is TMCC, so yes, you can use your legacy controller in tmcc mode to run the engine.
The details are good. It is a lighter engine with small can motors, but it works great.
Mine works fine.
Peter
I have both the HHP set (31779) and the later issue separate engine (38402).
Both engines are TMCC. The engine in the set has a horn and bell only. The separate sale engine has full Railsounds w/ the usual crew talk and electrocouplers.
The sep sale engine does feel a little heavier than the one in the set, not sure what exactly is mechanically different between the two engines.
There is a review of the HHP set in May 2010 of the other magazine.
Photo below is the engine from the 31779 set.
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From the pictures it's doesn't look scale, is it suppose to be scale?
Originally Posted by Marty Fitzhenry:
I was able to find one at Eastside Trains in Kirkland Washington earlier this year when visiting my friend Larry Brown. It is the good one 6-38402 with all the right stuff. I will get to it and operate it from the catenary. I live on the Northeast Corridor and get to see several real ones each day.
Won't be seeing them anymore Marty. Amtrak has fully retired all of the HHP-8s in favor of the new ACS-64. MARC still has a handful HHP-8s running, but their time is very limited.
Originally Posted by Bnsftrains:
From the pictures it's doesn't look scale, is it suppose to be scale?
The Lionel model is 15 3/4 inches long coupler to coupler which equates to 63 scale feet. Real HHP is right around 67 feet so its pretty close. Figure maybe 90% scale.
The new one has much more robust electronics. I've worked on several of the originals, they had a version of the ERR MiniCommander 2 as the power and a simple horn/bell board. The new one has an ERR Cruise Commander and a RailSounds 5 board. The motors also appear to be much larger than the originals as well.
This appears to be a much more capable locomotive than the original.
Not a very good video but this the separate engine with the cars that came with the set. This is an older video of my layout
I got my son the set when it 1st came out. I think it's the only Lionel RTR set I've bought that didn't come DOA. He loves it, and I enjoy the engine too. I've thought about getting one for me. It paired nicely with my K-Line GG1 speed wise so I used them as a MU to pull a long train. If Lionel reissued the locomotive with full sounds as another RTR set, and offered more matching coaches, I'd get it.
Well, the new one is a much better locomotive and does have full RS5 sounds and cruise control. You could always just opt for a separate sale set of cars, lots of Amtrak cars available.
How do you tell the new one from the old one if you're looking to buy? Did the newer one come in a set or was it a separate sale item?
I'm not big on modern and I loathe Amtrak, but the HHP-8 is a very cool looking electric and I've thought of getting one and putting a retro Hiawatha paint job on it. It has a kind of a Euro look to it.
Originally Posted by gunrunnerjohn:
The new one has much more robust electronics. I've worked on several of the originals, they had a version of the ERR MiniCommander 2 as the power and a simple horn/bell board. The new one has an ERR Cruise Commander and a RailSounds 5.5 board. The motors also appear to be much larger than the originals as well.
This appears to be a much more capable locomotive than the original.
The new model is a separate sale locomotive, Lionel 6-38402, Amtrak TMCC HHP-8 Locomotive.
