I have a 4-4-2 in my small roster of locomotives that I bought as a separate sale about 8-9 yrs ago. I have been using this little guy a lot lately, it runs and pulls great and the only thing I have had to do was change a traction tire once. I’m thinking of getting another with a diferent road name. Does anyone else out there like these engines as much as I do and have 2 or more?
Bruce
Its funny, a year ago I would have said never ever would I have one although I did end up with one by then in the 2000 Christmas set my mom gave me. Besides that, I considered myself “beyond” these little engines having filled my roster with twin motored power and big steamers. However, last year my now three year old son showed a keen interest in trains and we ended up getting several over a few months such as Harry Potter, Polar Express, Thomas, I also got a 2004 Santa Fe starter set with railsounds and a Menards Wisconsin Central passenger set. This year I got a great deal on the limited Caterpillar set at work so thats four of those little engines. My son uses the Santa Fe loco all the time, one thing he likes at his age is that it “pushes” as well as runs. Most worm drive locos don’t push and he still likes to push them as much as run them. So now I agree they seem to be pretty indestructable, however I will qualify that statement. They have a SMALL can motor so some day in the future, you’ll end up with a worn out engine. Luckily if that were to happen, they still make the small motor and I think you could easily retrofit an old steamer motor pretty easily.
So I probably would not buy just the engine at this stage, but if a person were starting out, I would not steer them away from it. I will say this, you can’t generally find a better deal than a whole starter set, so why buy just the engine!
To borrow a quote from Tony the Tiger, I think they’re great!!!
I’ve got one that is 18 years old with a lot of run time on it, and another 15 years old. These engines still run and run like champs. The other train forum constantly has threads from folks who have paid loads more for a more elaborate, more expensive locomotives that haven’t lasted a fraction of the time mine have. And more often than not, there aren’t any parts available for that expensive loco.
The Mabuchi DC can motors in these locos are a standard item in Lionel parts, and are also used in many other locos from Lionel, and have been since Lionel first started using DC motors. So I think the motors will be available for a long time. These locos have been standard fare in Lionel sets since the late 1980’s and have sold in the tens of thousands. If you are worried, buy an extra motor now. But you are more likely to forget where you put the motor before you actually need it.
And I’ll add that the K-Line diesels (Alco FA, S-2 and MP-15) are every bit as reliable and a value as the Lionel 4-4-2. I’ve got all types of those K-Line locos that are just as old and well used and still run today with the original motors. The K-Line locos use the same identical motor, but are not compatible with the Lionel ones as the number of teeth in the main gear off the motor armature is different.
Matter of fact, in all the years I’ve been back in the hobby I have only had to replace one single motor. And it’s not hard to do either.
Lots of owners love them, they pull well, are quiet, and very easy to work on if need be. I did hobby shop repairs part time and only found two motors that failed during that time. Thats an excelent record.
I love these engines. I got the one with railsoudns offered in the new york central flyer a few years back. it looks great pulling 2400 series cars around. I would defenetly buy another if I ahd the money. I kidna prefer it in starter sets to the 0-8-0 but I do like the 0-8-0… just as a switcher not for a set.
We got the 30089 Pennsy flyer set with the 0-8-0 for my son this year and it is a nice little engine as well. We’ve been pulling 8 JB Hunt Piggyback cars and one MTH double truck flat car with the diecast CAT excavator and it pulls it nicely and I was surprised by how well it smokes. Wish it had two tires and diecast tender trucks, but the set ended up being 138 bucks so can’t complain at all. Gabe loves it and the flashlite car that was in the set. I liked it cause now he’ll leave my 1662 switcher alone[;)]
I love em because they are scouts that run.
1 from Wisconsin Central set. 1 off ebay for $37. 1 more off ebay disassembled for about $12. Last one at a train show last fall for $35. The one off ebay I cut the cowcatcher off and added an 027 coupler to the front. The one I got at a train show I built a front coupler for it out of 1/2" wide aluminum which I attached to the plate of the front 4 wheels. It bends under the cowcatcher, turns up and goes foreward. I built the non operating coupler out of small aluminum tubing. The coupler has a piece on the top so it essentially rests on top of the coupler it attaches too. I have drawn up a circuit for them so I can flip a switch bypassing the circuit board and run the engine in DC. Another switch is part of this design so I can reverse polarity. I started the first set of switches but have not finished it yet. I don’t have the $$$ for command control so this is what I’m doing. When I’m done I could run a lashup of 4 of these engines climbinb up my 2% grade.
I have one of these locos and they are great little engines. The smoke unit and headlight in mine are long gone but it was my first Lionel train I ever owned. I would like to have another one in Pennsy colors some day.
I bought a starter set for grandson for Xmas. I’m really impressed with the 4-4-2. For a low end starter set loco, it is pretty well detailed and pulls really good. I was a little dissapointed at first, but now that the engine is getting broken in, it is running and smoking better than ever. My only concern is the plastic gearing holding up to the “high torque starts” of an eight year old. Ken
Hi,
I still run my starter engines twice to three times a year for a few weeks. They are like the eveready Bunny, just keep on going. I run them on the layout in conventional mode with my handheld Legacy unit and once they are at a good speed just keep on going. The smoke unit is gone in one but my other puffs real good.
laz57
One word to describe them: BULLETPROOF.
Hi Bruce,
Like Laz, I run my starter set quite a bit. With my granddaughter because the fun factor is there for her, the value of the set makes training her on operating the train a no risk proposition, and the freight cars provided can carry her little stuff and figures. It’s a no frills 1975 Thunderball freight set with a #8500 2-4-0 steamer and a mechanical chuffing tender. Since the accompanying cars are virtually all plastic and very light, the additional load created by filling the cars with her little animals, doll furniture, and Disney princesses don’t present a weight problem for the engine, provided the track and the drive wheels are very clean and the consist well oiled.
The engine has plastic gears, and I found the set NIB when in 1989 I unpacked my trains from previous storage in my father’s basement. He apparently bought the set AFTER we had retired from our postwar hobby and dismantled the layout. I gave it to my then 10 year old son at Christmas, his first train of his own. Sadly, the bug never caught on with him [:(], but the train has been running ever since [:D].
Despite all of the run time over the past 19 years, and particularly with the uptick in track time with my Granddaughter the past 2 years, I have had to do absolutely nothing other than cleaning and lubrication, especially on those plastic gears. Dollar for dollar and pound for pound, this has been a very gratifying adjunct to my postwar lineup. [tup]
As Brianel points out, even the less expensive stuff can soldier on and provide endless fun with a little maintenance. And the all plastic pieces stay new looking despite the play time with the little one. My wife likes this engine and consist because we can’t drive her out or drive her nuts…no whistle and no smoke unit. [:-^]
I have owned quite a few of these over the years all have been used only problems I have ever had ( and I’ve had like 8 of them) is one had a bad motor not hard replacement and one other had a bad electronic board in it ( basicly the e-unit) other than that there very tough engines.
I have two-one from the 1994 “Seaboard Freight” set(my first set) and one from the 1995 “Union Pacific Express” set.
They’re great little engines that run forever. With the traction tire and heavy diecast shell, they pull a ton, too.
My favorite part about them, though, is that with their weight and gear train set up such as it is, they coast better than any other engine I’ve run. You get far more coasting effect out of one of these than you do a worm-geared engine with a flywheel, or even a postwar spur-geared pullmor engine like a 675.
I like the post war look and feel of mine, it fits in with my other pw locos. I plan on getting another one at our local train show in March. Even though it doesn’t have sound the way the gears sound , it has a chuffing which with the use of a good imagination sounds like a steam engine(poor mans sound). I can also make it run slow enough to do switching which for me adds to the fun
Bruce
Sorry, but as much as I tend to like anything Lionel, I’m not a fan of the starter set 4-4-2’s. I’ve had 2 of them, they run smoothly but lack torque going uphill and going around an 027 curve they tend to slow down a little (only noticable if you are going slow). The cast engine body sits too high off the track and the engine/tender connection is way too long. On one engine I ground down the boiler casting/motor connection points and lowered it about 1/4". And I cut and rebent the engine/tender bar to reduce the engine/tender distance. This helped the looks somewhat but there is still that open space above the front pair of trucks that looks odd (also the headlight shines down onto the track through this large opening). On one of mine I had trouble with the reversing unit board that I finally traced down to a bad solder joint.
On the plus side, they have nice boiler castings, the real whistle is great and the ones that have on/off switches for the smoke units are a nice option to have.
I find that many of the earlier postwar inexpensive steamers with metal castings have much better torque going upgrade, run more consistently when going slowly around curves, are less expensive, are a little easier to service and tend to have castings set not as high off the track.
I like them but I’ve only got one, unless you count the Christmas one from this year. I like the way they look and I think they smoke pretty good. I generally run pretty short trains with them, so I can’t comment on how they pull. My layout is a plywood prairie, so no problems with grades here. Here’s a picture of mine crossing a road:
J White
I like them, but the e-unit crapped-out in mine. [:(!]