Lionel Legacy E8 A-A sets

I have two sets coming from Nicholas Smith on Friday. They shipped out Tuesday. I did not get Santa Fe. For me it was Rock Island and I latter added Wabash after the new cars were announced. Will post pictures when I can.

Joe

I have Wabash set coming but haven't seen a notice from Ready To Roll yet.

 

Legacy Station (Brian) shipped my Wabash out today. ETA Friday!

Right, an inquiry of my dealer disclosed that they had in fact arrived today. Trying to arrange a Saturday delivery 'cause after the weekend I'm back on the road. Ugh.

 

Anyway, I look forward to other people's photos if I can't post any myself.

My sets are at Charles Ro.  I purchased the PC and Wabash for now.

I am really looking forward to seeing these..... mine haven't arrived yet..... we're out here in the wilderness....

Indiana is not the wilderness - but maybe Carmel is . . .

I just got a notice from Charlie Ro that my Erie E-8's will be delivered tomorrow.

I'm really excited to see the videos and photos of the new E8s. Especially the SF set.  That was a big temptation and I don't even model the SF.

 

Hancock52, e-mail me.  There isn't one in your profile.

My SF engines will be here next Tues from Ro... they really shoulda made B units too

Wow, Brian from LEGACY STATION, called me and said your SANTE FE E8's Are on the Way...Should be here Friday! It's going to be an Expensive Spring!!!! Heavy Mikado, and Who knows what's next???? Happy Railroading...

My MKT E8's will be here tomorrow from Charlies Ro. Can't wait!

I have Phil Klopp at the house in the morning for a few days.  We are heading to Charlies to pick up my engines.  I will post some pictures.  The Wabash will be a looker but I have seen the PC run back in the day.  The new Legacy diesel locomotives are great with the RCMC board system.

Get out the washers and the dremel! Its time to fix those pilots... it'll be easy!

Hey Joe,

When you get your Rock Islands let me know what you think. I am looking at picking up a set.

(Somewhat related . . .)

 

I have really enjoyed the Legacy locomotives I have, both diesel and steam, and these E8 A-A sets caught my eye. I have the MTH F3 A-B-A Santa Fe and Union Pacific sets, with both leading and trailing A-units powered in each set, and only the B-Units are non-powered.

 

These new Legacy E8 A-A sets, however, include one powered and one non-powered unit. Is this the way Lionel has usually offered their F3, E8, etc. A-A sets; i.e., with one non-powered unit? How about the A-B-A sets?

 

Thx!

 

Alex

Bagelman, I know a guy.

Alex,

 

I have the PRR E-8's from the 13V2 Catalog. The Lead A is powered, Trailing A is not, but does have Lights, Smoke, & front E-Couplers. I had the L&N F7's from 2012, and their configuration was the same; Lead A powered, Trailing A is not, but had Lights, Smoke, and Front E-couplers. Lionel hasn't offered an A-B-A to purchase, since I came back to model trains in 2011. So I cannot answer your Q in that respect. If you buy standalone B's, you can buy powered and unpowered. Powered has motors, traction tires, smoke, lights, and an E-coupler on one end. Dummy B has nothing, just a painted shell. 

 

HTH.....

I can't speak for the complete run of recent diesel sets but the couple of Legacy A-A sets I have bought have one powered unit and one unpowered unit, for example the 6-31755 Texas Special E7 set from 2008 and I think all of the E9s catalogued in 2013. As noted above the unpowered trailing units are fully featured with smoke, directional lighting and couplers.

 

I haven't found mine to be underpowered although they don't have multiple powered units like MTH offers (and K-Line used to). Of course they also don't have the tether MTH uses, which I don't like. However another alternative is the Sunset 3rd Rail E7 A-A sets where both units are powered and function really smoothly as a lash-up (sorry) under TMCC or Legacy so no tether. Better detail than Lionel but of course the operating features, particularly sound, don't have the same play value as Legacy.

 

Update: Through the excellent service of my dealer my AT&SF set will arrive on Saturday. If no one else posts pics of theirs I hope to do so this weekend.

Alex,

 

Lionel has traditionally offered their F3/F7's as AA sets (one powered, one dummy), and USUALLY offers both dummy and powered B-units separately -- sometimes simultaneously with the AA sets, but sometimes in a follow-on catalog.  That's the big wild-card though.  For example, they never offered a dummy B-unit for their Legacy Canadian Pacific F3 locos.  So we needed to purchase two powered B-units to get an ABBA configuration.  Not the end of the world for sure... but just an example of an odd offering.

 

I've stayed clear of Lionel's Legacy E8/E9 AA sets, because I tend to prefer ABA or ABBA configs. And Lionel hasn't been offering B-units for the E-series locos -- at least not recently.  If you can live w/o B-units though, the sounds in the E-series AA pairs are very close to the show-stopping echo effect first achieved in the Vision Line Centipede AA sets.

 

Will be interesting to see some videos of the latest AA sets, re: the sound department.   I'm expecting Lionel will hit another home run here.

 

As for price/performance... Of course, we always pay a premium for Lionel offerings.  For example, Lionel E8 AA sets will run you $650 street-price when pre-ordering them.  But that's only ONE powered unit.  I just took advantage of a terrific deal at Nassau Hobbies last week and grabbed an MTH Santa Fe E6 ABA set for under $600 shipped... And that included TWO powered A-units and a dummy B.  Some folks here will make a big issue over the MTH tether, but it's no big deal on diesel loco sets... and mimics the coupler hoses of the prototype.  It's a very different look than the more unnatural "loop" tethers often seen with toy train steam locos for years.  With diesels, the tether blends right in.

 

As for maximum flexibility when configuring your diesel loco sets, I think Atlas-O wins the prize.  They offer the best variety of powered/dummy units with unique road-numbers throughout the offerings.  I just wish Lionel would license their latest Legacy electronics/railsounds to Atlas-O like they did years ago with TMCC.

 

David

I agree that the sound on the sets you mention is good and I hope for something similar in this latest issue. But the two I have only have sound in the forward unit and I'm not aware of any unpowered trailing E units with sound, at least none with Legacy. Just wondered whether you were referring to any that do have sound?

 

No... The non-VL E8's come close in sound to the VL Centipedes.  But as far as I've seen, the dummy A units here have no sound.

 

David

The only Powered A-A units with smoke and sound in each unit, that I have purchased were the Century Club II Pennsy Sharks  and the Trainmaster Demonstrators.

Worth every penny...

 

I really like the new sound in the first release of the E-8's.

 

Secondly, I am very disappointed in purchasing an A-B-A unit and the sound is only in the lead unit...

 

Note that some B legacy dummy units did have smoke units in them.

 

Picked up my SF A-As from The Train Station today.  Haven't had a chance yet to try them out.

 

- Mike

Yet you found time to make us all envious.

LOL... and you had time to post on the forum....

Ha! Another tease from Caruso, who as everyone knows is really the Most Interesting Train Man in the World.

 

I don't believe Lionel ever offered Atlas O the latest RailSounds package that Lionel was using at any given time. Atlas was always given RailSounds electronics that were a generation or two older. Even now, I think they may still have just RS4. Giving TMCC to Atlas and Weaver and others strengthened the market position of Lionel's operating system so it was in Lionel's interest, but keeping the latest sound system kept Lionel's marketing position over all the other manufacturers and wasn't shared.

We still have a few left for sale on our web site.

ummmm.... waiting for pictures   .... priorities???

Yep. Def cant wait to see some pics of the new ones released. 

+1

I really like you SF Freaks-you've got some great looking trains 

I picked up my locomotives today.  Here are a few quick pictures.  I will get some good ones Friday.

 

Here are the Rock Island E8's I received via FedEx about an hour ago. The numbers are 647 & 649. Also got a set of Wabash but there is a picture of one above.

Love the Rock Island!!!!

Those are nice Joe!

You will notice that Joe "received these about an hour ago" and here, a scant short time later he has photos up and posted!  .....Mike???

 

In reply to an earlier post about Lionel's configurations, it has been strange to me that in an ABA for years you could only get a single powered unit (lead A) and it was a long time before they began producing a powered B for separate sale. When they finally did, they were expensive at $300+ and didn't have sound. Why is that when you can buy some single unit diesels with sound, lights, etc for under $300?

 

MTH usually gives us the 3 unit set with TWO powered A's for the same or less than Lionel's AA pairs.

Where's Mike? He ran off with his Santa Fe's..... and notice Charles Ro email said SOLD OUT already for SF.... big surprise there.

Enjoy your new engines Marty. 

 

 

Sorry, just wanted to compare

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Laidoffsick - I hope you don't put off getting to work on your Santa Fe units.  You go first.

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Blue Streak - You have a handsome unit there!