I got my Lionel Legacy SP 2-8-0 yesterday, a very lovely looking locomotive. I'm sure it'll get lots of run time, but it was also a let down to me. Right out of the box it didn't work right, the IR tether didn't even come close to matching, in fact the locomotive would leave the tender behind at a track joint, so the sounds didn't even work right either. I could only get the screw on the locomotive that held the tether to back out half a turn, so I had to bend the tender tether tongue way up for them to even come close to lining up. Once that was corrected and smoke fluid added, it was fun to run, and sounds nice. I can tell it's the same sound set as others, but the different tender shape gives it a different tone, which was nice.
PROs:
-The firebox flicker is awesome, I love how it lights up the cab and tender front.
-Whistle smoke is by far the best I've seen. With two large openings, the smoke slowly comes out nice and thick.
-It is painted as I think all steamers should be on the exterior, bright silver on the smokebox and firebox, white walls on all wheels, red window frames,and white trimmed running boards.
CONs:
-The smoke switch and run/prog switch labels are on the side of the locomotive, so you can see them when you look at it.
-No cab light. They managed to get one in the tiny B6sb, so how did they not get one in this larger cab. It also makes the page in the manual useless where it give the cab light error codes. How can I read codes if there is no cab light to flash them?
-No front coupler to double head it. For some reason this really bothers me, all my other scale steamers have a front coupler, and I run them together all the time (Sometimes all at once.). This also means I can't get another 2-8-0 to run with the one I have. Nor can I use it as a pusher to help my Ten-Wheeler get it's passenger train over hills. My Heavy Mikado, Big Boy, and Ten-Wheeler all have front couplers. I know my LionMaster Class-A won't have one, but that is expected of a LionMaster. A scale locomotive on the other hand should have one.
-Battery placement in the tender for sound in conventional makes no sense. Why should I have to take the tender completely apart to put a battery in when Lionel put the fuel oil tank top on with magnets? They should of put it under that cover.
-Listed as a O36 locomotive, but it got stuck at speed step 10 on it's 1st trip through a parallel siding on my O36 FasTrack. When I backed it up and tried again at a faster speed, it did make it trough. But getting stuck on it's 1st try worries me.
-No "glass" in the windows of the cab.
Will I keep it, yes I will. I'm glad I didn't pay MSRP for it.
