Looking for my first Legacy "BIG" steam locomotive...

The Santa Fe 3751/3759 and s3 are awesome . Can't go wrong 

The absolute BEST Lionel Legacy steam locomotive model they ever produced, is the UP FEF-3 844! The sounds and features are spot on.

Great choice Jack. Will 844 handle 054 curves?

 

 

 

Nope, it needs O-72...

The 3 Legacy steamers I have might fit your criteria right Jeff:

 

• Vision Line 700E Hudson
• Southern Pacific GS-4 Daylight
• Southern Crescent Limited PS-4

Though I will agree the choices you have already are very nice, especially the NKP 765. It has such an awesome whistle!

For what its worth, my 844 will take 060 curves.

All great steamers, however, even though the minimum radius on the 4-8-4's is o-54  I would recommend the PM and NKP berks will look much better on o54 as they have a shorter wheel base.

 

I run my PM berk on o-60 and the center(blind) drivers still stray from the railtops a bit around turns. On a 4-8-4 they probably aren't even on the rails at all, not really an operational issue it just looks odd. cab and pilot "swing out" will be less severe with the berks as well.

 

 

The only real problem with any of the scale legacy steamers is once you buy one, you'll want  another one and another one.........

 

 

The 844 will operate on O54. 

Legacy Southern Crescent

Legacy Blue Comet

Legacy SP Daylight

 

I simply can't say no to color!!!!!  

Jeff,

 

I have both the aforementioned Santa Fe 4-8-4 No. 3751 and the UP 4-8-4 No. 844 and they are awesome. The 844 looks impressive, and the 3751 has the smoking whistle. Both have great sounds. According to the Lionel website, the Santa Fe will work with Ø54" curves. I can't tell for sure as all my curves are Ø99 and Ø108.

 

Enjoy whichever you get!

 

Alex

 

PS. Oh, and I also have the SP 4-8-4 Daylight - great locomotive as well.

NYC L2a Mohawk.

 

Pete

If you don't want the big boy or challenger based on required radius, then you might want to look at the lionmaster line of big boys and challengers.  I have a legacy big boy that handles O-31 curves (the lionmaster version) and it looks and sounds great.  If you didn't want a big boy for reasons other than radius requirements, then disregard my message.

Legacy Mikado?  Anyone have one?  Looks like a nice piece, runs on o-36...

 

 

That depends on what type of track you are using. Laz1957 was able to run them just fine on TUBULAR 054 curves. MY OWN experience was with MTH Realtrax 054, the LOCOMOTIVE would handle 054 cures just fine, but NOT the tender, the last axle of the pedestal would ride up over the rail as soon as all 5 axles were in the curve.

 

 I would suspect that Atlas O 063 curves would be fine, and someone else posted that they would handle 060.

 

NO Gauranties with 054, running the FEF3's, The GS4 has no trouble on MTH Realtrax 054, and would be another Great choice.

 

Doug

Jeff

My 1st Legacy engine was Milwaukee Road 261.  I would highly recommended it.  I did have some problems with the smoke unit at first, but Lionel did get it fixed for me.  As Rick said above once you get one, you will want another.  Sure enough a few months later I bought Southern Crescent which is also is a very nice engine.   I had a smoke unit problems with this engine too which has been problem with many of Legacy Steam engines.  Lionel had a bad batch of smoke units for awhile in their steamers, but don't let this stop you from getting a Legacy Steam engine because they are great engines and smoke unit issues are fixable. 

Ken

 

Our Legacy Mikado had trouble on Fastrack 048 curves as the rear of the cab roof would hit the tender...

I've used both Atlas O and tubular. No issues. 

I really want traditional black for the first one, then lookout!!! 

 

 

Thanks Alex!!

 

 

I have a Mikado, love it and want something bigger!!

 

 

Thanks Ken - Will you be at Mundelein Sat??

If I were limited to 054 curves and could only get one "BIG" Legacy locomotive I would chose one of the Berkshires with the coffin feedwater heater.

I kind of wondered about that after reading Lionel's site.  Seemed a little 'fishy' about their 036 claim.

 

May pick it up if I see one on sale.  So far down the list it won't be for a while..

Lionel K4 Pacific 6-11328 is another option you may like. It has Legacy with the steam effect qualling whistle, wireless tether and it runs awesome around my 48 fast tack curves.  Lionel also has a slightly cheaper Oddessey version of the K4 Pacific without the steam whistle effect.  If you keep a look out you can find them. They are out there. Good luck. Hope you find something you like!

Th K-Line Mikado that Lionel used for this engine would run on 031. Its all about drawbar length.

 

Pete

I remember ordering the Nickel Plate Road 765 while on vacation in PA. The loco beat me home from holiday & it took a little while before I could get a chance to open up the package... there's something special about taking that locomotive in your hands for the first time, lubricating, placing it on the tracks and firing it up for the very first time with that all important first blow of the whistle. That very first time with that 765 put a great big smile on my face I'll never forget. I've dearly loved that thing ever since. It has a unique Berkshire sound like no other loco I have in the stable. 

Yep, I am planning on being there on Saturday.  It looks like the weather will be ok with no snow in the forecast right now so I should get there around 11 - 12pm and be there for most of the afternoon.  Ken

Any of the above will run on O36 and they are scale size.

 

I have a Lionmaster Big Boy which also does O36 which is technically traditional size but because of its massive size looks good pulling some scale equipment.

 

 

I can't say that I have tried running it through 036 curves, but I doubt the 6-11127 Scale GS-4 will handle 036.

 

Lionel rates it at 054, from the catalog description:

 

Road Number: 4436

Gauge: Standard O Scale

Dimensions: Length: 28"

RailLine: Southern Pacific

Minimum Curve: O-54

 

 

Doug

 

 

There is a difference between running on 0-54 and running well on 0-54.  

 

I love my 844....but it barely can get by on 0-72.  It's a very long/large (and fantastic)loco.  Can't wait to upgrade to 0-84/96.

 

Santa Fe  3751 seems to be at home on 0-72.

 

NKP Berk is also at home on 0-72 but really looks off on my 0-64.

 

IMHO, a Legacy Mikado or Pacific will be better bets for tight radius track.

Regarding 844, Lionel misprinted the minimum curve.  It's actually O-54.  My friend has one and it runs fine on O-48.

Don't forget, all legacy steam made prior to the Hudson has older electronics. The "BIG" difference between older and newer is smoke output at idle, whistle steam and more prototypical sound.

If you don't care about those features then all the above will do.

Because I love whistle steam, my choice would be the SF Northern or the Hudson. 

Joe

Many of the new Lionel Legacy steamers do NOT have whistle smoke, and it's only on a couple in the new catalog.

 

I have both the black and grey UP FEFs and they did run great on 0-27, 54 inch radius curves.  Since then I upgraded and built a new layout and am using 0-72 fastrack on all curves and they look better on the curves.  So does all the other big steam I have, BB, Challenger, S3, SF 3751 etc. 

May I propose:

1 - the Lionel USRA 2-6-6-2, in either TMCC or Legacy form (I have both); excellent

replica, both versions can creep and have good sound, it's large enough to get all that

sweet big engine, lotsa wheels action, but small enough to not be unwieldy, and its

made for 054 or larger. It's full 1/4" scale, but is about the overall size of a Lionmaster

Challenger or a K-Line 1:58 Allegheny.

 

Usually affordable.

 

2 - not (yet) Legacy, but: the Lionel J3a Hudsons - in plain, Century or ESE form. Deadly good-looking, accurate, great sound, and can be found at reasonable prices. I have all 3 (of course!).054, as I recall. The plain versions could use a shorter drawbar on the tender (use the one from the USRA 2-8-8-2 - I did).