UP Rocket Train Set Arrives, First Impressions

I don’t see any videos?

I would love to see a picture, please John.

Ray

Well, I figured there were pictures in a number of threads.  Also, since I have to do a minor alteration to run it on my mainline, I figured videos would have to wait until I can actually run it, a video of it sitting still won't be that interesting.

Nice! That is cool a set and it's gotta look impressive going around the layout. Any chance of some videos/pictures?

What are the dimensions of the clearance car?

OK, here's a picture of it sitting on my upper level inside loop.  A video would be a bit silly, it would be chasing it's tail!

Pix and a video here on the Buy Anything Cool thread.....

@BillYo414 posted:

Nice! That is cool a set and it's gotta look impressive going around the layout. Any chance of some videos/pictures?

What are the dimensions of the clearance car?

I didn't measure the actual dimensions of the clearance car, but it's just a bit larger than the actual rocket carriers.  I noticed those cleared the obstruction that the clearance car hit by maybe 1/16", so the clearance car is about the right size.  It just barely clipped the support, just enough to cause a derailment about every 3rd trip around.

Thanks for the report.  I will receive mine next week.  How's the engine?

Thank you John for the pic. I never saw a clearance car like that before, should have had one like that for my home layout and for the club's.

Ray

John will shoot a video I'm sure once he is confident that he has fixed all the spots of any possible derailments. It is better to get some rest runs in, find potential issues and fix them before shooting a video and having something disastrous happen.

@BlueFeather posted:

Thanks for the report.  I will receive mine next week.  How's the engine?

The engine ran fine, and no cosmetic defects that I see.  One disappointment with the new ES44AC models over the 2012 models.  They took out the neat feature of automatic shutdown when you leave them idling for a spell.  The 2012 Legacy models automatically shutdown for a minute or two, then startup briefly, then shutdown again repeatedly.  This is like the real prototype, a fuel saving measure.  They just start them up to run the compressor and make sure the batteries are charged, then shutdown to save fuel and minimize pollution.  I thought that was a cool feature, and since it's only software, I'm pretty surprised they omitted it with the new version.  As soon as a command comes in, they startup immediately and away they go.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

The engine ran fine, and no cosmetic defects that I see.  One disappointment with the new ES44AC models over the 2012 models.  They took out the neat feature of automatic shutdown when you leave them idling for a spell.  The 2012 Legacy models automatically shutdown for a minute or two, then startup briefly, then shutdown again repeatedly.  This is like the real prototype, a fuel saving measure.  They just start them up to run the compressor and make sure the batteries are charged, then shutdown to save fuel and minimize pollution.  I thought that was a cool feature, and since it's only software, I'm pretty surprised they omitted it with the new version.  As soon as a command comes in, they startup immediately and away they go.

Great write up John, set looks very imposing on the layout. It always amazes me that Lionel goes all out than poof not so much. Seems that they get bored and just want to get it done!..

still a great set thanks for sharing warts and all.

Chris has a video on his YouTube site.  He also had clearance issues .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnP7mimCAMw

I'm not surprised others are running into clearance issues, the inside curve clearance is worse than almost any other locomotive or rolling stock!  The clearance car did it's job, I was impressed.  The actual rocket carriers barely missed the post that the clearance car hit, so if it clears, one can plan on the other cars making it too.  That's on O72 curves at that point, I can't speak to tighter curves, but you would need even more clearance on the inside.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

I'm not surprised others are running into clearance issues, the inside curve clearance is worse than almost any other locomotive or rolling stock!  The clearance car did it's job, I was impressed.  The actual rocket carriers barely missed the post that the clearance car hit, so if it clears, one can plan on the other cars making it too.  That's on O72 curves at that point, I can't speak to tighter curves, but you would need even more clearance on the inside.

John have you tried going through some switches to see how the cars track and clearance?

@ThatGuy posted:

John have you tried going through some switches to see how the cars track and clearance?

Yep, that's when I found the clearance issue!  That's the genesis of my mention of the heavy passenger car behind the light boxcar.  Going through and O72/O96 curved switch, the boxcar right in front of the passenger car derailed, I'm thinking it's a combination of the heavy car behind a light one, the lousy couplers on the boxcars, and the light weight of the boxcar.

More to come as I get time, I did fix the clearance issue so I should be able to come back out on the mainline again.

Yes I'm not a fan of the boxcar couplers either. Would've been nice if they spent the extra pennies on better trucks.. I would gladly have paid the price needed for that. Curious if replacing the truck connecting the passenger car is an option to get better coupler movement, especially with the kinematic coupler on it the passenger car. (And maybe the engine as well?)

The couplers are too tight, they are locked in place and have no "give" up and down when some of them are closed.  This is likely one cause of issues.  I may have to get my files out to fix those.

@Landsteiner posted:

Chris has a video on his YouTube site.  He also had clearance issues .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnP7mimCAMw

Skip ahead to about 7:36 for the Rocket Train Part

Rocket Train Section of Video

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Yep, that's when I found the clearance issue!  That's the genesis of my mention of the heavy passenger car behind the light boxcar.  Going through and O72/O96 curved switch, the boxcar right in front of the passenger car derailed, I'm thinking it's a combination of the heavy car behind a light one, the lousy couplers on the boxcars, and the light weight of the boxcar.

More to come as I get time, I did fix the clearance issue so I should be able to come back out on the mainline again.

Thanks for the explanation, look forward to hearing about the work around

As someone who works at Kennedy Space Center, this set was a must and many of my non-train enthusiast colleagues have shown significant interest as well!
Unfortunately, 2 of my booster cars suffer from a bent span bolster causing them to derail but these are getting sent to Lionel to be fixed and I can still enjoy the rest of the set in the mean time. It’s quite impressive and a perfect merging of interests for me.

@L-1011Heavy posted:

As someone who works at Kennedy Space Center, this set was a must and many of my non-train enthusiast colleagues have shown significant interest as well!

That's great, how close to reality is the set?

@L-1011Heavy posted:

Unfortunately, 2 of my booster cars suffer from a bent span bolster causing them to derail but these are getting sent to Lionel to be fixed and I can still enjoy the rest of the set in the mean time. It’s quite impressive and a perfect merging of interests for me.

After hearing about that, I was a bit concerned.  However, all of my cars appear to be whole.  My biggest complaint I think is the crappy couplers on the boxcars and how light the boxcars are.

@gunrunnerjohn I used to work for the company that built them and sent them East. The set is actually pretty accurate. Several of my coworkers actually rode along because of hobos getting into the containers and doing things that were extremely dangerous. One time they found someone had even built a fire inside. Hmm probably not a wise idea if they understood they were sitting right next to live solid rocket propellant.

I suspect building a fire was really not a great idea, that's for sure!   It's cool that they are pretty close to a prototype train, neat stuff!

this looked real enticing; then I thought, dont I already have a UP rocket train?

sure nuff' I have one!  the MTH version.  the trucks are painted yellow, there is a passenger crew car and UP engine too.

no clearance car  or extra box cars though.

oh well!

Alan, it was probably a whole lot cheaper as well!

Well I didn't want to say and spoil it for  .....

But I just purchased the box car set. 

@AlanRail posted:

Well I didn't want to say and spoil it for  .....

But I just purchased the box car set.

Was there a boxcar set for the MTH train?  Didn't know that....can you point me to where you got them?

I don't recall reading in the catalog on this if there was wider curves suggested or not. I think when I get back home I'll have to take a look just to satisfy my curiosity.

Alan

The Lionel set.

@OGR CEO-PUBLISHER posted:

Was there a boxcar set for the MTH train?  Didn't know that....can you point me to where you got them?

Lionel 2243150

My son ordered all the cars without the engine.  He has received the passenger car and the idler cars.  Lionel hasn’t shipped the rocket booster cars in the stand-alone set yet.  He ran what he has so far.  Happy to say I haven’t installed the upper level yet on my new layout, so I have no clearance issues.  My plan is to use the clearance car and the 21” passenger behind my new Vision Class A to insure adequate clearances when installing the upper level.

The one issue was with one coupler on an idler car.  The spacer bushing that goes between the car body and the truck was missing, resulting in a very floppy truck.  I found a nut in my hardware stash that was the right threads and thickness that works as a temporary substitute until he gets a proper replacement from Lionel.

This looks fantastic. When I saw it in the catalog, I didn't think much of it but after the pictures and videos it is really impressive looking.

What a fun set. Thanks for sharing.  

@jstraw124 posted:

My son ordered all the cars without the engine.  He has received the passenger car and the idler cars.  Lionel hasn’t shipped the rocket booster cars in the stand-alone set yet.  He ran what he has so far.  Happy to say I haven’t installed the upper level yet on my new layout, so I have no clearance issues.  My plan is to use the clearance car and the 21” passenger behind my new Vision Class A to insure adequate clearances when installing the upper level.

I was really surprised when I had clearance issues after testing with all the biggest stuff I owned, and the issue was on the inside of a curve, usually not the biggest problem.  Hopefully, that's behind me now, I fixed that and hopefully I can run without trying to knock down the second level.

I had a good day today. Got one at Hennings to put on layaway. Thanks for posting, John.

John,

Can you tell me if the clearance car has different parts for the center vs the outside? It looks to me like the center has a slightly different part to fit. My car only has 3 holes on the side but the white plastic part requires 4 to fit and I (and Lionel Support) can't seem to figure out if the box car or the white piece is wrong.

The center piece is different than the two ends.  I tried to force it on at first, then looked closer at the parts.  If you look closely at the three, you'll notice subtle differences in one of the three, that's the middle one.

Cool, thanks. I'll take another look at what I got but I think I got three of the end pieces