Q: Mike, another question, this about my new FlyerChief Polar Express set Berk. Great set but smoke unit was DOA upon arrival and upon contacting customer service they took care of my problem in a very speedy and satisfactory fashion replacing the smoke unit and I'mvery happy with the service Lionel gave. However, my question is, at slow speeds if smokes like a chimney but at higher running speeds the appearance of smoke from the smokestack diminishes considerably. Why does this happen since there's a constant 18 volts being applied regardless of the speed? Btw, I'm using Lionel's Premium smoke fluid and the original power supply included with the set has been replaced with your more powerful 4 amp , 70 something watt wall wart.
A: The voltage to the element is the same at all speed ranges (the great thing about fixed track voltage). The amount of smoke produced by the smoke unit is the same, the reason you see a difference in smoke production is directly related to the amount of air flow moving through the smoke bowl, at slow speeds the air flow is very slow, so the smoke has a chance to gather in the bowl. At higher speed the air flow there is less time for the smoke to collect in the bowl, so it "appears" the smoke production is less, when in reality it is identical, just a faster amount of air passing through the smoke chamber.
Q: Also, why did Lionel resort to using a type of glue to affix the passenger car light wires to the copper contact strips rubbing the wheel axles rather than soldering the wires? Myself and some other folks with this set have experienced fluttering light problems due to loose wire contacts on the cars the longer they're run. A great engine and superb looking passenger cars but lighting tends to be problematic
A: Hot glue does not provide an electrical connection. The wires are in fact soldered to the phosphor bronze contacts. The hot glue is used as strain relief on the wires, as there is no provision (or space) to put any type of zip tie in there to provide that strain relief. So, the wires are not hot glued, they are in fact soldered, the hot glue is just there for strain relief (so the soldered connection does not wiggle so much it breaks the soldered wire.
Q:When is the 2016 American Flyer catalog scheduled to be released? Will it be a separate catalog?
A: early to mid January. Yes, still a separate catalog
Q:What is your middle name Mike? and when will it replace the "Lionel" in the logo?
A: Patrick, never, if I have anything to say about it!
Q:What is the average wind velocity of a sparrow?
A: An African or European sparrow?
Q: A comment & question for Mike. With all the excellent technolgy that has gone into the legacy system over the past few years and all of the great scale locomotives & rolling stock I feel that one thing that has been overlooked by Lionel are the acceories that compliment the operation of the railroad. That being crossing signals,crossing gates and a signaling system that are in scale size and operate in the same protyipical manner that our trains operate at. With the devolopment of the I Pad technology for operating our trains will Lionel offer such trackside accessories that add to that level of realistic operation?
A: While I cannot comment about what the future holds product wise I would like to pose a question to all the scale and traditional operators out there; Would traditional guys buy scale operating accessories and would scale guys buy "scale operating accessories? If you could email me privately with your answers I would truly appreciate some honest feedback; mreagan@lionel.com
Q: In conventional mode how many volts does it take for Legacy diesels to smoke reliantly?
A: I cannot answer as to how reliantly they smoke, but if you meant to say reliably, then the answer is 12-13 Volts AC is optimal. Anything under 12 and smoke production will be anemic, anything above 13V will be regulated at 13V, so it doesn't matter. The ideal smoke output on a Legacy loco will come from a chopped sine wave transformer putting out 12VAC or higher. Using Lionel Premium Smoke Fluid will also yield better results than other manufacturers smoke fluid (and before anyone says anything buying in bulk, tell me what fluid ounce size bulk is in your mind, because "my" version of bulk is 55 gallons).
Q: Mike, I'm a great fan of Lionel, you and your products are responsible for saving what little sanity I posses. What, however, possessed "you" to change the design of the freight trucks? The new design is very pleasing, aesthetically, and the coupler release mechanism ("the pin") is great but once you get into the guts all you find is cheap stampings and little brass rivets - the worst is the bolster. I like to run trains that have weight to them and have the truck springs actually perform their design function but these delicate little things are better suited to Mag-Lev. Also, I was very disappointed (really frustrated) to learn that the screws attaching the side frames to the "bolster" are a mix-match affair. A pair of trucks from my new cattle car had two different screw and thread types in the same truck; I "assumed" they were the same and wound up cross threading. Your product quality is swell, generally, but few exceptions are egregious.
A: To be honest, the changes my team have made to the scale car trucks has not reached the market yet (tools are still being cut in fact!). These will not see consumer hands until Sept 2016. I can tell you this; the existing scale truck is comprised of 43 individual parts. the new truck design has 21 parts and for those of you out there who convert your couplers to scale 2-rail couplers, you will be excited to learn that when these new trucks hit the market it will be one screw to remove (the truck bolster screw), lift off the 3-rail coupler, put the truck back on. Presto! easy as that! The trucks on you cattle car are the same design Lionel has had since 2000 with the introduction of the scale truck.
Q: Thank you for subjecting yourself to this barrage, you deserve a raise if not sainthood.
A: Believe me, thank Ken Bianco Jr, you guys have no idea the pain he will endure for years to come as a result of this!
Q: Is it possible we will see accurate ES44ACs per railroad, not based off the NS Heritage tooling? And, will we see CSX "-3" rebuild locomotives?
A. Believe it or not, Still can't (aka will not) answer any future product questions, unfortunately you will have to wait for the catalogs to come out!
Q: When are the new 21" Station Sounds diners shipping? They have not been in the online shipping schedule for quite a while.
ESE full sets (the 1st 21" cars to deliver) and the ESE 2-car add-on set will ship from our Concord, NC warehouse on 12/13. The rest of the remaining 21" sets wil be loaded on a boat on 12/13 and ship from Concord on 2/1/16 (maybe a week sooner). The Stationsounds Diners will likely hit dealer shelves around March 1st to March 15th, based on the current production schedule we hammered out two weeks ago.
On a separate note, wait til you see these cars! They are FREAKING BEAUTIFUL!!!!!
Q: The new Legacy crane and boom cars are in the schedule but are they really shipping five months apart? The schedule says boom cars next month, cranes May 2016.
A: yes and no. The boom cars are actually done and will come to the US and will be held in our inventory in Concord until the Cranes arrive, because let's be honest, who wants a boom sounds car BEFORE the crane? The items appear that way on the ship schedule as a result of the automation we have implemented for the shipping schedule. The ship dates are actually generated from the ship date on our Purchase orders for the production of the models. This automation has freed up a lot of previously wasted time updating the shipping schedule one item at a time to globally updating the list every night. But hey, let's be honest with each(cause I know everyone who cares has been thinking this) look at how much less there would to complain about if our shipping schedule was ever 100% accurate all the time? (it is pretty much 92% accurate at this point in time! Thank God for small miracles!).
Are these real, or are they listed in error? Thanks for the clarification, Mike!
... Mike, I'd like smoke units for $600
