Just wanted to know peoples HONEST opinions about Lionmaster Steam Locomotives, mostly the articulateds. Are they really nice? Or do they look like shrunken down engines ie: O gauge wheels with S gauge Bodies?? I have mostly Large MPC steamers and all the LTI scale locos, and was just curious about the Lionmaster Series if they really look like O gauge in person, or much smaller then their Lionel O gauge scale steamers. I am looking to add a few to my collection
Mark
[#welcome] to the forum Mark!! You’re talking my kind of engine here, now. I got the WP Lionmaster Challenger back in Feb. of this year, & I am very pleased with it now. It took a while for me to get it to smoke well, but it seemed to have gotten better after I played with the smoke for a while. It does seem to lurch ahead an inch or so when I first power it up, but I like the sound & I don’t think I have enough cars to see just how many it will pull. I only have a 2% grade & I do have 72 in radius curves, Gargraves. Now about the size, I stay with the smaller cars, mostly 6464 boxcars, & think it is fine.Well, if you get one, let us know, I have enjoyed mine so far ! Here is a picture of it. Also hope to see you on the forum a lot, & come on over to The Coffee Pot ! Oh, & check out Sunday Photo Fun, too !
Is that the 4-6-6-4 Lionmaster John? Looks very similar to the one my uncle has except the front end is all black.
Chris : Yes it is !! Hope it lasts till the layout gets built at the Museum !!
Thanks,
I have the Lionmaster “Big Boy” and it’s a great looking and running engine. It is very smooth and has excellent pulling power. It also has fantastic sounds. I would highly recommend it.
TomS
I think they are neat. Not everyone has to have scale. Teh Lionmaster SD80 is only about an inch or inchand a half shorter than the scale ones [I have two scale ones and they are massive]. They operate on a little short curves. Go for it.
The Lionmasters are some the best and most value priced locomotives that you will ever come across in my opinion.
I have theLionmaster BIG BOY and the Western Maryland 4-6-6-4 both run great and have a very dep whistle. As for pulling power like the GIZ say, “It will pull anything you have.”
Get one they’regreat.
laz57
Oh yeah,
I almost forgot I have a pre order on the Cab forward coming in July.
Got ot for $700.
laz57
We have the T1 Duplex. One very pretty locomotive. The horn is soooo wonderful! The TMCC is o.k. except we had to send it back when the chuffing disappeared and now that it is out of warranty the chuffing is acting up again. It handles 031 curves like a champ. The overhang on 031 curves is excessive except that I have scenery blocking out the views of the curves on my layout. The only difficult thing is getting passenger cars to exactly match the scale. Traditional cars seem a tad small and scale cars seem a tad big. Any and all suggestions appreciated.
Jim H
Mark,
I have the Lionmaster Challenger and I really like it. I didn’t like the deep throat whistle at first, but after seeing videos of the Challenger and my son telling me how great it is, now I like it. As for size, I have scale size engines (so I can compare it to them) and this Lionmaster for some reason is up there in size with them. It is a bit smaller if you really look closely, but not much! If you were to put it in a yard along with the scale engines, I bet you couldn’t tell the difference. I would buy it again. But I don’t know about the very latest engines.
Reuben
I have the Lionmaster T-1 and the Lionmaster Big Boy. The Big Boy is one of my favorite engines and I never had a problem with it. Looks good and negotiates all my smaller curves.
The T-1 on the other hand has been a pain. Twice the flywhell magnet exploded. I finally went with EOB and had some sensor probelms which TAS took care of professionally. Now with the EOB I like this engine very much too!
Yeah, what’s the deal with the exploding magnets?!?!?
I called Lionel Service and was told by a very snitty woman that that just doesn’t happen, and that it was no longer under warranty…I MUST take it to a Lionel Service Station.
I informed her that there were none within a three hour drive, and she said I’d have to ship it to one then!
I’d use EOB, but I’ve been unhappy with the “slop” in speed between up-grade and down-grade in my EOB equipped Baby K-4.
Has anybody used Digital Dynamics cruise?
Jon [8D]
i have a lionmaster challenger and big boy. i love 'em both. big boy is pulling my 21 car reefer train. i would get the cab forward, but i really don’t need another engine. a lionmaster veranda would tempt me big time, however.
I have the Northern Pacific LM Challenger from 2004. I think it’s great! It pulls a nice long train, the sounds are excellent, and it’s a nice smooth runner. I would highly recommend the LM line.
I have the 1st lionmaster Challenger and the NW class A and love them both. The challenger never smoked well until I tinkered with it and it smakes like crazy now. The class A has only had JT’s mega steam fluid in it since the day I got it and it smokes good too. I’m sorry I didn’t get the lionmaster hudson. I got the k-line semi-scale hudson instead. It was about $200 less but also alittle smaller then the lionel postwar baby hudson(2046). It’s also DEAD.
My T1 Duplex is acting up again. How does EOB work? Does anyone know of a way I can fix the “exploding” magnet myself or install a fix. I hate to ship it again because UPS broke it last time!
Jim H
I love the UP Lionmaster (grey and Black) second from bottom… it looks a lot more proportioned than the K Line Big Boy or Challenger that are above it. Its about the same length but wider and taller so it looks beefier (is that a word ?)
Tim
The EOB works great. The only problem I had with mine was variable chuff. Not sure why but I just used 2 chuffs per anyways so reverted back to the cherry switch.
Here is a video I did with an older camera (15 sec limit). Have to redo it now with my Canon S2.