Review: Two New Conventional Lionel Locomotives by Erol Gurcan
Below is a review of a couple of conventional Lionel locomotives, the Baby Trainmaster and the Junior Mikado, that first appeared in the October ‘07 issue of the LCCA magazine "The Lion Roars." Articles like this is one of the many benefits in being a member of the LCCA. Enjoy. Erol
I have reviewed two new, inexpensive conventional locomotives – one diesel and one steam.
I. The Baby Trainmaster
In its 2007 Volume 1 Catalog (page 85), Lionel® introduced an all-new locomotive, the Fairbanks Morse H16-44 in New York Central décor, commonly known as the Baby Trainmaster (6-18385). The loco arrived in stores in June 2007. It is also shown in the current 2007 Volume 2 Catalog (page 95).
Click on the link below to read on
A Long List of Features for the Money
This $285 locomotive features an electronic diesel horn, directional lighting including LED headlights, front and rear operating couplers, dual motors with momentum fly wheels, four traction tires, fan-driven smoke unit, die-cast metal trucks, fuel tank and pilots, illuminated marker lights, illuminated cab interior, and engineer and fireman figures. The catalog also listed Magne-tractionTM as standard equipment. However, I was not able to feel the magnetic effect when taking the loco off the track. The locomotive tested here bears cab number 7001. Lionel also offers a matching dummy unit with road number 7002 (6-18386), so operators/collectors with a penchant for an A-A configuration should be doubly delighted.
Black and Gray and White
The locomotive is mostly black with white NYC “lightening stripes” running along the entire length of both sides (see photo 1).
There are also diagonal white stripes on both front and rear pilots (see photo 2). The NYC lettering is surrounded by a gray area. There is sufficient detail in the plastic shell including vents, etc. I especially liked the yellow handrails. There is also a large fan protected by a screen on the top and at the end of the loco opposite the cab (see photo 3). It’s a cosmetic feature and does not spin; I did not expect a spinning fan in a locomotive in this price range.
On the Test Track
I tested the locomotive on both Lionel tubular track with O31 curves (the minimum track radius cited for this loco) and FasTrackTM with O36 curves. I used a MTH® Z-4000TM transformer and a Lionel CW-80TM transformer (the transformer offered with most Lionel starter sets) for the tests. The locomotive ran smoothly in both forward and reverse modes on both track systems, including minimum radius curves, and it responded well to both transformers. I also ran the locomotive with several boxcars in tow on Atlas® 21st CenturyTM track with a variety of switches. It ran smoothly through them without derailing or stalling out. The locomotive has two powerful motors. It easily pulled 10 scale and traditional-sized boxcars on my small layout. I estimate it could pull 25 or more cars on a larger layout. The flywheel-quipped motors allow the locomotive and consist to glide to a smooth stop. It was dead quiet when in neutral, a stark contrast to MPC Era Lionel locomotives, some of which had loud buzzing E-units that emitted the familiar “angry mosquito” noise.
Sounds and Smoke
The only sound coming from this Baby Trainmaster was a diesel horn; no RailsoundsTM or its less costly cousin, TrainsoundsTM. This was my biggest disappointment with the locomotive. Other Lionel conventional steam locomotives – such as the mini-Berkshire ($260) and Mikado Junior ($260) – cost less than the H-16-44 but are equipped with Railsounds. This locomotive should have Trainsounds at least. The horn was adequately loud when the loco was in neutral. I prefer a higher volume level while the train is in motion, but there is no sound adjustment on this locomotive.
The Berk and Mikado do not have two motors like the H16-44, so apparently the trade-off of features versus price is a matter of motors versus sounds. There is no bell sound. This seems particularly unusual in this day and age of electronic sounds. I can’t imagine it would cost very much to provide the bell sound in it. If Lionel continues to offer this locomotive in other road names in the future, a bell sound should be added.
As a side note, if you were interested in this locomotive but reluctant to buy it because it does not have an elaborate sound system, another option is to buy a Trainsounds diesel boxcar or caboose and put it behind the loco. The boxcar lists for $110 and the caboose for $160. Those cars contain a bell, diesel horn, squealing brakes, operator controlled multi-part crew dialog, and engine revving sounds. In Lionel’s 2007 Volume 1 Catalog (pages 150-51), Santa Fe (6-26861) and Baltimore and Ohio Sentinel (6-26860) boxcars are offered as well as Lionel Lines (6-29834) and Southern Pacific (6-29835) bay window cabooses.
Thanks to its fan-driven motor, the locomotive has very good smoke output, even at only 12 volts. To produce strong smoke output, add more smoke fluid than is recommended by Lionel in the instruction booklet, which states, “…add 10-15 drops at first, and then four to eight drops when smoke production decreases.” When smoke output dropped during my tests, I continued to add 10-15 drops because I prefer ample smoke. If you want less smoke output, use less than ten
drops as recommended.
It was difficult to add smoke fluid because of the small size of the two holes at the top of the body shell (see photo 3). They are smaller than the typical stack openings of a steam loco. There is an on-off switch at the bottom for operators who do not want their locos to smoke.
In sum, this is a great locomotive with a nice list of standard features for the money albeit without a Railsounds or Trainsounds package. The greatest strengths are its two powerful motors which enable it to run well, pull long loads, and come to a smooth stop. Lionel did a nice job of creating a conventional engine at an attractive price point.
II. The Mikado Junior
In its 2007 Volume 1 Catalog, Lionel offered several new conventional Mikado locomotives in several road names – Baltimore and Ohio (6-28683), Union Pacific (6-28684), and Lionel Lines (6-38608). It also cataloged two TMCC versions in Pennsylvania (6-11100) and New York Central (6-38609) road names. The Pennsylvania, New York Central, and Lionel Lines locos remained in the 2007 Volume 2 Catalog. Two new “holiday” offerings are now available as conventional models, one in red (6-28699) and the other in green (6-38626); both list for $260. Lionel has also added a readytorun Pennsylvania Super Steam Freight
Set (6-30050) in its current catalog (pages 46-47) with a TMCC-equipped Mikado listing for $450 in the lead.
With all these new Mikados highballing down the main line, I thought it was time to review one of them. I selected the Union Pacific version. I believe all the other conventional Mikados, including the new holiday versions, would perform similarly.
List of Features
This $260 19-inch-long locomotive and tender features a single motor with momentum flywheel, operating front headlight, die-cast locomotive and tender body and trucks, operating coupler on the rear of the tender, two traction tires, puffing smoke unit, and engineer and fireman figures in the cab. It also includes the Railsounds sound system with crew talk, synchronized chuffing, brake squeal, steam whistle, and bell.
A Good Level of Detail
The engine is mostly black with a grey smoke box. Like most relatively inexpensive Lionel steam locomotives, it has a good level of detail including rivets, hand rails, piping that can easily be seen (see photo 4), and side rods (see photo 5). There is a brass-color bell and whistle. There is glass in half of the cab window, a nice touch. The tender has a realistic looking coal load (see photo 6).
On the Test Track
As with the Baby Trainmaster, I tested the Mikado using both Lionel tubular track with O31 curves and FastTrack with O36 radius curves. The minimum track radius for this 2-8-2 locomotive is cited as O27. I used a MTH Z-4000 and a Lionel CW-80 as power sources for this loco, and it ran well on both track systems and transformers. I also ran it on Atlas 21st Century track with switches of varying radii. The locomotive ran fine on this track and through switches without derailing or stalling.
The locomotive easily pulled seven to ten freight cars at 13-15 volts. It should have no problem pulling a dozen or so cars. Its momentum flywheel brought this train to a gradual stop, realistically mimicking real-world railroading. The front headlight was bright even at 13 volts. I noticed that the front marker lights are not illuminated, they are jewels. The marker lights on the Chesapeake and Ohio 2-8-4 Berkshire in my collection do light up.
Sounds and Smoke
The Railsounds Crew Talk feature works when the loco is in neutral, which is the normal pattern for this sound system. If the whistle button is pushed shortly after the engine is cycled into neutral, you’ll hear the words, “Engineer please hold.” When the whistle button is pressed after the train has been sitting for about 15-20 seconds, you’ll hear, “Engineer, go for the green.” While the Mikado remains in neutral, other sounds emerge – background crew talk and other locomotive sounds.
The loco’s synchronized chuffing has a hefty bass tone. Its volume can be adjusted by a set screw at the bottom of the tender. It protrudes just enough below the bottom of the tender; it can be adjusted without a screwdriver. These are the types of useful details that I always like to see. I liked the sound of the whistle, but the whistle button occasionally and unintentionally activated the bell sound. The bell is hard to hear when the locomotive is moving because of the relatively louder chuffing sounds. It can be heard when the locomotive is in neutral. In order to activate the brake squeal, the locomotive must be run at moderate to fast speeds, and then the voltage decreased to the eight-to-ten-volts range. I thought the sensitivity needed to activate the brake squeal could have been better.
The smoke output from the smoke stack was average when the locomotive was moving at a moderate pace and pulling seven cars. I would have liked about 50% more output with a smoke plume going higher in the air. The one place where the smoke output excelled was from the loco’s front side rods. I have noticed this effect in other Lionel steam locos, such as my C&O and the Polar Express Berskshires. Oddly, I have never seen Lionel advertise this feature in its catalogs. The combined output from the smoke stack and side rods made a realistic and acceptable level of smoke overall.
The smoke on-off (as well as a separate directional) button is located inside the cab of the locomotive, usually a good place so it can be turned on or off without taking it off the track. However, the cast-in detail inside the cab prevents moving this control with a finger. A small screwdriver or pen is needed.
Overall, this is another nicely detailed Lionel locomotive which runs well and is reasonably priced. I would like to see Lionel improve the smoke output from the stack and push it higher in the air.
Lastly, I would like to thank my friend and fellow LCCA member Charlie Hirschberg (RM 237), owner of Nassau Hobbies in Freeport, New York (516-378-9594) at www.nassauhobby.com for generously providing the locomotives for review in this article. After the review was completed, both locos were returned to the store. Also, thanks to my friend Eliot Scher for the use of his layout for some of my testing.
Photos by Eliot Scher
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One Response to “Review: Two New Conventional Lionel Locomotives by Erol Gurcan”
thanks for the reviews
Posted by: Atlas Model Trains | Nov 6, 2007 at 1:54 PM