Lionel - Thank you for the steam effects! (Video Added)

Whistle steam equals credit card steam 

I am soooooo glad Lionel bored out the interior of their boilers so these devices will fit.

What?????

LOL.... I think he is joking.

Some one from Lionel said about a smoke unit not fitting in a boiler....

OK, that makes more sense. Someone from Lionel not know what they were talking about at some show, probably.

LOLOL,

Hot Water . . . 

     At the April 2013 York, I spoke with three Lionel "Marketeers" .  .  .

Two of the three said that whistle steam will not fit in the boilers of northerns and berks, let alone mikados and such.

The third "marketeer" said that buyers will not pay the extra hundreds of dollars for whistle steam.

Well said Rich, I will be ordering my first Legacy engine because they answered my request for years for a heavy Mikado, and added the whistle steam.

I am glad at least one company is starting to listen to what the customers want. Now to leave Lionel alone and put all my efforts into a Toytrainsontracks Blu-Ray volume 4.

I'm thrilled the whistle steam effect is back.

I'm also really glad that Lionel has gone to the "built to order" way of doing things because I think that process sort of forces a company to listen to its customers..because if you don't do what your customers want, they won't be pre-ordering much stuff. 

Brining the whistle steam effect back is home-run for sure. I'm so happy about that.

-Eric Siegel

I think the new Lionel senior management team is doing their best to listen to what consumers really want. There are many examples of this in the new catalogs.

That's cool to hear.

When I looked at their Signature Catalog earlier, I was hoping that they would include that similar effect to the air compressor exhausts on their newly announced Cab Forward in addition to the whistle, but it doesn't appear that it will.  Bummer if it won't; the air compressor effects would have been really cool (not to mention distinctive since the cab-forward had the unique distinction of their air compressor exhaust being blown straight up into the atmosphere.

I only hope that this time around they will reprogram the sound chip so that the compressor sounds are always on as they're supposed to be instead of just being heard when the locomotive is at standstill as was on the 2005 release.

Hi Guys,

Totally agree with you, the whistle steam is a fabulous feature, I'm glad it's back.

Lionel hit a grand slam home run with this catalog. I'm thrilled

WAY TO GO LIONEL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ALEX

Although the feature does have a noticeable raise in pricing, it's very much worth it. So thanks Lionel for going through with this great feature. Besides, if any one complains, they only have themselves to blame.

If the posted prices on Nassau Hobbies are indicative of the "Street price" then the price increase for whistle steam is non-existent. 

The berks and M1a are listed around $1100, which is what the Mohawks went for out of the last catalog without the feature.

I am glad that Lionel is "starting" to add the mounting pads for Kadee couplers.  Thank you for that!

Lionel probably rethought eliminating Whistle steam because a rumor  is out that MTH will soon include whistle steam in all Premier steamers.

Joe 

A 6 year old rumor. Not a dig but MTH was the first to demo both the whistle steam and ringing bell features about 6 years ago now. I wonder what happened. 

I still remember AndyE teasing about MTH having a vision when the VL Hudson was produced. 

I'm glad to see the return of these features, it's a great eye catching thing that just says "wow" and steps up the realism.

That rumor was like 3 years ago..

That's just a rumor, and it's been around for years.  It appears that Lionel actually IS going to have whistle steam again.

If I remember correctly MTH ended up featuring those on a couple of their G scale items way back then also.

So... what happened?  Where are they now?

I dunno, I want to say it was featured on their GG1 and the Triplex in that scale; going by hazy memory.

REALLY Lionel marketeers-do you really think whistle steam adds "extra hundreds of dollars" to include? Give me a break......

John K is correct above as MTH's Gauge 1 Triplex DOES have whistle steam as well as a rear smoke unit in the tender.  That's 3 smoke units.

The GG1 may have also had the feature but remember that the JLC GG1's had a 'steam' release too (but it was not associated with the horn).

Yes they have been listening and it is a feature that a lot of us have come to expect to be on their better engines. We have been waiting for their return and they have come back in force. 

Yes, a few years you were able to purchase some Lionel engines with whistle steam for about $600.00.

Did anyone spot a whistle steam 'add-on kit' for older locomotives? 

I wonder how difficult that would be to add on older loco's?

We'll be finding out soon, we're working on whistle steam and blowdown effects for a couple of 3rd Rail locomotives.

Now the CORRECT "blow down" feature should be desirable, in my opinion. Especially if the locomotive model is equipped with the Wilson Blow Down Separator design.

Now the CORRECT "blow down" feature should be desirable, in my opinion. Especially if the locomotive model is equipped with the Wilson Blow Down Separator design.

Got a Pic for those who don't know?

I agree, Rich, with your Thank You to Lionel that it is good that they listened to feedback and are including whistle steam again.  I particularly like it being a feature on the 765 NPR Berkshire, which is the one I want in the new catalog.

I too want to say thanks for Lionel for listening to their customers and bringing back the whistle steam feature.  I believe this feature is in every Legacy steamer!  THANKS LIONEL!

Look for photos of UP 800s, 3900s, and 4000s. ALL of those UP steam locomotives were equipped with the Wilson Blow Down Separator System. The Southern Pacific locomotives did not.

Get ready to witness a bit of the technology treadmill effect on all of last year's steamers  (i.e., without whistle-steam) still sitting in dealer inventories.

Charlie Nassau just had those Mohawks (out of the Water Level freight set) on sale this past weekend for $799, and by late Sunday afternoon they were gone.

Nobody's gonna be successful trying to sell those Mohawk's at 2013 price-levels now that steamers with whistle-steam can be had for similar pricing.

David

Rather than say thanks, I would like to ask why they gave us all the run around? Won't fit? My son has a semi-scale PE Berk with it. Won't pay? Seriously? If there is one thing O gauge modelers will do if they want something is pay. Ex. VL BigBoy.

It was also rumored a few years ago about having the engineers waving in steam engines.  Anything ever come of this?

Whistle steam effect is a neat feature and definitely makes a model more interesting to operate and play with.

Geez, I hope not!  Engine crews should be paying attention to their duties, not waving at foamers.   

How about a fireman moving back and forth shoveling coal. HaHa.