Originally Posted by Winston:
Originally Posted by Lee Willis:
I have the JLC version and its a really fine locomotive, but way too big to run very often on the layout - ridiculous stick out on curves. But it is so impressive looking, I keep it on the shelf at just about eye level where I pass by it as I enter the workshop. I love it.
As with my JLC Big boy, the JLC Allegheny is all that I need, given how rarely I run it and how it won't look that much better on the shelf. But I would like to see Lionel produce one for all the folks that don't have one, and I imagine it is next up on the Vision list, actually.
Yes the JLC's are nice. When comparing them to a VL, JLC's are best left on the shelf. One day Lionel will make something better than VL. It which point I will buy the new thing and leave the VL's on the shelf. I hope Lionel keeps pushing the envelope of fun feature packed loco's and re-releasing the same engines with the new features. The Steam era is dead and the possibilities are limited. We also forget that not everyone had the chance to buy an engine that was released once 7 years ago. New people to the hobby do not want to buy someone's old junk with a million miles on it from ebay running in TMCC worse conventional, just to get the loco they want. I don't even want to do that. Lionel, Please re-release everything you have ever made. I didn't buy a Y-3 last year because it did not have a smoking whistle. Add that and my money is yours. I would like a re-released Class A as well. And for those of you who want something new please make a Triplex. I'll keep a positive outlook for that Allegheny too. In the meantime I'll be playing with my Big Boy and soon to be re-released Y6b (wishing it was a VL).
You just summed up how I and likely others new to the hobby feel. We like the Legacy and VL products. New, great features, no run time. In fact, I switched over to Lionel from Premier because of all the cool additional features. Whistle steam, blow down, dynamo steam, etc. And like you said, there are risks in buying used 7 year old engines. Someone getting started wants trains that run and provide fun, not problems to solve.
Having said that, I am curious about the JLCs. I remember reading a post a while back where someone said they were the pinnacle of Lionel detailing. Given I don't own any JLCs, and based on that comment, I've always been under the impression that VL may have the new and cooler features but that they were second to JLC standard of detailing. Is this right?
Peter