Vision Big Boy - Almost 2 Years Later ...

Still lovin' it!

That is one of the greats.  Not many problems and very easy to work on.

thanks Marty great locomotive and one of my favorites "big boy"

hope I get to purchase one some time love the BBL vision Lionel big boy!

Alan

I love mine! The coal feature stopped working, so I'll be putting a call in to Lionel soon. But it's still my favorite.

yankspride4 posted:

I love mine! The coal feature stopped working, so I'll be putting a call in to Lionel soon. But it's still my favorite.

You have 2 months before the warranty is up and less than that before Lionel starts getting busy for the holidays.  I wouldn't wait too long.

Mine is still sealed in the box. I better open her up and run it... I am still having fun with the older legacy version.

"I found the solution to the anemic blow-down effect."

Could you share the solution in detail with us?

J Daddy, by all means open up your Truly Amazing VL BB. It's a High Quality Locomotive with Awesomes Sounds....Also, if you need any repairs, the warranty is still in effect.  More than likely it's fine. Enjoy your really Cool Locomotive. Be sure and post pictures....Happy Railroading...

J Daddy posted:

"I found the solution to the anemic blow-down effect."

Could you share the solution in detail with us?

 

PJB posted:

 And, I found the solution to the anemic blow-down effect. I just unpacked one after it had sat idle for almost a year (long story why), put it back on the layout, added fluid and, wow, it now creates a nice, very visible, double stream of smoke from each side of the boiler!  Guess it just needed to "mature" like a fine wine. Lol.

peter

Fill it up with smoke fluid and then don't use it?

Amazing locomotive.  2 years later and I still run it almost every day.

Yes, this engine is truly one of the best VisionLine Locomotives to date. I like this engine, however I am partial to the Pennsylvania 0-8-8-0, as this has some amazing features. Swinging Bell, Blow down draft that's very visible, smoke whistle that's very visible, and the one thing I really like is the Cover over the firebox.... These 2 engines are simply fun to run.... The VL BB Whistle is the most Awesome Sound of any whistle made for a Lionel Locomotive.  Now. the new Visionline GG1 Should be Great.

I saw the video  of it and it looks impressive .  I decided  not to shell out the 1900 for a new one as I rarely  buy the new stuff anymore .  I saw one at York  for 1500. I will  wait a couple  more years and buy one when they are less than  a grand. John

Ditto all the comments above. Still loving mine. It regularly steals the show when run at our spring train show.

Rod

An amazing effort by Lionel, it's certainly a keeper!

its been an experience for me and I'll leave it at that!

am glad your all loving it and enjoy all its features.

J DADDY, from experience trust me get it open and run it while warranty is still good, more importantly enjoy its features and the "sounds" its one of the things I like about it the most.

Love mine.  Has been back to Lionel to fix the coal load.  Smoke is still very weak and not visible, except for the stack, but it sounds great.  Sold me so hard on Legacy that I haven't run anything but Legacy steam since.

I really need to finish stage one of my layout so I can run it again.

SINCLAIR, thought you were running already! soon as warranty is up you can get the rope wicking and then steam whistle and blowdown smoke will improve.

I had to adjust the sensor in my blowdown smoke unit to get the proper smoke volume, much better since the fix.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

I had to adjust the sensor in my blowdown smoke unit to get the proper smoke volume, much better since the fix.

Please tell us about it. Are you referring to the thermistor?

Yep, it was pushed in right next to the heater.  I opened the whistle smoke unit, since that was working good, and spaced it the same as that one.  Like magic the blowdown smoke came back.

Wish I had the layout for one. Awesome model for sure

I'm waiting to see what Laidoffsick says I think he has 4!

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Yep, it was pushed in right next to the heater.  I opened the whistle smoke unit, since that was working good, and spaced it the same as that one.  Like magic the blowdown smoke came back.

I recall a Lionel employee coming on here with a "ringer locomotive" that smoked better than every other VLBB ever made.  He was claiming it was just his personal "regular" VLBB that he purchased.  Oh, and that he could offer no help in pointing out to Lionel warranty dept. the obvious chasm between his "regular" unit and every other one produced.  Nice!  But then I also recall a couple fellows on this forum a while back that took the initiative Lionel should have taken as they identified and implemented a fix. I believe they added a longer rope wick and maybe adjusted the level of where it sat to get the blowdown smoke effects to be visible?  Anyway, were you one of those follows and do you do this fix for people?  Thanks.  

Peter

Well, Jon Z. was the one that posted the pictures, and I actually believe him, he's a pretty straight shooter.  I've seen many of them that worked 100% right out of the box.  Mine had that minor issue that was easily corrected. 

Since they're still under warranty, and I believe they offer free shipping both ways for Vision Line products, why not send it back and let Lionel make it right?

Here's a video of my "from the factory" blow down.

In case you missed it...slo mo.

Absolutely amazing engine , it's a show stopper!!

Alex 

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Well, Jon Z. was the one that posted the pictures, and I actually believe him, he's a pretty straight shooter.  I've seen many of them that worked 100% right out of the box.  Mine had that minor issue that was easily corrected. 

Since they're still under warranty, and I believe they offer free shipping both ways for Vision Line products, why not send it back and let Lionel make it right?

GRJ - that may be, but I don't know "John Z" and I have seen not one out-of-the-box VLBB anywhere that has had anywhere near the smoke output as the units people tinkered with (rope batting, etc.) and posted videos for on this forum.  Giant plumes of thick smoke emanating from the blow down.  I think jojofry was one of the first to change the batting and put up a video here if my memory serves?  The good news is that the potential lives in this thing for some serious smoke effects, hence, the reason I'm trying to figure out who to go to for the fix.  

Why don't I send it back?  Because Lionel is not admitting that the anemic blowdown smoke output is a defect that would be remedied under warranty.  

MartyE posted:

Here's a video of my "from the factory" blow down.

In case you missed it...slo mo.

 

Marty - are you making the point that yours is also not very robust, or that you think it is robust or ... ?  In any event, if you think your unit's blowdown is perfect, that's good news.  But despite anyone's personal experience, the point is there was a large volume of folks who all commented in several threads about the exact same thing - disappointment with the anemic blowdown.  Anyone's personal experience doesn't somehow overcome that consistent tide.  So the question was - does anyone know who it was that was implementing the fix?  Thanks. 

IMO mine's fine thank you.  I realize not everyone's works as well but they can come from the factory fine

MartyE posted:

IMO mine's fine thank you.  I realize not everyone's works as well but they can come from the factory fine

Marty - No complaints here either. When my two VLBBs get warmed up, the smoke is definitely very visible. But as I said, someone was implementing a larger rope wick and the blowdown was belching huge plumes of thick smoke. That would be impressive!  Thought GRJ might be the fellow doing this fix/upgrade, given all his other technical improvements.  Was thinking after warranty expiry, I'd like to get the one I run upgraded. Thanks for the videos. 

Peter

I have done many smoke wicking replacements on the BB.  The rope wicking (691SMKP008) shreaded (Reaganized) makes the locomotive smoke better than ever.  I currently have a Challenger on my bench that just received the rope wicking.  The design people on this engine made it very user friendly to work on.  Job well done Lionel.

Hi Peter / Like this topic / Update Big Boy

Sidebar /  Like your signature / 

OGR PAPER MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBER

Gary - Left out - abandoned ..................... lol

PJB posted:

Marty - No complaints here either. When my two VLBBs get warmed up, the smoke is definitely very visible. But as I said, someone was implementing a larger rope wick and the blowdown was belching huge plumes of thick smoke. That would be impressive!  Thought GRJ might be the fellow doing this fix/upgrade, given all his other technical improvements.  Was thinking after warranty expiry, I'd like to get the one I run upgraded. Thanks for the videos. 

Peter

Peter

I'll most likely replace the wicking when it needs it.  Right now though I am satisfied with all the smoke on my unit.  Again I would be wrong in saying they all smoke as well as mine from the factory as I agree many were quiet anemic.  I just wanted to show that some were what I would consider pretty good.  One thing I did find early on was my transformer wasn't delivering more than 15 volts under load.  Once I corrected that and had 17 volts smoke was better as seen in the videos.

Marty Fitzhenry posted:

I have done many smoke wicking replacements on the BB.  The rope wicking (691SMKP008) shreaded (Reganized) makes the locomotive smoke better than ever.  I currently have a Challenger on my bench that just received the rope wicking.  The design people on this engine made it very user friendly to work on.  Job well done Lionel.

Marty - that's really good info. Thanks!   Regarding the VL Challenger - see now, if I were to opine on my own experience on this locomotive, I'd say it is my absolute best Lionel "smoker" by a country mile. The Dynamo effect alone (wish they would offer this and steam chest effects regularly!) puts my basement - with its two industrial fans/vents - in a fog.  

I still have your email (and maybe phone number?) from when you generously and graciously tried to help me locate vision PFE reefers last year (no worries, I just got some from this year's catalogue!) and hope it is ok to contact you when it's time to replace wicking in both these beasts. 

Peter

I have both the VLBB and VL Challenger, both great runners and smokers.  Great to play with and amaze the people visiting the layout.

PJB posted:

Marty Fitzhenry posted:

I have done many smoke wicking replacements on the BB.  The rope wicking (691SMKP008) shreaded (Reganized) makes the locomotive smoke better than ever.  I currently have a Challenger on my bench that just received the rope wicking.  The design people on this engine made it very user friendly to work on.  Job well done Lionel.

Marty - that's really good info. Thanks!   Regarding the VL Challenger - see now, if I were to opine on my own experience on this locomotive, I'd say it is my absolute best Lionel "smoker" by a country mile. The Dynamo effect alone (wish they would offer this and steam chest effects regularly!) puts my basement - with its two industrial fans/vents - in a fog.  

I still have your email (and maybe phone number?) from when you generously and graciously tried to help me locate vision PFE reefers last year (no worries, I just got some from this year's catalogue!) and hope it is ok to contact you when it's time to replace wicking in both these beasts. 

Peter

I've done some of the smoke rebuilds to other engines as well and the 008 part number stuff worked well too.

Agree 100% - A Superb Locomotive in every respect! It has been the subject of several of my videos, such as:

(3 min - all Big Boy train)

(13 min - Big Boy train and others; have made layout improvements since)

Alex

MartyE posted:

PJB posted:

Marty - No complaints here either. When my two VLBBs get warmed up, the smoke is definitely very visible. But as I said, someone was implementing a larger rope wick and the blowdown was belching huge plumes of thick smoke. That would be impressive!  Thought GRJ might be the fellow doing this fix/upgrade, given all his other technical improvements.  Was thinking after warranty expiry, I'd like to get the one I run upgraded. Thanks for the videos. 

Peter

Peter

I'll most likely replace the wicking when it needs it.  Right now though I am satisfied with all the smoke on my unit.  Again I would be wrong in saying they all smoke as well as mine from the factory as I agree many were quiet anemic.  I just wanted to show that some were what I would consider pretty good.  One thing I did find early on was my transformer wasn't delivering more than 15 volts under load.  Once I corrected that and had 17 volts smoke was better as seen in the videos.

MartyE - that's a great point. I recall reading about the voltage issue a while back and quickly checked my layout.  It didn't help in my case (Lionel PH180 bricks are rock solid wonders!) but it's good that you mention it here, in case it can help someone who didn't see that posted way back when.  

PJB posted:

MartyE - that's a great point. I recall reading about the voltage issue a while back and quickly checked my layout.  It didn't help in my case (Lionel PH180 bricks are rock solid wonders!) but it's good that you mention it here, in case it can help someone who didn't see that posted way back when.  

PH180s have been known to dip to 15 volts under load.  Did you check them under load?  A friend of mine went back to a MTH Z1000 because the 180s were dropping to 15 volts under load and causing him issues.  Just might be worth to check.