I was going to break my own rule and try a preorder for the new Lionel SW1. I read somewhere that this is the MTH cab and hood, but everything else is new from Lionel, and it’s a single motor. This tid bit reminds of an older Lionel B&O Alco S2 switcher I have. This Alco switcher has its third shaft with gear in it, and I hardly run it because I dread the thought of changing that shaft/gear again. So first, has Lionel changed the design or the gear/shaft part on more recent Alco S2’s? Has the stripped gear problem been solved? Second, does anyone here know what the new SW1 design will be? Has it been used in or similar to anything else Lionel has? I’m skiddish on preordering the SW1 if the chassis is something similar and flawed like the S2. Does anyone have any thoughts?
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