I came home from York to receive an all new Lionel A5 0-4-0 switcher. The newly uptooled engine and tender are like a brand new engine! There is a ton of added on parts from hand rails to piping. Inside the flip open lid on the tender is a added on step. The original did NOT have a flip open lid in this area. Lionel kept the sliding roof hatch over the can, which is very nice. The cab has painted gauges and a few red handled valves. Two people, added windows, and added partial back with windows. Thinking I saw a couple of red handles on the engine body as well. The body has an added on builders plate! The headlight assembly is totally new! The cab has a flip up walkway connecting to the tender. There are red and amber marker lights in the engine front. The original version had none. There is an ?? air compressor behind the headlight assembly. The walkways have simulated diamond plate. There is a pipe and a valve coming out of the cab right behind the bell. The new tender seems a little lower than the original. It also has a "cut" bar for lifting the pin from the rear coupling. It also has the added two color marker lights. The coal load is "better" imho. The engine to coal car wire is much easier to utilize than the original also! The tender has a regular coupler hook like a large engine, not the pin and hole of the original.
All in all, I feel all the positive changes makes the new A5 very attractive, and to me, puts this little engine right up there with larger engines as far as features and looks go. Glad I pre-ordered this PRR version. The fonts are also changed. For the first time in a long time, I would say you would enjoy adding one of these to your fleet! I did check again, no red handles external on the cab body. With full Legacy, this will be a really neat switch engine in your yard!
After running this 17" long engine for an hour or so, I would rate this as a totally superb switching engine. Front and rear electrocouplers help this engine fulfill switching assignments with ease. I ran it through all its crew talk and dispatch messages. Awesome assortment of messages. This "little" guy is definitely one of my favorite of about 100 engines. I might even look for a second one with a different cab number, or in NYC livery.
I can't see anyone who purchases this engine from being unhappy with it. It is a definite top shelf steam locomotive. Also smokes like crazy in high setting and chuffs nicely responding to momentum changes.
Alan thanks for catching my B5 mistake!
