Lionel's "Junior" Line Mikado... Opinions

Lionel  Jr series are less than full size. Along with MTH and K-Line they all made full scale and less than full scale engines. The 20 year old Mikado jr is now their Lionchief Mikado.

Pete

Thanks Pete.

So with that in mind: do you have any opinions as to which "full size" Mike might be a good choice?

Mark in Oregon

The junior Mikes are pretty decent for the prices, especially the older ones made in the 00’s with TMCC and full RailSounds. Had a couple, they’re pretty reliable and have the feel and quality of a postwar steam locomotive.

If you want a full scale Mikado, though, you’d probably be happier with any of the recent LEGACY or MTH Premier Proto 2/3 Mikes. The older Korean built Mikes made by Lionel in the 90’s are pretty bulletproof, too, despite lacking in some add on detail.

There's a host of Lionel Legacy Mikado locomotives that are scale sized.  You can pick from the smaller "light Mikado" and the larger "heavy Mikado".

Here's a search that turns up a bunch of them.  http://www.lionel.com/search?query=mikado

They are all nice engines. The K-Line scale Mike is what Lionel has been using in their Legacy engines. Nice looking but all have the small motors. Lionel made a number of Mikes in the 90s many of which have large Pittman motors and Odyssey Cruise. Very powerful at a reasonable price. All the MTH scale Mikes have a large Pittman unless they were made in the last 6 or so years when a new motor had to be used. I have not heard of any problems with those though. As I prefer the Pittmans I prefer the older Lionel or the MTH engines. Your choice of command systems. I have examples of all mentioned.

Pete

This is all very good information, thanks. I maybe should mention that I'm running in  "conventional" mode, using an MRC "Dual Power"; the older style with the handheld throttles. Dunno if that matters/ helps... thanks again. 🙂

Mark in Oregon 🎄

They all run in conventional.

Pete

@Norton posted:

They all run in conventional.

Pete

Thanks Pete. You seem to be da man for all things Mikado...😊

Mark in Oregon

Pete knows his stuff when it comes to  Mikados,….only thing I’ll add is Lionel’s “other” Mikados, 18079 ( NYC) and 18080 ( D&RGW ) ….these are brutes, scale sized and large Pittman motor …….sometimes can be had for descent money,….these are remakes of the older scale Mikados such as the 18030 ( Frisco ) and I believe they made a Southern??……all of the above mentioned models are loosely based on a Southern type, and are really not prototypical of the other roads offered,….especially the NYC model….but as mentioned, the Pittman powered ones are from the era when Lionel was rolling out some indestructible stuff from Korea,…..all models mentioned above will run conventional….

Pat

To your original question: they are approximately a "fat" S Scale.

Jon

So I guess the "Junior" and "LionChief" are semi- scale; approximately 4/5 (+-)full size.

If I have that right, then that certainly helps narrow the search. Thanks!

Mark in Oregon

Mark, here are a couple of less than full size Mikados. First is a Lionel Mikado jr, followed by a K-Line less than scale engine. The Lionel engine came with TMCC and RS4 but I put a Cruise board in it. The K-Line engine has been upgraded to 4 chuffs and puffs.

Pete

I think the Lionel Junior Berks and Mikados are good-looking locomotives for us semi/non-scalers. I have the Jr Mikado with LC+ and really like it. Very simple. The LC+ engines are nice for guests who want a simpler controller.

I believe the Jr. Mikado was delivered with Railsounds 5.0, a nice, unexpected upgrade for an relatively inexpensive engine.

The only knock I have is that they're too small relative other semi/non-scale engines. I ended up selling my Jr. Berk. and bought a Rail King.....just felt that any Berk on my layout needed to be bigger than all others.

1 - The K-Line sub-scale Mikes, like their sub-scale USRA Pacifics (should be the same boiler, much as in life) most likely have the same gearing - which is better than the other brands. I painted (SOU Ps-4) and upgraded (ERR) a pair for double-heading. No sound. They ran so well that I installed plain DC Commanders in both rather than the Cruise Commander. I do not have grades.

2 - Williams brand Mikados from the late 80's or so. More USRA Heavy than Light. Well-made, well-geared brass locos. I find the detailing quite decent. If I just wanted "a nice conventional scale Mike" I'd go this way. Paint those shiny wheels and such, give the whole thing a coat of Dullcote, and go.

@D500 posted:

2 - Williams brand Mikados from the late 80's or so. More USRA Heavy than Light. Well-made, well-geared brass locos. I find the detailing quite decent. If I just wanted "a nice conventional scale Mike" I'd go this way. Paint those shiny wheels and such, give the whole thing a coat of Dullcote, and go.

Bingo! That's what I'm looking for: a "conventional scale" sized 2-8-2. ( I didn't mention Williams in my initial post.)

I suspect that the title of this thread (ie "Lionel "Junior") was misleading: I was really looking for opinions about full size engines...anyway, thanks to everyone who has weighed in so far...👍

Mark in Oregon 🎄

@Strummer posted:

Bingo! That's what I'm looking for: a "conventional scale" sized 2-8-2. ( I didn't mention Williams in my initial post.)

I suspect that the title of this thread (ie "Lionel "Junior") was misleading: I was really looking for opinions about full size engines...anyway, thanks to everyone who has weighed in so far...👍

Mark in Oregon 🎄

Mark, I have a Williams Shmedium Mikado ( between light & heavy) ….it can be for sale,…..PM me for details,…..

Pat

@harmonyards posted:

Mark, I have a Williams Shmedium Mikado ( between light & heavy) ….it can be for sale,…..PM me for details,…..

Pat

PM sent... thanks, Pat!

Mark in Oregon 🎄🌲🎁

@raising4daughters posted:

I think the Lionel Junior Berks and Mikados are good-looking locomotives for us semi/non-scalers. I have the Jr Mikado with LC+ and really like it. Very simple. The LC+ engines are nice for guests who want a simpler controller.

I believe the Jr. Mikado was delivered with Railsounds 5.0, a nice, unexpected upgrade for an relatively inexpensive engine.

The only knock I have is that they're too small relative other semi/non-scale engines. I ended up selling my Jr. Berk. and bought a Rail King.....just felt that any Berk on my layout needed to be bigger than all others.

At least some of them did!  I added Cruise, and cut off the cast-in front coupler, then installed the cut-lever from a Lionel 0-6-0T and a S scale front coupler to dress her up a bit. 

Jon

Ok, kids!  I finally dug out my Lionel Mikado Jr.

Here’s the thing, it looks pretty good. It has Railsounds and TMCC, and the tender is reasonably sized.

Pair it with anything bigger than a milk car and it gets lost. Sounds are great, but doesn’t have cruise, yet still has a can motor.

Compare it to a K-Line light Mikado and you can see the size difference.

thanks!

- Mario

While the Lionel Mikado jr didn't come with cruise it did come with modular electronics so a ERR Cruise M will fix that. I was able to acquire mine for very small money so even adding a Cruise M the cost was a third of the Lionchief engine with the added bonus of better sound.

I still have a lot of Post War and traditional size trains. This engine looks good with early Post war including 9 inch boxcars.

Pete

Quick video…

thanks!

- Mario

@Norton posted:

While the Lionel Mikado jr didn't come with cruise it did come with modular electronics so a ERR Cruise M will fix that. I was able to acquire mine for very small money so even adding a Cruise M the cost was a third of the Lionchief engine with the added bonus of better sound.

I still have a lot of Post War and traditional size trains. This engine looks good with early Post war including 9 inch boxcars.

Pete

Hi Pete!

To me, it looks to be the size of a consolidation, and swapping the cab could remedy that.  Perhaps removing the boiler course between the domes, and moving the bell ahead of the sand dome.

The tender looks to be closer to scale, than the boiler.

thanks!

-Mario

@CentralFan1976 posted:

Hi Pete!

To me, it looks to be the size of a consolidation, and swapping the cab could remedy that.  Perhaps removing the boiler course between the domes, and moving the bell ahead of the sand dome.

The tender looks to be closer to scale, than the boiler.

thanks!

-Mario

Someone more ambitious than I can try that. Too many items on the plate now. I suppose if you looked hard enough you might find an early Mike made for a lumber or industrial company that might be scale for this one. The Little River Lumber Co 2-4-4-2 Baldwin Mallet is smaller than this engine in scale.

Pete

@Norton posted:

Someone more ambitious than I can try that. Too many items on the plate now. I suppose if you looked hard enough you might find an early Mike made for a lumber or industrial company that might be scale for this one. The Little River Lumber Co 2-4-4-2 Baldwin Mallet is smaller than this engine in scale.

Pete

Me either!!….I ain’t cutting no cabs up!….I draw the line in the sand!!….not only no, but HE double toothpicks no!…..Mario’s got that glazed look in his eyes,……I can see it all the way from North Carolina,….😳

Pat