Who owns a Lionel Legacy Chicago & Alton Pacific?

It's a great engine with incredible sounds. The whistle is the steam boat whistle but you can have it changed by sending the tender to Lionel. 

Btw it also has whistle steam, very nice. 

I don't own one, but my close friend owns one - it is pretty much identical to the Blue Comet internally - which explains why Lionel's YouTube product video shows the Comet in action instead. So, yes - the whistle is the same as the first issue of the Comets - the one with the high pitched "horn" whistle. Like the Comet and Crescent, it's a fantastic operator. The cars are pretty much identical to the Crescent and Comet cars save paintwork - green tinted windows, etc.

Not mine,  but I found some video. Same whistle as the first run of legacy blue comets.

They were being blown out for under $600. I saw some at York, think Charlie RO, for $575.

I purchased an Alton Pacific (6-11338) from a forum member a couple weeks ago and since it was NIB it is great -  except for the whistle!  I knew that I was not going to like it going in based on previous posts and videos, but thought it could be remedied like the Blue Comets.  Last Friday (5/17) I sent an email to Lionel service asking if the Blue Comet soundboard "fix" was applicable to the Alton and this was the reply:

"Unfortunately we do not have a fix for this engines whistle.  We have haven't heard any complaints about this engines sounds.

Thank You,

Lionel"

Am I correct in assuming that the "sound board reprogramming" that several have had Lionel do for their Blue Comets is applicable to the Chicago Alton as well?   If that is the case do I just need to be persistent in my request for a better sounding whistle?  I want my Alton to sound more like the Southern Crescent. 

Thanks

I believe Lionel applied this sound board reprogramming only to the new Blue Comet because the whistle was not prototypical. The whistle on the Alton is considered correct since it is made to sound like the original 2002 TMCC version's whistle - which was back when Lionel was extra serious about matching their engines with historically correct whistles or horns.

Thanks for that video.  That is not the same product number as mine, which is 6-11338 (Catalog 2012 Vol.2) and my version does not sound that good.  Something has changed.  My engine # is 657.  I will try and post a short video before the day is gone.   I like the diner sounds.  Need to get one of those...

I sent an email off to Mike Reagan for his thoughts.

The difference is many of us who bought first issue of the blue comet noticed right away and let Lionel know not just on the forum with each other, but directly writing in via "talk-to-us".   I even corresponded with Mike R. directly giving him the link to the complaints.  It's been two releases of the Alton, and only now I'm hearing people complain (which I would too if I owned one). I hated that original "whistle" and LOVE the replacement one.  The fix took a few months for Lionel make available to us, but they did let us know that they heard us and a fix was in the works.

May be if others complain directly to Lionel about their Alton "whistle", they will get a fix for the it as well.

Good luck.

The one in the video is the original TMCC Alton Limited from the 2003 catalog, not the Legacy version.

As an update to the whistle on the Chicago & Alton (6-11338 2012 Vol.2):  I contacted Mike Reagan a couple weeks ago and he advised that the C&A whistle could be changed to the Blue Comet whistle sound, but not the Southern Crescent.  He advised me to get an RA from customer service and send the tender (only) in to Canfield, OH for the change.   Since I was going to be in the Canfield "neighborhood" I initially asked if I could just drop off my tender and that was agreeable to him.  Then Mike offered to flash the board and I could walk out with my "upgraded" whistle.   On June 7 I did just that. A tech flashed the sound file in about 5 minutes time.  I'm quite happy with the new sound.  To my ears it is much more prototypical of a steamer now.  I'm enjoying the quillable feature now mo' better.

Just can't beat personal customer service like that.  Mike also was entertaining, as usual, and gave me the nickel tour of the facility.  All quite interesting to see the all the parts and the huge test track and meet some of the service guys.  I believe he said all engines in for repair are test run for about 3 hours at slow speed and under load.

I also took in a Amtrak Dash-9 I had purchased at the Red Carpet sale in Concord in March as it was sporadically uncoupling on the rear/long end.  He did not know I was bringing that in - pretty much a last minute decision on my part.  Mike told me how to fix it at Spring York and after following his instructions it seemed to be all fixed.  But still got an occasional uncoupling.  Unfazed, Mike had another tech check it out and they installed a new coupler.  Have not run it as yet, but confidence is high it is A-OK now.

So, I'm thinking another star needs to be awarded to Mikado's crown.