PRR Lionel 18052 (238E) reissue

It's a beautiful little model, and while I do not have one a friend does and it is a levely runner, and just very pretty. 

I'' go ahead and emphasize the obvious with a recent lesson I got: several months ago got a Lionel loco nearly as old and NIB - from 2000.  Before running it I checked it.  The grease/oil/lube whatever it was originally had hardened to a really thick, near-solid goo.  I cleaned it out as best I could , using thin Lionel oil to loosen it where particularly hard - all of which required a bit of work -- and relubed it per the instructions, and it runs perfectly now.  Not every old loco I have bought was tha tway, but . . . 15 years in the box - and it only takes a minute to check. 

I bought this engine when in came out back in '96.  Its been a very dependable engine.  The engine came with an extra set of driver wheels.  The ones installed on the engine are magnetraction.  The extra wheels have tire traction.  You can swap out the wheels depending on the track you use.

The smoke unit had an issue that it would tend to spit smoke fluid up the stack.  I believe a fix was posted on this board years ago.  It was a simple mod but I don't remember what it was.  Something about drilling an extra air hole or something.

The engine uses an LCRU board.  I had to adjust mine once as it no longer was detecting the command signal.  There is a pot on the board that I needed to adjust to get it to detect the signal again.  I moved the adjustment maybe a 1/8 rotation and all has been well ever since.

Pete, I've had one since they first came out.  Upon opening the first thing you'll notice is an apology from Gary M.  Stateside Lionel couldn't get the stripes right on the steamchest/boiler front, so they left them off.

It's Pulmore powered.  If under TMCC you'll have to set the Stall or you'll be cranking the red dial a bit.

The above mentioned steamchest is wide, probably the widest of any Lionel engine.  I had to make some track/accessory adjustments.

It's tethered (before IR).

Great whistle; early Railsounds.

Heavy, and alot of old Lionel nostalga.

I have a chance to purchase one as well, and wanted to know how it sounds. Lately I have been buying all the "collector line" items from the late 90's. Are there any videos of this engine?

It sounds really good, in my opinion. That vintage of railsounds was a big improvement over previous models. I haven't run mine for a few years, but it is a great combination of the old and new.

Some more background on this neat engine:

* The tooling is original to that made by La Precisa in the mid 1930's.

* Unlike the original spur-geared 4-4-2 drive-train, this one uses the B6 chassis from 1989 to create a 4-6-2.

* Like its B6 cousin, this engine shares a "spitty" smoke unit with other mechanical smoke unit engines of the era including the 1-700E.  The cure for this was covered in an article by Jim Barrett many moons ago, and it is a simple one:

Remove the screws on the top of the unit.  Remove the top, and you will find that the element is installed vertically alongside a die-cast baffle.  DRILL a 1/4" hole through the baffle adjacent to the middle of the element resistor.  Reassemble. 

You will now have airflow across and through the unit, giving you nice white puffs (1 per revolution) as she rolls down the tracks.

Jon 

Where can I find Jim's article? Is it in one of his DVD's?

Thanks

After seeing the video of the reissue, I appreciate my 1938 version even more. Just my opinion.