The Southern Pacific GS-2 Daylight

That is one grand locomotive. Lionel did a very good job on this one!

Don,

 

I have one of the NEW Legacy GS2's, and I love it too!!!I have 6 SP Daylight Cars I pull behind it. LOOKS GREAT!!

 

Fredstrains

I have the earlier GS2 and like it very much.  I am curious, did they get the Daylight logo right on the fireman's side skirt?  It is correct on mine but on the GS4 they used the same decal on both sides, i.e. on the fireman's side the wing is going towards the left or front of the engine which is incorrect.

 

Thank you.

I purchased one also this year. Been wanting one a long time. To bad they haven't produced the passenger cars since 05/07 era. Seems to be a trend with lionel. It seems for iconic locos you could almost always count on the cars in the same or next catalog along with an additional two pak. The Blue Comet and the Crescent don't have the 2 pak and the Daylight doesn't have matching cars. Its a shame. Beautiful loco. I just received the Shasta cars today to pull. Not as nice as it could be but it is something to pull that is colorful. Color is good.

I am lucky that I ordered all seven cars back with the last GS2.  They look great and perfectly match the GS2's colors.  I look to get another two coach add on from time to time but don't want to pay the now premium price.  I also hope they will make them again plus I hope they make a correct GS4 some day.

Well I may have spoken too soon....  Just noticed that there is no flickering firebox light inside the cab - just the interior light.  Can anyone confirm if the engine should have this feature. Is there a way to turn it on and off?  I hate when I have to send a brand new engine back!

Are you sure? Sometimes it can be hard to see, Lionel has been using a different l.e.d. setup that sits further away from the firebox door.

Try powering up the loco and disconnecting it from the tender so you can look right into the firebox door from the rear of the cab.

It doesn't have flickering light sadly .. I have it to 

You can add one if you feel the need.   I use the flickering LED's from the battery powered tea candles to do the flickering firebox glow, looks pretty realistic.

Maybe Lionel doesn't bother with "flickering firebox light" on models of oil burning steam locomotives.

How Water, that's an excellent point!   That didn't even occur to me.

Hot Water,

What are the main differences between the GS-2 and the GS-4?

 

Tnx, Matt

I don't know - the oil furnace in my home has a "flickering firebox". Even has a window that let's you view it.

 

The description in the catalog lists it as a feature which is why I thought it was there. I was actually checking to see if it had lighted gauges when I realized it didn't even have the firebox glow.  If anybobdy knows for certain if the feature is there or not please let me know. 

I have the black GS-2 and love it.  Great engine. Didn't notice about the flickering one way of the other, but will check.

Most all of the LEDs I have seen used for firebox glow use a bare LED mounted in socket terminals and just pulls out. You can get bare flickering LEDs if you want to replace one with a steady glow.

 

Pete

Here are several differences:

 

GS-2s and GS-4s had different driver wheel diameters (73.5" and 80" respectively)

 

The GS4 has a slightly longer driver wheelbase (about a foot and a half longer) and had an overall larger wheelbase (47.66' vs. 45.83')

 

GS-4 had higher boiler pressure (300psi vs 250psi)

 

GS-4 had a higher tractive effort (63230 lbs vs. 66326 lbs)

 

GS-2s had "standard" (open) cabs, GS-4s had enclosed "all weather cabs."  MTH messed up on this with their GS-2 by sharing the GS-4 engine cab.

 

GS-2s have a single front headlight on the smokebox front, the GS-4 has a top MARS light in addition to a lower standard headlight.  They both have different handrail designs on the smokebox front as well.

 

GS-4 engine was heavier than the GS-2 (448400 lbs vs. 475000 lbs respectively) although the GS2 had a heavier tender than the GS-4 (373000 lbs vs. 313730 lbs respectively)

 

The GS-4 has significantly "beefier" (heavier duty) main connecting rods than the GS-2.  This is one detail that Lionel messed up on their GS-4 model (used the same connecting rods from their previous GS-2).

 

 

Does anyone have a response to my question about the fireman's side Daylight logo as to whether it is identical to the engineer's side like they did on the GS-4?

I buy them 3 for a dollar, and they come with a CR2032 battery as well.   Check your local Dollar store for battery powered flickering tea lights, they have them most of the time.  At Christmas, they have them in various color bases, but it's the same light.

       
       


I have a few of those floating around to eventually install on some of my locos, but I always have trouble wrapping my brain around electrical engineering.   For a conventional loco you'd need the equivalent of a constant lighting circuit, no? I intend to use 2 "flickering" LEDs to give it even more random flicker, and enough lumens to spill out the ashpan (if I can engineer the openings properly.)  I understand the basics well enough to know I'd probably need a rectifier, a capacitor, and some resistors to give me the right output, but when it comes to determining values I'm entirely clueless.  Then again if I were going to bother building that circuit,  I'd want to use it for constant lighting on the headlight and whatever other lighting I see fit to add (cab light, lighted gauges, etc.)

Well, the nice thing is, there are components that will ease the calculation burden.   Here's a simple circuit that will do the trick.  You can also drop in a single diode instead of the bridge for strictly command operation.  For two LED's, I'd use a couple of series 47 ohm resistors to the LED's to load equalize and probably go with 50 ohms for 25ma of total current for the pair.

 

Job done.

 

It does say "flickering firebox in cab" in the product description........not that it means anything.

 

http://www.lionel.com/Products/Finder/ProductDetail.cfm?ProductNumber=6-11419&expandBranch=0&Keywords=4-8-4&CategoryID=0&RailLineID=&CatalogId=

Apparently, that doesn't mean anything.

Another add on feature to fuss about that really isn't prototypical?  I get the drill.  If it says it has it, it should have it.  And not having a flickering glow from the firebox should take away all the enjoyment to be had from owning the engine.  It deserves nothing more than a huge sense of buyer's remorse.

Well, actually it IS pretty prototypical. Even oil burning steam locomotives will exhibit fire/orange light "flossing" out of the air intake vents, and at night it is VERY impressive!

 

 

FWIW William, the "flickering firebox" add on feature has pretty much been a standard offering on Lionel steamers in the last dozen years or so.

 

In the grand scheme of things it may be minor, but its still another "corner" cut, after the epidemic of disappearing whistle steam.

 

Lionel could at least continue with the "regular" add ons, whats next no smoke unit for the stack?

 

Heres SP 4449's firebox during the day.

 

Here is the firebox of the SP2472.  It's a Pacific and and like all SP locos, an oil burner.  Matt

I had my gs2 apart for my smoking whistle .The flickering lights are not in there.  

I'n not a smoking bell kind of guy, and flicker/no flicker, I'm not bothered - EXCEPT:

most of these bulbs/LED's - that I've personally seen - tend to be red, and they should

be much more orange/red in color, for the coal-burners. The oil-burners (like GS2)

flames are not as noticeable, but they are indeed there, and they should have a

bluish/orange tint.

 

Since we're being picky. It really means little to me.

 

I mean, the "smoke" we get is white, which could indeed be steam from the steamers - and really a funny color to be coming out of a diesel's exhaust under any circumstances.

EMD (2-cycle, like a Yamaha) exhaust can be bluish-white, but not white, and we

all know about the black from Alco's and GE's.

The flickering electric tea candle bulbs are a perfect fit here, they're yellow.  For some installations, I actually grind the top flat and polish it.

It just seems kind of minor for what I am thinking is probably as cool a model train locomotive as can be.  I'm probably just jealous.  Long may she flicker.

We got another great free video out of it.  Thanks for that.  I love all the videos.

Everyone has their own little likes and dislikes, that's what makes the hobby so great.  Think how boring it would be if everyone thought just alike.

I haven't noticed anyone mention it, but did the previous GS-2 and GS-4 have flickering fireboxes? (I assume they did, from the tone of the comments.)

 

I'd be curious to know if Lionel also eliminated the flickering firebox in the new N&W J.

 

A coincidence I just put a Southern Pacific GS-2 I bought in 1992 at a TTOS auction for $425 which was a good deal then I remember. I never ran it much and is in new condition the Railsounds don't work though. Pulling a Williams Daylight Madison type cars 6 car set also from a TTOS auction also in 1992 for $140 also like new.

I see a flicker!  

OK - well Lionel says it does have the feature so I guess mine really is broken.  Can somone who has the engine please check and verify that they do see a flicker coming from the firebox. They say it is not very bright.  I tried mine in total darkness and saw nothing.....