So this showed up on the porch today. I very rarely buy anything modern, so this is only my second legacy locomotive and my first BTO item. After hearing some negative stories about OC lately, I figured it best to get it out and test everything for functionality.
The good news is that everything works correctly. The box is also nice. Overall, I’m happy with the purchase, and it will be fun to play with.
The only negative things I will mention is that the previously mentioned static noise artifact on the E8’s is still there intertwined with the engine noise. Cranking the volume up helps, but I can’t help but feel disappointed that Lionel hasn’t fixed this on the E8 sound files as of yet. At low volume, the static noise is annoying and noticeable.
The other thing that is probably normal with new Lionel trains is the generic sounds. There is nothing Rock Island or locomotive number specific in the crew talk. My old GP 30 calls out the locomotive number in the chatter with dispatch. I don’t personally think this locomotive’s “legacy railsounds” are much better than some of my older TMCC RS or even my old legacy GP30 which I think has a great soundtrack. It just lacks any real identity. It’s a rather generic EMD soundtrack that will probably get boring pretty quick. 😕
Anyway, it’s nice to see Lionel doing some different road names, and this is a great model of a prototypical train just before The Rock was shuttered.
