Gave my grandson a Thomas Lionchief set for Christmas. Opened it yesterday and the remote control is DOA. Used two different sets of new batteries (tested batteries) but no power LED on the remote when switched on. Batteries appear to make good contact. Engine sounds start when power is applied to the track but no reaction to the remote. Anyone else seeing similar situations? Luckily, I purchased the set at a great LHS so I'm sure we'll get a working version.
Ron
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Happened to me a year ago. Bought online but took it to the local Lionel repair station. Under warranty. Fixed in a week. Grandson very happy with it since then.
Ron
I do not own one or know anyone who does but remember hearing there is a switch on the engine for either remote operation or conventional ( transformer). Is yours correctly turned to remote?
JohnB
One forum member here bought all three of the new Thomas Lionchief series for the grandkids and did not have any problems that I know of. I have only heard of a couple of DOA issues with the Lionchief units so I would say while it is a disappointment it can get fixed.
While any online reviews and complaints should be taken with a grain of salt so to speak, there nonetheless seems to be more than a small sampling of reviews & comments on both Amazon and another o gauge magazine's web forum to indicate there might be quality control issues with the LionChief line. Although as the case of any new produc, there's always some kinks to straighten out, I sure hope such instances do not stifle families that might be on the rail towards making the plunge to the LionChief system from doing so. Also hoping to see a positive review on one of Lionel's LionChief RTR sets in a not too distant future issue of OGR magazine.
Ron
I do not own one or know anyone who does but remember hearing there is a switch on the engine for either remote operation or conventional ( transformer). Is yours correctly turnlotto remote?
JohnB
do not believe the Thomas comes under this.
you need lionchief plus.
The Thomas set doesn't have the option switch to run conventional.
However, the story has a happy ending. Took the set back to my LHS, Henning's in Lansdale, PA, about five min from my house. They took great care of me and I left with a new remote for the Thomas set. They actually broke open another new set to get the remote. Great customer service.
On the topic of Lionchief, I love my new Polar Express Lionchief set. It's under the tree this year. Great fun for the grandkids... and big kids.
Bonus! While at Henning's I got to meet Gunrunnerjohn, an institution on OGR. Nice meeting you, John.
Ron
Keep the LHS alive!
Great to meet you as well, I'm glad your remote issues where solved. I didn't get to take that one apart to see what happened inside, I suspect it's a simple failure.
Bonus! While at Henning's I got to meet Gunrunnerjohn, an institution on OGR. Nice meeting you, John.
Ron
Who??? Never heard of him
Glad you got a replacement, its always a bummer when toys don't work for the kids.
The Thomas set doesn't have the option switch to run conventional.
However, the story has a happy ending. Took the set back to my LHS, Henning's in Lansdale, PA, about five min from my house. They took great care of me and I left with a new remote for the Thomas set. They actually broke open another new set to get the remote. Great customer service.
On the topic of Lionchief, I love my new Polar Express Lionchief set. It's under the tree this year. Great fun for the grandkids... and big kids.
Bonus! While at Henning's I got to meet Gunrunnerjohn, an institution on OGR. Nice meeting you, John.
Ron
Keep the LHS alive!
Just like the movie a happy ending for all!! Glad to hear it worked out so well and glad to hear Henning's treated you so well.
I got the LC PE this year and have it under the tree. It great to be able to sit in a chair and operate it. I wasn't sure LC was going to be a good thing but I have to say I was wrong. It's fantastic!
Whenever I'm up at Henning's and the kids come in, I take the LionChief control out and let them run the PE that's on the display. I think several sales may have been made, couldn't get it away from one of the kids.
All our family enjoyed playing with the Thomas Christmas set. This set is very easy to
operate. I made a short iPod video but as I am using an iPad and can't upload a film
cause Apple will not install Flash Player cannot upload.
Glad you got taken care of at your LHS. Another good reason to use them.
Glad it worked out, but that is the reason I always have them test the engine and tender at whatever LHS I happen to be in. Only takes a few minutes and saves me the headache and hassle of a DOA return or repair.
Jerry
I had some trouble with my alien recovery set, the remote would work one time, then had to turn it off to get it to go again, or go in reverse. Took it back to my LHS, Sommerfeld's in Milwaukee, and they looked at it for a while, took it apart, then broke open a new recovery set and gave me the remote. No problems now, been running it for a month now. The guys down at Sommerfeld's are great, I can't say enough good things about them.
Jerry,
Your advice is absolutely correct and solid, but I fear, in the heat of the seasonal shopping, I'll probably forget to do that next year too. My bad and I paid the price of an extra visit to the LHS. Although this trip had some extra benefits. Thanks.
It's a credit to those LHS mentioned (as well as others) that they supply such stellar service to their customers but it's also unfortunate that Lionel provides those LHS with a product so lacking in quality control that such stellar service is needed.
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