I decided to purchase one for myself and put it together just last night. The following are my first/initial impressions. First, the packaging was very nice. The box has a window display showing the actual locomotive and tender within the set. A Berkshire with the added movie version cow catcher and the tender which houses the actual sound system. On the box are various scenes from the PE movie along with other graphics that are both colorful and inviting. So, I opened the set and found everything intact. I carefully removed everything and inspected the whole set. Everything checked out okay except one extremely tiny bit of paint was missing from the locomotive just above the rear truck and under the cab frame. I painted that and all is perfect. The only other thing that was somewhat tricky was placing the railing on the end car which has the drum on it. This was difficult because it would not stay in place/lock in. So, I placed the smallest amount of tape to hold it just underneath. That is now just fine. Other then those two minor issues, the set is otherwise perfect. Assembly took shorter then removing the whole affair from its various packets and wrappings. Everything checked out.
As I stated, assembly was a mere 10 minutes if that. I placed a few drops of smoke fluid in the stack and applied power and off she went. Now this has the Lion Chief system which comes with the remote that is only for the locomotive in this particular set. It will not operate any other locomotive period. Operation is fairly basic. You need three AAA batteries for the remote and one outlet for the transformer/power supply. The remote comes with a speed control dialer on the top and three buttons that operate the bell, whistle and voice activations from the movie with Tom Hanks character. There is an on off switch. Really quite simple actually. Now the locomotive must be joined to the tender via a connecter plug. This plug also serves as the coupler. Once connected, the locomotive is ready for operation. In the cab, just aft of the fire box are two little switches that enable one to turn off or on the smoke and sound features. They are already in the on position, though always check.
The locomotive pulls out pretty nice and she chuffs and huffs as the real one does. As this occurs, little puffs of white smoke come up from the stack and form smoke rings. Which is pretty nice. Increasing the throttle merely requires one turn the knob to the right. A red indicator light will flash as the locomotive is moving. Turning to the left will stop the locomotive and a further left turn will cause the locomotive to go backwards. The sounds are pretty nice and not at all that bad. The three cars that come with the set are lighted and come with pick up rollers on each truck. There are shadowy figures in the windows of each passenger car.
The cars themselves appear nicely detailed but the under frame is basic and does not have separately applied details. The locomotive does have some separately applied details like the aforementioned cow catcher. A bell and railings. As well as a whistle. Another nice touch with the set is that it comes with four figures that can be mounted on the cars just on top. Also included is a large Christmas bell and one steel girder
bridge that requires a small assembly.
The track is of course fast track with three straights and one lock on connecter straight. There are 8 curve pieces to complete the basic small oval. The only thing I noticed was that the locomotive was bucking a little as she rounded the curve. She seemed a tad uncomfortable. Not at all uncommon considering the radius being utilized. However, she does run nice and sounds great. She looks fantastic in my opinion. A set of instructions is included along with various Lionel type documents.
Overall, I am quite pleased with the set and I long wanted a PE set, but just never really wanted it that bad enough until yesterday. PE is very popular among young and old model train enthusiast. There exist whole entire layouts devoted just to this particular train. The set I have replicates to some degree the movie version, though the actual train in the movie had more cars. I really wanted a true bona fide Christmas set. One that required simple function and would last as long as take care of it. I think this PE set is perfect for anyone who simply wants a nice all around starter set that can be upgraded easily. There exist a plethora of add on Lionel cars and there is even a freight set as well.
The cost was $350.00 dollars. Which is actually under list. Is the set worth $350.00 dollars? Yes......
If anyone has any questions about the set or if I have made an error in my review, please feel free to correct me or let me know and I will make the necessary correction(s) myself. Otherwise, I hope everyone enjoys my commentary and thanks for reading it.
Pete
