THE POLAR EXPRESS LEGACY BIPOLAR #E-25
I Pre-ordered this when it was announced. While I had no reason, I just thought it was a unique piece and would go well with the Polar Express freight cars I have been buying. I initially posted a video on another thread but thought this deserved a thread of its own.
The engine came in last week and after an initial test at the LHS, The Imperial Train Company, I took it home. I have been looking forward to this and I happily to say it didn't disappoint.
On the layout one of the first and only thing so far that bothered me was the side loading foam for an engine this size and mass. It's difficult to remove and return to the foam. I had the same complaint for the VL GG1. That being said let's get on with the pros...
The paint is a good if not close to perfect match to the Polar Express cars offered previously. I was a bit concerned after the RPO car came in but was very happy to see a fantastic paint job. The colors are great and paint seems be well applied. The "Polar Express" on the side of the engine can be difficult to see on the blue but it's definitely there and looks good. It might be a slightly different shade or content that causes it not to stand out as well. For some reason the passenger cars Polar Express sticks out a little better. The front end(s) of the engine have the PE crest and it has the E25 number lights. The separately applied railings look great as do the other add on details.
The volume pot and all switches, PGM/RUN, Bluetooth ON/OFF, and smoke, are on top under a magnetic hatch which is nice especially for an engine this size and weight. The manual operated pantagraphs are magnetically held on as is the smoke unit cap. The smoke unit works great on my model and at first thought was noisy but it appears to be the "sound of steam" when it's on. I can see the top getting oily from the smoke being forced downward onto the cab roof but I will run the unit in a limited mode.
I oiled and greased where recommended and took some extra time to open the gearbox, accessible from underneath, by removing 2 screws. There was a decent amount of lube but I added a little more.
On the track it runs great. It has minimal engine sounds but does pretty much have all of the same Berkshire Polar Callouts. I haven't heard any new ones. Tower Comm as with the Berk is reserved more of the Railroad chatter. I am amazed how quiet it is which makes it easier than the Berk to hear the Polar callouts. When going over the sensor track to load into the Cab2, it comes up as the Polar Railroad BiPolar, not sure why that is, but it does load all the needed info for an electric.
The engine runs smooth and seems to have some good pulling power and tracks well on my simple FasTrack layout. I run command and only tested in that mode. It has 2 pickups that are spaced fairly far apart so I would think it will be ok on most switches. Your mileage may vary.
In my opinion Lionel has hit a homerun with this one based on the time I've had it. I have been critical of Lionel in the past few months but this is the second Lionel engine I've brought home in the last month that has been a winner! I'll post my thoughts on the other engine later but until then a video and a few more pictures.