Hello, fellow Trainiacs!
My young son and I have a 4x8 layout primarily of Santa Fe engines, and perhaps a few of you may have seen my posts on the O Gauge groups on Facebook. We have decided to commemorate my father's recent retirement from the BNSF Railway (just shy of 40 years of service to AT&SF and BNSF) with a new BNSF diesel for our small layout. However, I'm looking at a couple of options to ensure we put our hard-earned (and hard-saved) money towards the right locomotive.
Here are the options I'm looking at for our LionChief and LionChief Plus controlled, DC-powered layout. Any helpful feedback is appreciated, particularly if any of you have either of the first two options:
1. LionChief Plus BNSF GP-20, No. 2050, Item No. 6-82171 - Our local hobby shop has one left in stock, and I may be able to get a nice deal on it. My only hesitation is that it is an older LC+ engine, but that may not necessarily be a bad thing - there have just been improvements in Lionel's sounds, speakers, and smoke units since. My son likes the crew talk on this engine and the horn, plus it has a smoke unit and crew figures.
2. LionChief BNSF Tier 4 Set, Item No. 6-84732 - Personally, I love this tooling and locomotive design. Additionally, I think the engine rev levels, bell, and horn sound amazing based on videos I've seen, plus the pitches can be adjusted on the Bluetooth app. The set also comes with track and nice rolling stock. We honestly don't need the track and power supply, but it might be nice to use for either shelf display and/or Christmas layouts in the future. The biggest thing? My son (again, he's 4) likes the male voice on the first engine better rather than the female voice on this locomotive. Personally, I think it's awesome that Lionel put a female voice on this engine, and the crew talk references the road number of the engine (very cool on a LionChief set!). My Dad told his grandson that he worked with several awesome girls on the BNSF, including some outstanding engineers! My biggest hesitation is that when looking at online reviews, it is either hit or miss among people who own it (motor burnouts, sounds cutting off, etc.), which is why I wanted to seek advice from all of you. The LionChief Polar Express set w/Bluetooth also has mixed reviews, but we received one for Christmas several months ago - it runs beautifully.
3. LionChief Plus 2.0 BNSF Tier 4 Diesels, Item Numbers 1934011 and 1934012 - We could always be patient, save some more money, and invest in one of these engines that are (hopefully) arriving later this summer or early fall. From what I've gathered, these engines will have the look of the Tier 4 in the LionChief set, but will have crew figures in the cab, smoke unit, and expanded Railsounds; perhaps sounds that will rival Legacy (according to some Ryan & Dave Show videos I've watched)?
and finally....
4. Wait for the 2020 Vol. 2 Lionel Catalog to see any further BNSF options? I love that Lionel has put the LC+ 2.0 control in the LionMaster line to give more detailed engines the simplicity and size for smaller DC layouts. The SD80MACs that recently arrived look and sound amazing, and I've considered waiting to see if Lionel will make one of these in a BNSF scheme....
Of course, if I had more money to spend, I'd buy a few options rather than just one! All of our engines are Lionel, and we've been very happy with them - both steam and diesel. Again, any helpful feedback is appreciated. It has been an absolute joy getting back into this hobby during the past two years.
Make it a great day!
Patrick
