Lionel Legacy Heavy vs Light Mikado

I bought the light model before the heavy one came out. It smaller in size but look Good with 027 size cars

I don't have a comparison photo but I can tell you that the only difference is the boiler. The boiler on the heavy is noticeably larger in diameter and sits higher, so the silhouette is more massive. The light Mike has a slimmer appearance. The difference is made more visible because the top of the boiler sits above the cab line on the heavy, while it is below the cab line on the light engine. 

The chassis and tender are identical on the Lionel models. They are derived from K-Line tooling acquired by Lionel when K-Line went out of business. This is prototypical - the prototype locomotives were also identical in appearance except for the size of the boiler. The two versions were made to accommodate different axle loading limits on the railroads that ordered the locomotives. 

It surprised me that the Lionel Heavy Mikes flew in 'under the radar' so to speak.

I don't remember many threads about them when released earlier this year.

I'd like to see the comparison photos also.

You might go back and check the history - there were several threads about the Heavy Mikes when they came out; one of them was pretty extensive, with photos, videos, and such.

I have one of the light Mikes, and for my use, it's a very versatile engine. Being scale, it looks great with scale rolling stock, and because it's not too large, it also looks great pulling my traditional sized cars.

Personally, I like the looks of the iight Mike better; less chunky, and the tender looks better with it. This tender, which isn't too large, looks a little undersized with the Heavy version. This is on the nit picking side, though. Just my opinion.

 This tender, which isn't too large, looks a little undersized with the Heavy version.

Good observation. The Milwaukee Road, which owned 100 USRA Heavy Mikados, re-equipped #364 with a 12-wheel tender from a wrecked 4-6-4 passenger engine. The combination looks more appropriate than the Heavy Mikado with its original tender. Curiously, K-Line's semi-scale Mikado from way back when is a similar combination, although they never decorated it for the Milwaukee Road. The Milwaukee also gave some a few of their USRA Heavy Mikados 12-wheel tenders from scrapped 2-6-6-2 Mallets. The passenger tender was better looking; the huge Mallet tenders looked a bit out of place on a 2-8-2. 

Unfortunately, the only photo I can find of #364 with the 12-wheel tender is spread across two pages of a book, so it won't scan. 

Thanks for the info SWH.  One of these days I should take a trip south to Tucson to meet up with you.  If you ever come up to The Valley and want to meet, let me know.  With that info and what breezinup said I think I'll request a light version as I do have a lot of traditional stock.

That's actually the one I was looking at since I did find a place or two with it.  But I still have a couple months before I can pay for it, so we'll see who still has it then.

Lionel's model of the USRA Heavy is very good. Right from the original USRA design.

I bought the L&N, but I will change the tender numbers and the generator location. These are not wrong, but reflect an early style and location.

Like the real thing, the Heavy was a Light frame with a larger capacity boiler mounted on it.

The drivers were the same size, as I recall, on the Heavy and Light. The Heavy did have larger cylinders, but I do not know whether Lionel went this far; I doubt it, as only

hard-core steam guys - like me - would care - the visual difference is small. I just haven't measured yet.

The "little" tender looks just fine to me; it is the accurate size per the original specs. I do like a big 12-wheeler, myself, but the L&N versions kept the 8-wheelers, so I shall too.

The Big Mikes were very imposing; they worked in and out of Mobile, and even in my lifetime, but I was too young to know or care. I was 6 - 7 years old when the L&N dieselized completely, and all the other roads serving here had been dieselized since the 1940's, so I never knowingly saw any of the Mikes.

I would love to have the Pilot version, too. 

I've got both of them and finally had a moment to go and take a set of photo's.  Hope they answer the questions your looking for.

As has been pointed out, they use the same chassis, steam chest, pilot and tender.  It also appears that the smokebox door is the same.  From a size standpoint, while they are different integrated castings, the cabs are basically the same size.  So the real difference is the diameter of the various courses of the boiler.

David

dsinn,

Those are beautiful!

The last photo really shows the difference - the more massive look of the Heavy vs. the slimmer profile of the Light. 

...although having the Heavy in the foreground of the picture accentuates the difference somewhat.

I thought of that after I took them, so no argument here.  How about a nose-to-nose view?  

David

They both look wonderful.  I guess I just have to get both, and double head long trains.  Pity only GN got one in each, but I've never been one to worry about matching things up, so different roads works for me.

Thanks all!

Here is a heavy:

Here is a light:

Dave

Okay new question about these Mikados.  If they are the same except for the boiler, why is the light rated at O-36 and the heavy at O-54 for their minimum curves?

In case anyone else was wondering, I took a chance and bought a heavy, and it does run on O36.  Just go slow on back to back O36 switches S-curve and the pilot truck won't jump out (Might just be my beat up switches that caused it.).  But on curves it sails right through at speed.

I have two light`s a GN and PRR they are great engines ,good smokers 

the only thing I don`t like is the sounds are low and cannot be turned up.