Lionel LionChief Plus 2.0 Berkshires

It’s really very nice.  Great whistle and rod action

Thanks @Vinny26, sounds like the whistle was well done on this engine.

Just got Polar Express version from Charles Ro. Using  blue tooth with an IPAD. It will make some noise. 

I just received my Halloween Berkshire from Nassau hobby.   Love the sounds and great smoke, operation and fun 

@SteveMa posted:

I just received my Halloween Berkshire from Nassau hobby.   Love the sounds and great smoke, operation and fun 

I would love to see a video of it.  Especially the sounds!

Good to know, the louder the better for me. I went ahead and placed an order for the Santa Fe version.

You can control the loudness of sound with the Bluetooth app

@Vinny26 Yup, Thanks. I will be using my Legacy Remote.

I received my Santa Fe LC+2.0 Berkshire today and I really like it. The only thing I noticed is that the whistle is not as loud as the other sounds which I thought was odd. I know you can change the whistle sound pitch and volume and I did all that. I did a few resets on it and disabled the Bluetooth and now it's much better.

Not sure if anyone else has had that problem.

@BNSF-Matt posted:

I received my Santa Fe LC+2.0 Berkshire today and I really like it. The only thing I noticed is that the whistle is not as loud as the other sounds which I thought was odd. I know you can change the whistle sound pitch and volume and I did all that. I did a few resets on it and disabled the Bluetooth and now it's much better.

Not sure if anyone else has had that problem.

 

Wow! Nice!! 

Our family just received a NKP version as a gift from my dad. He and I saw the real 765 and had a cab ride on its first day of operation back in 1979. The model is very nice. It has great sound. The whistle is adjustable on tone. It sounds very much like the real 765. Runs well with Legacy and bluetooth on my phone. Transformer control is pretty touchy though. I want to try it with a couple different transformers. I would definitely recommend it!

@BNSF-Matt posted:

I received my Santa Fe LC+2.0 Berkshire today and I really like it. The only thing I noticed is that the whistle is not as loud as the other sounds which I thought was odd. I know you can change the whistle sound pitch and volume and I did all that. I did a few resets on it and disabled the Bluetooth and now it's much better.

Not sure if anyone else has had that problem.

 

How did you disable the Bluetooth on the locomotive?

@sinclair posted:

How did you disable the Bluetooth on the locomotive?

It's a switch on the bottom, it's on the same side as the smoke switch and opposite the Prog / Run switch.

Are the sounds the same in all the 2.0 Berks?  Disney, Halloween, and the Polar Express do they have different sound sets, or all the same?

Jim

@Jim Sandman posted:

Are the sounds the same in all the 2.0 Berks?  Disney, Halloween, and the Polar Express do they have different sound sets, or all the same?

Jim

All themed sets have the appropriate sounds, Halloween has spooky sounds, Polar Express has movie sounds, North Pole has Christmas sounds. The prototype berkshires have the standard steam sounds and you can change the whistle pitch and bell pitch too.

I sort of fell into a Polar Express, that I will pick up later this week. (My LHS ordered it for a customer who stiffed him- any questions as to why the LHS cannot STOCK engines any more?)  

I have zero interest in Polar Express.  Any way to get and install different crewtalk software, chips whatever??

i really want to hear the disney version if anyone has that one can you play the sounds ? i'd also like the halloween and christmas berks at their full range

the polar sounds amazing i might add

i want one of the fantasy berkshires but i want to see all in action as far as the fantasy ones go

still trying to figure out how to save up 500+ by next summer and lock in an engine without the fear of having to cancel or missing out

i don't want to anger my hobby shop with a cancellation again

I checked Lionel website for the Disney Berks, but they don't have the sound clips like they have had for some of the past LionChief products.

https://www.lionel.com/product...20-berkshire-1932080

I'm interested in hearing it as well - Hopefully several Disney characters can be heard.

Jim

@Jim Sandman posted:

I checked Lionel website for the Disney Berks, but they don't have the sound clips like they have had for some of the past LionChief products.

https://www.lionel.com/product...20-berkshire-1932080

I'm interested in hearing it as well - Hopefully several Disney characters can be heard.

Jim

Jim - this one will have generic dialog. Nothing Disney specific. That's all they would allow. 

Hello everyone.  I may have run across a programming error in the Lion Chief Plus 2.0 Berkshires.  I'm hoping maybe someone on the forum can run their own tests to see if they can reproduce my results.  

Here's what's happening.  I have one of the new North Pole Central Berkshires SKU: 1932100.  When using the Lion Chief App (iphone) and when there are multiple Bluetooth locomotives on the layout (specifically, in my case there were two Bluetooth enabled Legacy locomotives on the layout with the Lionchief Plus 2.0 North Pole Central berkshire), when you select a locomotive from the Lionchief App that is not the Berkshire, the Berkshire responds to the selection i.e. I can control both the intended locomotive and the North Pole Central berkshire).  This doesn't seem to be right.  If I intentionally select the NPC berkshire, it behaves as it should (and no other locomotives get selected).

In order to "deselect" the NPC berkshire:  1. I select a locomotive (that I don't want to operate) and the NPC berkshire gets selected, 2. I then select a third locomotive (the one I want to operate) and it selects just fine (and the NPC Berkshire deselects).  The nuance is that if I hit the "deselect" button first and then hit the "select" button to pair the intended locomotive, the NPC Berkshire gets selected.   

My NPC Berkshire performs as it should in all other control methods (Legacy, TMCC, conventional) (I don't have a universal Lionchief remote to test that mode).  I erased the lionchief app and reloaded and tried multiple phones - all same result.

I'm curious to know if I have a faulty engine, or if there is some programming bug that Lionel would want to address in there next runs of Lionchief Plus 2.0.  @Dave Olson any chance you could try to replicate my test?

Thanks!

@NBGT I can test this scenario later on tonight and let you know what I find.

@NBGT posted:

Hello everyone.  I may have run across a programming error in the Lion Chief Plus 2.0 Berkshires.  I'm hoping maybe someone on the forum can run their own tests to see if they can reproduce my results. 

Here's what's happening.  I have one of the new North Pole Central Berkshires SKU: 1932100.  When using the Lion Chief App (iphone) and when there are multiple Bluetooth locomotives on the layout (specifically, in my case there were two Bluetooth enabled Legacy locomotives on the layout with the Lionchief Plus 2.0 North Pole Central berkshire), when you select a locomotive from the Lionchief App that is not the Berkshire, the Berkshire responds to the selection i.e. I can control both the intended locomotive and the North Pole Central berkshire).  This doesn't seem to be right.  If I intentionally select the NPC berkshire, it behaves as it should (and no other locomotives get selected).

In order to "deselect" the NPC berkshire:  1. I select a locomotive (that I don't want to operate) and the NPC berkshire gets selected, 2. I then select a third locomotive (the one I want to operate) and it selects just fine (and the NPC Berkshire deselects).  The nuance is that if I hit the "deselect" button first and then hit the "select" button to pair the intended locomotive, the NPC Berkshire gets selected.   

My NPC Berkshire performs as it should in all other control methods (Legacy, TMCC, conventional) (I don't have a universal Lionchief remote to test that mode).  I erased the lionchief app and reloaded and tried multiple phones - all same result.

I'm curious to know if I have a faulty engine, or if there is some programming bug that Lionel would want to address in there next runs of Lionchief Plus 2.0.  @Dave Olson any chance you could try to replicate my test?

Thanks!

Actually it sounds more like a LionChief iOS APP bug. I'll check it out.

@Dave Olson posted:

Actually it sounds more like a LionChief iOS APP bug. I'll check it out.

Thanks, Dave!  Sorry to bug you about this.

@BNSF-Matt posted:

@NBGT I can test this scenario later on tonight and let you know what I find.

Thanks, Matt!

@Dave Olson posted:

Jim - this one will have generic dialog. Nothing Disney specific. That's all they would allow.

Well that’s disappointing. I was excited that Lionel was producing a Disney loco that was more than starter set quality. I’m now glad I didn’t pre order this one.

Sad since they have allowed sounds on other engines.

Guess I’ll keep on hoping.🤞🏼

Mark W.

@NBGT @Dave Olson

I was able to reproduce the issue on my layout as well. I had one LC+ 2.0 Berkshire and a Legacy E6 Atlantic. When I selected the Legacy only and linked it both the Legacy and LC+ 2.0 Berkshire fired up.

I did this twice using a clean power up on the track just to make sure.

I'm using an iPhone 12.

@BNSF-Matt posted:

@NBGT @Dave Olson

I was able to reproduce the issue on my layout as well. I had one LC+ 2.0 Berkshire and a Legacy E6 Atlantic. When I selected the Legacy only and linked it both the Legacy and LC+ 2.0 Berkshire fired up.

I did this twice using a clean power up on the track just to make sure.

I'm using an iPhone 12.

Thanks, Matt!  Hopefully Dave's hunch is right and this is just an app bug that can be fixed with the next release.

@MWasko posted:

Well that’s disappointing. I was excited that Lionel was producing a Disney loco that was more than starter set quality. I’m now glad I didn’t pre order this one.

Sad since they have allowed sounds on other engines.

Guess I’ll keep on hoping.🤞🏼

Mark W.

still might like the disney version anyway especially if its got a gloss finish

even if the crew talk is generic i'll just pretend Ward Kimball is in the cab or a young Walt Disney

after all isn't imagination a big component of model railroading?

@Dave Olson posted:

Jim - this one will have generic dialog. Nothing Disney specific. That's all they would allow.

I just received mine and was just a little disappointed with no Disney dialog, but still a great engine.  Was also disappointed that the bell on the front of the engine was broken before I even took it out of the box.  I first thought it was just laying in the box and I had to install it, but it was in two pieces.  Ordered in in March of 2019.

@BatTrain posted:

I just received mine and was just a little disappointed with no Disney dialog, but still a great engine.  Was also disappointed that the bell on the front of the engine was broken before I even took it out of the box.  I first thought it was just laying in the box and I had to install it, but it was in two pieces.  Ordered in in March of 2019.

can you post a video of it in action plus i just wanna see how it turned out

My Lionel LionChief Plus 2.0 Berkshire review is up. Lionel did a really nice job with these. A few corners cut here and there to keep the price down, but all and all an excellent purchase for anyone wanting a semi-scale steam engine to get around those tight curves.

I received the new Polar Express LionChief Plus 2.0 Berkshire last week. (SKU: 1932090)

Overall I'm quite pleased to finally have a LC+ version of this locomotive with speed control to run this coming Christmas season.

The good:

* Love the Odyssey II slow speed and constant speed control! That was the main reason I wanted to upgrade to the LC+ 2.0 version of the PE locomotive.
* I love that the new LC+ 2.0 locomotives don't beep annoyingly like the older LC+ locomotives until they are paired with the Universal Remote or the Lionchief app. They just wait patiently on power up until they are paired up... nicely done Lionel.
* The locomotive sounds and the quality and quantity of the sound clips from the movie are fantastic.  (Somebody posted a youtube video recently for the LC+ 2.0 PE locomotive if you want to check it out.)
* It's great to have so many options to run these LC+ 2.0 locomotives... conventional, universal remote, lionchief app, legacy, etc. Although I will primarily use the universal remote.

Just a few things to nitpick:

* The locomotive crew figures are just generic figures.  It would have been super cool if Lionel could have made the crew figures representations of the characters in the movie... Steamer and Smokey.
* I would have preferred 3-axil trucks on the tender versus 2-axil trucks.
* It seems that the details on the PE locomotive are minimal as compared to the other LC+ 2.0 Berkshires like the Pere Marquette 1225.  For example, the build plate is not painted, and there are no 1225 markers/decals on the front and sides of the locomotive headlamp like on some of the other Berkshires.
* The locomotive smokes well... almost too well!  I know the lionchief app has a button to turn the smoke off if it gets to be too much.  Wish there was a way to turn off the smoke via the universal remote.

Overall though, very happy with this purchase!  Love the LC+ 2.0 functionality and versatility.

Great Polar Express review. Really like mine.

I have 2 questions:

1. Can these 2.0+ Berks run with the Cab 1L system? I'm assuming they can.

2. Can someone please post a picture or 2 of the PE version?

Thanks Chris

@Jayhawk500 posted:

I have 2 questions:

1. Can these 2.0+ Berks run with the Cab 1L system? I'm assuming they can.

2. Can someone please post a picture or 2 of the PE version?

Thanks Chris

1. Yes, you can use the Cab 1 or Cab 2. It has a TMCC board.

2. There is a guy on YouTube who has a few videos of the PE running with sounds.

I got my Polar Express LionChief Plus 2.0 Berkshire last week. (SKU: 1932090).  I think these Berks are exactly what Lionel intended- a semi-scale locomotive, with good running characteristics, will run on 036 curves, at a fair price vs. a higher cost for fully-featured Legacy Berks.   

I got mine as fallout from a LHS that ordered one for a customer, who later did not pay for it as he promised the LHS owner he would.  He went incommunicado, and the LHS offered me the loco at a very attractive price.  I had wanted to try a LC+2.0 and this is it.

Good: it looks decent, all diecast,  as well as it can - having mostly only molded in detail- no "separately-added detail parts".  Those "separately-added detail parts" cost a lot.  It runs well at slow speed and has terrific smoke effects with the fan-driven smoke and 4 per revolution chuff rate.  And the price - ($ 499 - $ 524 list) is right there at about 1/3 of a Legacy scale loco.

@BNSF-Matt posted:

1. Yes, you can use the Cab 1 or Cab 2. It has a TMCC board.

2. There is a guy on YouTube who has a few videos of the PE running with sounds.

Thanks for that suggestion. Looks like I'll have to upgrade soon.

@Dave Olson posted:

Actually it sounds more like a LionChief iOS APP bug. I'll check it out.

@Dave Olson  Dave, did you get an opportunity to check out the LionChief iOS app issue to see if it was a bug in the APP vs. the locomotive?

Thanks!

@paigetrain posted:

can you post a video of it in action plus i just wanna see how it turned out

I posted a video in the O Gauge , Hi Rail, etc..... section under the Halloween layouts thread.