Lionel Lionchief Mikado

Eric,

     Nice review, a few of my club's members have brought in Lionchief engines and they do pull like crazy. The Camelbacks and A5 engines actually look to be scale sized as Lionel uses the same shells they used for TMCC versions.

     One correction the Pennsylvania had tons of Mikados class L1 and L2.

     Keep up the reviews, still waiting for the 2-8-0 review.

JohnB

I REALLY want a LionChief Plus LIRR Camelback...

Jon  

Good to see you review a LionChief Plus.  I've always wondered whether they are scale or semi-scale; now I know.  Always look forward to your reviews!  Keep up the great work.

Thanks eric, even though I already new most of the things about the lionchief engine. Your videos always showcase the trains in there proper enviroment and make me want each one you review.

I may have to get one of these to run on the christmas layout this year. Wish they would make a polar express engine with the lionchief plus system. The speed control and fan driven smoke would really make it worth buying. I have one of the polar sets and the engine is ok. I would upgrade to a lionchief plus engine in a heartbeat. Thanks for the unbiased review and all you do for the hobby.

LIONELZWL2012,

I may be mistaken, but it seems you could purchase a lionchief berkshire and switch the shell with your polar express shell. 

Again, I may be wrong, but I thought last year Lionel brought a "special edition" lionchief polar express berk.

Eric great review

Thanks, Alex

Another great job by Eric.

Excellent review, Eric. You really show the features of this loco and all it can do. I have one small, very small, quibble. You keep referring to it as an entry level/beginner loco. For me and many others, we run traditional/post war semi-scale trains because we prefer them for a number of reasons.

Brr,  my polar engine is a regular lionchief. Got it in a set. I got a great deal on the set one year through amazon. Its ok but would love a lionchief plus one. I dont belive lionel has made one yet. As far as steamers go they have made pacifics and mikados plus the hudsons, camelbacks, the a4 switcher all in the plus catagory I belive. I have an original 1990 or around that time tmcc command upgradeable one. Never got around to upgerading it. Nice semiscale model for its time. Now with the lionchief plus it is a real winner. May some day get one of those. Not sure if a lionchief plus berk. Exist? Maybe they made a lionchief version by now.

 I am with eric as I wish these products came with the ability to run under the legacy system. Much like mth does thier product line. Still I love these little guys and will eventualy get some for guest to run on my layout and on my christmas layout. They are so easy to set up and use. No bringing complicated control systems and wiring to my show layout either when I get ready to bring it to train shows. Just use the cw80s I have or the lionchief power bricks. Bring the engines and your up and running. They are going to be great for that. 

Great video ERIC,!!!  I purchased the Reading & Northern Pacific Lionchief plus and just love it.  Great at slow speeds.

Country Joe posted:

Excellent review, Eric. You really show the features of this loco and all it can do. I have one small, very small, quibble. You keep referring to it as an entry level/beginner loco. For me and many others, we run traditional/post war semi-scale trains because we prefer them for a number of reasons.

Agreed.   I don't  think a $429 msrp price tag necessitates it a "beginner  engine" just because others only buy top $ items.  I would've  classified it as and intermediate engine.....

Great review as always Eric. I have the Chessie LionChief+. My 4+ yr. old grandson started running it when he was  3.  i think it took him 5 nano seconds to understand the handheld. Now, he's running my Legacy engines with the Cab-2 like a pro!  But, he still asks to run that  Chessie...me too.  Can't wait for Lionel to ship the 3 engine remote.

Very nice review.  I have the Mike, which I like very much.  My only issue I have with this review is referring to what is now nearly a $400 engine as a starter locomotive.  Lionchief sets are for beginners, not LC+.  Not many newbies start out spending $400 for just an engine.

mrmuggs posted:

Good to see you review a LionChief Plus.  I've always wondered whether they are scale or semi-scale; now I know.  Always look forward to your reviews!  Keep up the great work.

While I haven't actually checked the dimensions myself, I was told that the NW2 diesels, as well as the camelback and the new 0-4-0 LC+ locos were scale, while most of the others in the LC+ line are semi-scale models. I think each model has to be considered on its own merits. I, for one, think that while the LC+ Mike is not scale, Lionel did a good job with the proportions so the model still looks good on the layout. After all, any O gauge model  (even brass) is somewhat scale-challenged if it's running on 5' gauge track...

Bill in FtL

Country Joe posted:

 I have one small, very small, quibble. You keep referring to it as an entry level/beginner loco. For me and many others, we run traditional/post war semi-scale trains because we prefer them for a number of reasons.

point taken. thanks. 

Thanks,

Eric Siegel

Great review, thank you.  Agreed with those who are stating this is not a "starter" locomotive.  It is in fact hitting that features/quality sweet spot in the middle that so many of us have been looking for in recent years.  I have the Chessie version, and it can pull the CSS passenger car set from 1980 + the set from 2005 + the set from 2014... a total of ~20 cars, but it's chasing its tail on my small layout.  I've been quite pleased with it and hope to see more locomotives in this price range going forward.

Time to retire LC entirely and make everything LC+!

Thanks for the review. More good news on the ever-growing and popular LC+ line.

It's a good review, but the only one of yours I've watched and not wanted to go buy one afterwards.  I still think Lionel would be better off selling these with ERR TMCC guts instead of LC+.  I'd buy a bunch of them if they did as I love traditional sized steamers, but there is no way I'll buy one if it's LC.

Country Joe posted:

Excellent review, Eric. I have one small, very small, quibble. You keep referring to it as an entry level/beginner loco. For me and many others, we run traditional/post war semi-scale trains because we prefer them for a number of reasons.

Another great review, and a great comment as well. As has been mentioned in the past, no doubt the majority of O gauge operators run smaller layouts, and probably feel shortchanged sometimes by all the reviews of large full scale equipment that is useless to them (not to mention those who aren't into spending mega-bucks for their trains).

It seems it would be of interest to many to have a reviewer with, say, a 6x12 layout, who would test products of interest to operators with modest-sized layouts, and to those who prefer to run semi-scale equipment.