O Gauge w/ Whistle Steam

MikeF,

  welcome to the forum and to O gauge in general!  I have a young son myself and find that he does very well with O gauge trains and I've also found it helps him have some more respect for his other toys so fewer things get smashed!

As to starter sets the main alternative to Lionel is Mike's Train House, (MTH.)

Most entry level starter sets from both manufacturers cost about the same but i think the lionel ones will set you back a little less and both are fine products. 

 

Here is a link to the MTH catalog page. Look at the 2012 Ready to run catalog for an idea of what is available.

 

http://www.mthtrains.com/content/catalogs

 

Some general advice... consider getting a freight set with a gondola car or other open car.  My son loves to load misc items in the open cars to carry around.  The best add-on item you can get is a few extra pieces of staight track.  After that an operating section of track and a dump car of some sort can also be great fun.

 

If you bone up on prices listed on manufactures website and Magazines ( Such as OGR!!) you can up your experience by going to a train show.  You can generally find a good deal on a starter set at a show, the boxes are cumbersome and there is often a strong desire by the vendors to unload the physically larger items so they don't have to take them back to the shop.  If you go to a show be prepared to pay cash, and if you bring your son, be prepared to shell out a few bucks for a hot dog and soda as well as time for him to sit and eat.

 

Downside to Lionel starter sets is that they come with fast-track.  Now this track is very good for little hands to work with and is great for setting up on carpeted floors but it is also very expensive.  If you've had trains before with tinplate track you will also notice that fast-track comes with 36" diameter curves inside of 27" or 31" that you're used to.  Its easier for high speed running youngsters to keep the trains on the tracks but it does take up a little more room. 

 

MTh starter sets come with a similar track that is good for carpeted floors but is definitely a little harder to assemble.  In both cases the plastic base track is harder to "fudge" on assembly than tinplate style track.

 

To wrap this incredibly long post - go with what you like, but I recomend evaluting whatever sets you're interested in for maximum "fun" potential.  That's why I say go for something your boy can hide legos in and give rides to transformers and toy dinosaurs.

 

Welcome Again!

Also I you live any where near a Boscov's Dept store they bring in some O gauge starter sets at Christmas time and are now offering anything they have left for 25% off.  I think these stores are only in PA though...

Welcome aboard!

 

I bought the Polar Express to get back into this and wow is it disappointing.  The whistle has a fan that almost drowns it out, the locomotive barely smokes, broken coupler on the tender and irt was also missing whatever part one of the axles go into.  Great transformer for a starter set.  I then bought the Coca Cola 125th anniversary set which also has railsounds (More than the bell and whistle).  That one is around $200 these days.  

 

Being unfamiliar at the time with MTH I didn't consider anything but the mighty Lionel. Now that I own an MTH locomotive I wish i had invested more time into research like you are doing.  Has cooler sounds and smokes like a chimney.  

 

I have fastrack since I am in an apartment right now and can lay it on the carpet and pick it up rather easily.

 

Having researched to see that you bought the Santa Fe set I would definitely look into MTH steamers.  

Mike,

Unfortunately, Lionel usually seems to reserve their whistle steam feature for higher priced, premium steam locos with Legacy control. And even then, there's no guarantee that they'll include it.

One smaller scale loco with it is the PRR Atlantic 4-4-2. It's full legacy and probably sells for about $550.

I don't believe that MTH or any other competitor has released locos with this feature as of yet.

For another steam whistle locomotive, the Lionel Great Northern Empire Freight Express set 6-31799,  is a train only set, no track or transformer.

 

MSRP is $429.99

 

Charles Ro shows it at $349.95 Limited quantity

 

Trainworld shows it at $376.99

 

It would be another Berkshire type(2-8-4) but different from the Polar Express.

 

Doug

 

 

 

Not sure what I did, but sure did not intend to post four pics, one would have been enough,

 

Sorry,

Doug

I have the GN set with whistle-steam.    Using JTs MegaSteam I get great smoke out of the loco.  But the amount of smoke/steam that comes out of the whistle is dissappointing but still cool.   I like it very much, and run it often.

I think I've got it.  Check out Lionel 6-30021.  this includes the Lionel 0-6-0 dockside switcher.  Because of its compact size, it has an electric whistle, not always the most realistic but plenty loud enough, and the little thing smokes like crazy.  Also the engine is deceptively powerful as you add cars later.

 

Hope this helps you out - otherwise you could pick up a dockside switcher by itself and a few cars.

 

Have fun - John Z.

First, I had really bad experiences with the reliability of MTH RTR steam sets recently - I think the diesel are more robust and dependable.  Also, while the Lionel dockside switcher is nice (I love mine) I have several 0-8-0 from RTR sets and they are a bigger and quality loco that is a lot of fun if you want a good steam loco.  I agree that getting gondola cars or something you can interact with (flatcars that you cload cars on are good, too). 

 

Whistle steam is an okay feature.  Bells and whistles are, too, but frankly running trains and maybe switching routes on a layout with a few switches seems to interest my grandkids more.

Hi Mike,

Welcome to the forum!  I'm gonna keep this short and sweet. Nobody offers whistle steam but Lionel. (As far as I know).  I am a big fan of Lionel.  Everything I own is Lionel. It's just a personal preference. That's all.

That being said, I also used to own a train store. Closed up about 6 years ago. That's another story. I had plenty of experience with MTH Trains and starter sets. The starter sets are a little bit more expensive but worth every penny. The ones with Protosounds 2 or 3 are the way to go. The sounds are good and the steamers smoke like crazy. Eventually you will be able to run them with DCS. (When you purchase it). This means you will be able to run them remotely in command mode and run multiple trains on the same track at the same time. Why? You ask. Because it makes it more fun. Also makes wiring a layout easier as well when you start to build one.

So Lionel makes great stuff. But their legacy control doesn't come in their starter sets. Only their hi end offering have that system. It's rather unfortunate. There starter sets can only be run with a transformer or with a remotely controlled transformer. Not by radio control.

I hope this helps.
I know I said I was gonna keep it short. But I didn't. Lol.

Good luck,

Mike R

My son is 2 1/2 and we have been playing with the Lionel Trains since he was about 18-20 months old.

 

Honestly, a set like the Pennsy Flyer is just fine, depending on age, because my son just likes that it "smokes."  "Put some 'moke in it!" is a commonly-heard cry around our train set.  We have expanded to a couple of other smoking accessories like the burning switch tower and the rocket launching pad. 

 

A smoking caboose is on our wish list and we are experimenting with different brands of smoke as well.  So far Mega Steam and one made in Lancaster, PA that smells like Cedar have been big winners in the "more smoke than Lionel" department.

 

I also second the recommendation for a couple of gondola cars.  My son will spend long periods of time loading and unloading anything he can get his hands on.  Even the Lionel People-Pack we got ends up in the Gondola, where the people on our train set "sleep at night."

 

Good luck, and enjoy!

I have the PRR K-4 with the whistle steam.  It has two independent smoke generators and does a great job with both smoke and whistle steam.  The PRR T-1 Duplex I have also has excellent smoke and whistle steam.

 

I believe some of the lower end Lionel units use a puffer smoke unit with a fan to tap off smoke for whistle steam, I can't imagine that working as well.

 

I'll agree with the comment about MTH smoke units, they are the smoke champs in my stable.  Almost anything equipped with the MTH smoke is run at the low smoke setting!

Image:	Price:	Title:	Details:
ZOOM	$399.99	Lionel Great Northern Empire Freight Express Set	Stock Number: 6-31799 Gauge: O/O-27 Gauge Manufacturer: Lionel Product Type: Sets Availability: In Stock

This item is on sale for $360.00 plus $12.00 to ship. 

www.patstrains.com

Thank you everyone for your helpful input!  Does anyone know of a video kicking around of that Lionel Great Northern steam?  I'd like to see it in action and may just order one based on if it looks good.  Yesterday I stopped at a local train store and based on everyone's advice, I picked up an O gauge Boston and Maine gondola car for my son.  He loves it and went immediately to loading pretend logs in it and pulling it behind his Penn flyer.  That was a great way to get him to play more with his trains rather than just drive them around.  The Boston and Maine is special because living here in NH...when we go to see real trains there's usually something with the B&M logo so it was immediately recognizable to him!  here's a photo from over the summer, notice the B&M caboose in the back ground.

 

 

I'm looking forward to seeing if anyone knows of a video of that Great Northern with Whistle Steam.  I scoured youtube but couldn't find one.  -Mike

I don't have a video of the GN but I have the P.E with whistle steam. In my opinion this is a great loco motive. 

Great video and really cool engine.  I'm afraid I'll wear out that whistle in a week hahaha....I have to get one!

Hi Mike,

 

 My computer skills leave a bit to be desired, let's see if this link works.

 

http://youtu.be/-D653aYyl8Q

 

Try that, it was made by a kid, the camera work could use some improvement, and he talks about his track a bit before getting back to the locomotive, but he does have some decent shots of the locomotive, and the Whistle steam in particular that you are interested in. He doesn't show the cars that come with the set, maybe got the engine seperately, there are some ebay sellers and even some shops that "Break set" and sell the components seperately.

 

Doug

There is one on ebay, Used, engine only(with box) for $275.00 Or make Offer and free shipping.

 

Ebay auction #  251221250219

 

Doug

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks everyone for the tips!  Pat do you still have some available?  I assume new in the box?  I believe that's the one I want.

Thanks Ken and everyone else, as well as Pats Trains.  I bought the Lionel Great Northern Berkshire with Whistle Steam.  My son and I love this train...the sounds, the smoke, everything is really cool!  Since I scoured and scoured and couldn't find a video I made my own and posted it to YouTube.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_XA5L8vQFI