My PE Set

One of my Flyonel articulateds has a backup light that is much brighter than the headlight just like your PE.

The Observation cars have a new frame not the same as the other cars.  I had glue on one of my light sockets also. it kept the light from shining till I removed it.

 

This is still a great set for the price and I am very happy.

Hi Bill,

 

Thanks for you quick reply and comments.  But sorry, but I don't see any major difference between the PE observation car's frame and any other cars in the heavyweight series, including an observation car in the Pennsy and UP sets.  The only difference is the added ladders which should be on the baggage car of any set.  All frames have the same dimensions and screw hole positions.  I also noticed that in the video that Trainboy10 posted in another topic, HIS observation car also has the added ladders.  Is that what everybody's car has?  If so, there's not reason for the ladders.  Of course, the body shell is different on the end's roof, but that's to be expected.

 

As far as glue in the socket, that's just not right.  Again, a customer shouldn't have to fix what was done at the factory.  I know, I fixed the cracks and platform on my observation car, but that doesn't excuse the poor assembly. 

 

Then, there's the paint issue on my "populated" coach...

Casey,

 

Thanks for the input.  Is there any solution you've found, or are you living with it?

Living with it for now. I'm moving, and between layouts.

Overall I am pleased with this set. I did have some lighting issues with some of the cars but they were minor and are repaired. The engine runs, sounds, and smokes great! My 6 year old and I have played with it for hours every day since getting it on Friday.  The headlight on this engine is BRIGHT with good color.

My only complaint so far is the light showing through the passenger car. Does anyone think this is something they would address?

Oh... and I will check for the extra steps when I get home from work.

Is it the same car on everyone's set that has the light showing through? I did it notice an issue with this on my set but will have to double check.

Ben

I have no cars where the light shows through.  It may be that only some cars have the problem.

I also have the baggage steps on the observation car..... anyone else?I will get a pic later of my car with light showing through.

Suggest lining the interior sides of the roofs with black construction paper as an at-home cure for the translucent roofs. I own (via car sets and complete train sets) four complete sets of the new L-AF heavyweights. This defect is truly a surprise ... and so unnecessary. I'd send the troublesome bits back, but YMMV.

 

Very sorry to hear about these issues and I hope that they are resolved quickly. The PE looks like a fun set.

 

Bob

Guys,

 

Thanks for the input so far.  The car with the light showing through in the photo is the one that came with the set that has silhouettes of a lot of people in it.  The others in the set, including the "add-ons", are fine, both the baggage car and the "lost toy" car.  Very minimal light shows through the roof.  But since I power the train with a Flyer 18B, I adjust the voltage to a bit less than full power, and the lights are acceptable, but VERY little light shows through, and the car doesn't get as hot.  The train still functions well in Command mode.

 

HOWEVER...  The first thing I noticed about the baggage car was this: 

 

Yup.  It doesn't have steps!  So the little grey cells told me "Hey, why don't you swap frames?".  I did, and since they are exactly the same in all dimensions, including the screw holes, it was easy.  The result:

 

OK, one problem down.  Let's all see if the "populated" car included in the set is the common one.  There may be a pattern here (one can only hope).  So if you guys have the extra cars, this may be a good resolution to the issue.

 

Now to address the dim headlight.  But this morning I sent Charles Ro's customer service department an email concerning the issues.  I'll be awaiting a reply, and will report when it happens.

 

Oh, and the light socket in the baggage car has contact cement in it too.  Were the Chinese concerned with the bulb working loose and flickering?  That would NOT have been my solution to the problem.  But what do I know?  I've only been working on S gauge trains for over 50 years...

Wow.  This is sorta like peeling an onion...

 

I hope you guys get all your problems ironed out.

 

Rusty

That was good that you were able to switch them.......my baggage car and observation both have them.

I used to say the two wrongs don't make a right, but two Wrights made an airplane.  But in this case, two errors corrected themselves.  Once in a while things work out.  VERY once in a while.

oh.. and it is the populated car from the set that the light shows through on mine.

Bob,

 

I thought about the construction paper solution too, but it may cut down on the interior reflectivity.  I'm waiting to hear from Ro before I try anything, though. 

 

I have a couple of L-AF heavyweights sets too, and they all have dark colored roofs, and NO light comes through at all.  But then I don't run a full 18V or so when running them.

 

Yes, it is indeed a fun set.  But not as fun as to make me go full "sparky stuff".  Notice I power the PE with a Flyer 18B.  The extra wattage lets me run the whole five car consist with no power drop offs or running issues.  The little power brick included in the set looks a bit anemic.  I also am not using the included FasTrack, but rather SHS flextrack on my layout (such as it is at this time).

Anyone try if P/E cars pass thru FasTrack 90 degree crossover. The L-AF heavyweights do not. Like to know if Lionel fixed the issue.

Still, while the frame swap is a relatively minor issue that most folks probably won't notice, it shows a little lack of attention to detail on Lionel's part. 

 

You can bet your boots if this happened on the O scale Signature version there would be a lot of posts about it on the 3-rail side.

 

As far as the glowing roof on the populated coach, "you could even say it glows" belongs to a different Christmas legend.

 

Rusty

Here is my glowing

OT7,

 

A bit off topic, but a plea for help cannot go unanswered. 

 

I have no experience with FasTrack and probably will never get any.  I would say that the common problem with the new Flyonel heavyweight cars and track work is the gauging of the wheels, that is, the backspacing of the wheel sets.  But regauging the wheels is extremely difficult due to their construction.  Lionel chose to make an eight wheel power pick up on these cars.  Good idea, since it helps eliminate light flicker.  But that means each axle has a plastic insulator between the short stub axles with the wheels on the end.  Widening the axles can be done, but GREAT care must be taken because the axle stub has a spline that is extremely short.  If you widen only one of the stubs, you can pull the stub out of the plastic center.  

 

I can only look at the illustration of it in the 2015 catalog to suggest the construction of the cross-overs.  I suspect that one or the other wheel in a set is "picking the point" of one of the guard rails on the crossing.  You can verify this by taking a close look at the wheels as you pass it through the cross-over slowly by hand.  Measure the back spacing on the wheels.  Traditionally, that is in Gilbert Flyer, a US dime is a good way to check the spacing.  On the new heavyweights, a dime barely fits.  It should have a few thousandths of an inch more space.  Now check the outside dimension of the pair of guard rails on the crossing.  It should more than a bit larger than the spacing of the wheels.  If it's close and upon inspection, and you notice a wheel picking one of these guard rails, you can also file both (I am guessing) plastic guard rails on the outside corner to guide the wheel to the outside of the guard rail. Make sure that you file the corners to a gradual taper to gently guide the wheel to the outside. 

 

If the outside spacing of the guard rails is too narrow for the wheels to pass through in any case, your only solution is to widen the wheel gauging.

 

Of course, that is a work-around.  Lionel should take better care in the gauging of the wheels, or at least design a cross over that can accommodate their own products!

 

Sorry for the long winded message, but I hope it's clear and it helps.  Let us know.

With my PE set scheduled for delivery this week and anxious to run it asap, I first have questions for those who've already received their set:

1.) Did locomotive come already greased and oiled?

2.) If not, what parts of the engine did you grease? Where and what lubricant did you use? 3.) Did you also oil the engine, tender, and the cars? What and where did you oil it and          what oil did you use?

Thanks for the input.

Are these problems being brought to LIONEL customer service's attention?  Letting the retailer know about them is necessary; but, so is letting LIONEL know directly about the issues.  After all, LIONEL is the one dealing with the suppliers.

The enclosed manual should answer all your questions as to maintenance.

 

-Pete

I love the part in the instructions where they recommend not getting oil on the contact rollers....  There are other references in the instructions that apply to the O gauge line but not S.  Food for thought...

OK, with all the hubbub on this set, one of the things I'm grateful for is that the final product didn't look like the catalog illustration:

 

Of course, the locomotive didn't exist when the first announcement was made, so they probably used an O gauge illustration.  I am FAR from a rivet counter when it comes to most of my trains, but how close is this model to the actual 1225 at the Steam Railroad Institute in Owosso, Michigan?  It looks well proportioned in any case.  BTW, I like that the model has a backhead in the cab.  It just cries out for an engineer and fireman figures.  I wonder if the separate sale Berks will have them?

That illustration uses the so-called "Berkshire Junior" from the O27 set.  Wrong tender aside(the current standard O27 NYC based tender,) it's a reasonable, although selectively compressed, rendition of the prototype locomotive.  Going back slightly further to the initial announcement, the so-call O27 "Baby Madison" passenger cars were also illustrated rather than the Flyer cars.

 

At least the Berkshire Junior has separate handrails... (couldn't resist.)

 

Rusty

Well, my PE set and baggage and abandoned toys cars finally arrived from Charles Ro this morning. Unboxed them to find that both baggage AND observation car have the same frame with steps. Abandoned  toys car has correct frame with no steps. Will be calling Lionel service about this issue. Should be interesting what they'll have to say when I demand the correct frame for the observation car. Thus the saga continues. Won't have opportunity to test run set until this weekend.

Btw, it seems Roundhouse Bill is the only one who has two different frames and can swap them to make them correct. Wonder if that's because he received his set for the S Gaugian magazine review and Lionel didn't want him mentioning their screw up in his review. Also, someone on this forum must have taken video of this set running at York or pics of set on display there. Wonder if they show the observation car displayed there had the correct frame or the incorrect frame with steps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ogaugeguy - Actually I did notice the frame had the extra steps when I wrote the review, but since this was a special observation car I didn't make note of it.  

 

These steps seem to be such a big deal to some of you.  Why go to the trouble and take the time to fuss with Lionel or your dealer.  Just take them off if you are unhappy?  A couple of clips with a wire cutter and they are gone.  They don't bother me at all. 

 

 

Just got off the phone with Lionel about the wrong frame on the observation car. The young lady took my information, said they would send me the right frame when they get them in to swap it out. Time will tell how long it will take.  I can live with the steps but I've waited over 1 1/2 for them to get it right.  thanks

The question is, why doesn't Lionel take the time and the trouble to get things right?  

 

Correct frame under the correct car isn't rocket science.  Being in manufacturing myself, I can understand how it happened, but it should have been caught somewhere along the line before the product was shipped.

 

While this isn't as bad an issue as the cylindrical hopper truck fiasco, it's another indication that someone isn't minding the store as well as they should.

 

Rusty

Got my set yesterday. No major quality issues, but 3 questions-

1- when opened the box, a small black phillips head screw and plastic washer fell out- no obvious home for them- anyone have this happen and know where they belong?

2-one of the coaches has no silhouettes in the windows- setbox shows silhouettes in both- are yours the  same?

3-Obs has one figure silhouette at rear-box shows this-is there a story to this?

Thanks,

Jim

Jim

Without giving away the plot to the movie Polar Express, I can say that the car  silhouettes are accurate to the storyline in the movie.

Ben

Even more to the story comes if you got the abandoned to car.  You didn't ask about the bell in the box.  That is a key part of the story.  Order the movie if you haven't seen it.  I got a Blue Ray and it is a great film and makes your train and the announcements makes come to life.   Only a little over $20.

 

I got a golden ticket in the box of one of the extra cars.  I don't remember which one.

 

I just looked at the 2014 & 2015 catalogs.  The 2014 mentions the ticket as part of the set but the 2015 catalog says nothing about it.