Hello, I am getting started in toy trains again and was thinking of buying a starter set. Lionel sets are quite a bit more money. Is there a reason or is Lionel just over-priced? I am looking at the Ft diesel Lionel or MTH santa fe. Wondering which has better sounds? Will the Lionel run at slower speeds like the MTH? Is one nicer to operate? Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Welcome to the forum!
I have a MTH Santa Fe LocoSounds (not Protosounds) starter set. Excellent runner,speed control feature allows for very slow running. Poor sound system. I don’t have any experience with the Lionel set, but other members of the forum will be along with advice
Mark
I love my MTH PS 2.0 set. It’s the red and silver one. It’s not the chrome version, which I believe might be a little bigger in size. It can run very slowly, and pulls very well. Sounds are great. Diesel revs change with RPM, and sounds pretty real. It has a horn and a bell. It has 2 flywheel equipped motors. Good speed control. It also can go plenty fast. Handles 0-31 curves just fine. It doesn’t really like one of my 0-42 switches, but goes through the rest of them OK. I purchased a dummy A unit to go along with it. Great set. Comes with track and transformer, and power lockon. The cars are illumininated, and the dome car has little plastic seats. I highly recommend it as a starter set that can grow with you. I think I got mine for $280 or so, plus the dummy A unit. You bypass the speed control, lock it in a direction, fire the coupler, and a couple of other things with the transformer.
Wes
Ditto to what Wes said. Mine is an older PS2.0 set and it still runs fantastic. I love the Santa Fe colors and in an F3 it is devine. I also have several other PS2.0 sets.
The PS2.0 unit is a full command control locomotive (command operation requires DSC controller) that runs EXTREMELY well as supplied in conventional mode. You still have controll of the sounds but special sounds (other than horn and whistle) and remote uncoupling require horn/whistle button combinations that are a cinche on the included transformer. Adding DCS and going to a command environment adds even more features but costs another $275. Even though I lost my DCS remote in the move (found it after Christmas) I still enjoyed running my PS2.0 locomotives in conventional mode over the holidays.
Jim H
Jimhaleyscomet
You post is messed up. I see a big blue rectangle and then a long blank bottom of the page.
Thanks for the great info on MTH! Hopefully someone will comment on Lionel.[:)]
I don’t have the set but have the Lionel FT A & B units.The “A” came from one of the sets,the “B” was purchased seperately.With a regular transformer the engine starts with a small jerk but with the cab-1 it starts slow and easy.I regularly pull fifteen to twenty cars with no problem.I wouldn’t mind speed control but I have not had good luck with MTH.
Ed
Thanks for the info otftch.