What Cheeky Little Engines

I've went and done it.  I ordered all of Lionel's current Thomas the Tank Engine items.  Got the main bunch of stuff yesterday, which included Percy, James, and Diesel.  The why for doing so is my 2 year old.  He absolutely loves my VL BB, and he keeps trying to take my Cab remotes, he loved that big red knob.  So I figured that a LionChief set would be the best for him, and the Thomas sets are the best bang for the buck.  They are colorful, with faces, and can be seen on TV.  Well, when I got home from work, and my wife was still working on dinner, I took him to my room and opened one of the big boxes.  He wanted to see what was in it, and as soon as he saw what it was, I couldn't get it open fast enough for him.  He pointed at Percy and said "Choo."  And then he saw the remote and wanted it now!  So I got Percy out and he took it and placed him on the floor, then stood back up and demanded the remote.  I gave it to him and he started pushing the buttons and turning the knob.  I dug out one of my LEGO train remotes and took the batteries out of it and he reluctantly gave me the remote back so I could put the batteries in it.  He brought Percy out and we went to the back room where I have my old 1st O gauge layout out (Used to be under my 11 year old's bed.  He wants a N gauge layout now.) and put Percy on the track and hooked him up the the 20th Century Limited observation car I had out.  As soon as I had track power on, away Percy went.  I am so glad that he doesn't go fast enough to fly off of the O36 curves at full speed.  Very smart move Lionel.

Once I got him to keep Percy's speed down, I snuck my K-Line GG1 out on the main and we ran them both.  No issues whatsoever running both.  I parked it again and turned the handle of the CW-80 down to see how Percy handled it.  I found with the handle set at the 20 marking, the top speed of Percy wasn't too bad, and he has excellent low speed.  Overall a great speed in case trains run into each other.

Next out came Diesel.  another LEGO train controller robbed of it's batteries and nothing.  I checked the batteries in the LEGO remote and it lit up.  So I swapped the batteries between the two LionChief remotes and now they both work.  Whatever, must of not had them in right.  We played with both of them for a while before and after dinner.

Once the boys were in bed, I got James out (He's for Christmas or his birthday, while Thomas will be for the other.).  Took Percy's batteries and put them in the remote and put James on the track.  Apply power and nothing.  It's old track and can have poor conductivity so I wiggle James and he spurts and stops.  He keeps this action up, getting a bit better, but still keeps stopping.  I was not happy, but honestly it's par for the course with me.  At least half of the Lionel RTR sets I've bought come DOA or with some issue.  With the knowledge that the last RTR set that had issues was a loose power pickup screw, James went to the kitchen table.  After opening him up, I found the issue.  On the two lead axles there are copper finger that are the ground pickups.  Only one was touching an axle, and it was a very lite touch.  The other had got pushed up and stuck against a stub that a screw goes into.  So after I remove the axle sets I bent the finger to apply more force to the axles, and to make sure when pushed up into the locomotive they doesn't catch on anything and get stuck again.  Back together he goes and now he works like a dream.  Back into his box and put away for that future present.

Some thoughts on these, and my impressions of LionChief.  The remotes are great for kids.  Their size and layout were perfect for his little hands.  To me they feel very cheap, but we'll see how well they hold up to my 2 year old and the 4 year old my wife babysits.  The delay in reaction to the remote knob was only really bad when the locomotive is going full speed and you make a major adjustment to speed.  I run my TMCC/Legacy locomotives with high momentum, so I was kinda used to it, but it felt even more sluggish, causing a couple collisions.  The locomotives are rather light, so they won't be pulling much more than the couple cars they come with for sure.  The sounds aren't bad, but seems odd that the whistle is a toot-toot-toot while Diesel's horn is just a single blast.  But it's nice they sound just like they do on the show.  I'm glad the top of the smoke box pops off so that you can get the eye moving lever in place.  Wasn't sure how I'd do it otherwise when I put James back together.  The LC electronics are so little, the PCB was half the size of a business card.  James had a molded coupler while the other two had operating couplers.  But within 5 min both Percy and Diesel had twisty ties on their couplers to keep them shut so they'd stop leaving their loads behind.  But over all I think they were worth it due to the look on his face when he saw Percy.  We'll see how long I can keep they operational, but they should hold up better then the Marx set my grandpa gave me when I was little, and Lionel is still around to get parts from.

Verdict:  Kid tested, father approved.  I'll now have to completely scrap my layout plan and start over to make it more suitable for a 2 year old to run Thomas and Friends.  Good think I hadn't started building yet.