Which Lionel General?

Regarding the Lionel Generals, some had 2 position reversers, some 3 position. A few were DC powered.  Some recent ones have sound.  They all have plastic bodies, and most are low priced.  If you go for one of these, look for AC power and 3 position reversers (all the recent ones have this).  There is a variety of road names available.

As for other manufacturers, I'll leave that to others.

John

On the older Lionel versions (Lionel Corp.) made 1959 the 1862 was the 027 with 2 position reverse and the better 1872 cataloged as a Super O set, the locomotive smoked, had a 3 position reverse unit and the passenger cars had lights and one had a motor driven whistle in it. You can find a nice 1862 set quite reasonable but expect to pay much more for a nice 1872 set. MPC era Generals can be found at nice prices also. MTH made sever Generals, Texas etc available and can be found at reasonable prices. The early Overton coaches W&ARR made to go with the first General had a issue with the couplers deteriorating but they are easy to replace and not expensive at all. I have a Lionel 1862 and a MTH General from the first run with the Overtons and like them both. 

My MPC era "General" is a good runner, and I see them at train shows all the time at pretty reasonable prices.

Andy

I have the 1862 General set, and its a good runner but a bad puller...no Magnatraction, no smoke. I enjoy it anyway.

I have over a dozen of the 4-4-0 Americans(Generals) from the 1862 to present day.  I am not too enamored with the recent offerings having the snow plow front end; sometimes these show up on the auction site at a bargain price.  The prices on the older engine/tender combinations seem a bit high in most cases.  I would suggest going with the modern offerings.  They have decent smoke output which can be turned off and the electronic e-unit which makes them a quiet runner.  Some of the older offerings are DC only or 2 or 3 position mechanical e-units.  The new engines I have can pull the typical consist of passenger, mail car, horse car with no problem.  I have added various cars to my Halloween and Christmas engines and can pull 5 or 6 cars on a level surface.  You will get the most value if you can acquire a recent set.  I will say, however, that I have mixed various old-time cars with different engines and the consist always looks OK.

KC

The post war 1872 is the better performer, the newer ones are a bit more colorful but in my opinion don't run as well. 

As far as pulling the early prototype 4-4-0's only used to pull 3 or 4 cars tops.

I have several: one post war 1862 and the rest modern era versions.  At Christmas I use a General to pull a train with 8 Christmas freight cars around the tree.  I alternate different Generals and they have no problem with the train.

John

hello guys and gals.......

I like the red Santa Fe General #8005 from the James gang set,knowing its all plastic but still pretty little engine.   Does anyone own one and how well does it run ?

the woman who loves the S.F.#5021

Tiffany

HI Tiffany

I have one, they were made to run on DC only so I added a Dallee reverse unit and replaced the plastic pilot truck with a with a post war die cast. It runs pretty good for having a small can motor. I also replaced the plastic wheels on the tender and cars with the die cast fast angle wheels salvaged from dealers junk boxes at train meets.

Hello Gene H...........

I just wondering if the #8005 red Santa Fe shell or body fit on the postwar #1862 and 1872 chassis ?

the woman who loves the S.F.#5021

Tiffany

The 4-4-0's on which the Lionel "General" is loosely based could pull quite a few cars.  I've seen some vintage photos with some rather long trains being pulled by 4-4-0's.  3-4 cars was probably an average train lenth, though.

I once experimented with my MPC era "General" to see how many cars it could pull.  I was able to get it to pull a maximum of 14 cars on level track with O72 curves.  It took a careful touch with the transformer throttle and some playing with the slack to get it started, and there was some wheel slip involved, but then isn't some wheel slip prototypical with a heavy train?

I haven't tried one with traction tires to find its upper pulling limit.

Andy

I never checked to see the max on my MTH, but it should out pull the Lionel version since it's die cast and the extra weight will contribute to it.

I've never tested my MTH "Texas" 4-4-0, either.  Comparing the Lionel and MTH 4-4-0's is an apples-to-oranges comparison in any case.

Andy

Does it really matter? I doubt if many general type engines pulled long trains and I don't think a 3 rail one would like right either.

Tiffany, I checked out the shells on the James Gang and 1862 Generals and they are interchangeable. Only thing is the hand rail was the positive line to the headlight on the 1862 but the James Gang didn't come with a headlight but it would be a easy fix to install a warm glow LED from Dan's Drumheads. The Jams Gang was one of the very low price DC powered sets of the 70's and listed I think under $100.00 I bought mine new at a train meet in the 80's for like $50.00. A nice feature if someone could do it would be a slight flickering effect of the headlights since they used oil lanterns for headlights in those days.