I think the CC club Trainmasters are some of the nicest around, great detail and motor driven roof top cooling fans. If you do not run them from a long period of time the belts develop a flat spot and then they may not turn. I discover a product called Rubber Renew that you soak the belts in and then let dry, when you do use this product use it outside. The smell will drive you out of the room. It is amazing it will restore the flexibility to the rubber.
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Neat!
I may have to buy some of that Rubber Renew, though not for any of my locomotives–I’ve got a typewriter that could do with a less slick platen.
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Thanks!
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My pleasure
You may need to explain what a typewriter is to the younger set 
The funny thing is that most people my age don’t really know what a typewriter is, yet I’ve collected three of the buggers–and use them!
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Ah the typewriter…I have one better. My niece came over one afternoon. She had forgotten her cell so she asked if she could call mom. I said sure use the phone on my desk…well she just stared at the rotary phone. I could not stop laughing.
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I can’t stop laughing, either!
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Great work on this! The whole CC2 series was-to me-a high water mark for Lionel(Niagra gear issues aside) and the Trainmasters have been on my want list for a while.
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I agree between this series and the Lionel subway trains with the doors that open and close this was truly the golden age of Lionel
The early to mid 2000s were a wild but great time to be in O gauge.
Lionel and MTH were constantly trying to one-up each other in detail and features, plus we had K-line giving us crazy detail at a low price point, Weaver offering scale size without detail that would break if you looked at it crosseyed, and Atlas just giving us crazy detail on everything.
Even if there were some flubs along the way, they usually fixed it. K-line parts use to be great and they would send me small wear parts(tethers, chuff switches, traction tires) at no charge. Lionel eventually made things right on the Niagra by offering brass gears for a nominal price.
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Agreed that’s when Lionel stood behind their product. But to be fair I had a ZW-L loose a channel and it was about 5 years old. I e mailed them telling them I wanted to send it back for repair. Lionel responded with a pre paid shipping sticker and returned a brand new one….so they do get an attaboy on that one.
Craig
I’ve said before that I really prefer a lot of the JLC models to their Vision Line counterparts. I know they’re not exactly the same, but to me the Vision Line is kind of a natural continuation of the JLC series in focusing on just making the best version of a model they could make.
Most of the JLC locos are at least as detailed as their Vision counterparts, while some are more detailed. To me the Vision line focuses too much sometimes on “wowing” with tech, while the JLC series focused on detail and accuracy. About the only example I can think of a VL being better than a JLC is the Clinchfield Challenger, where the VL got the proper single stack and the JLC has a double stack(the last series of Clinchfield challengers went through a convoluted lineage, but they’re fundamentally the same as the 3900-class UP ones, just modified by Clinchfield to have a single stack). I have an RCMC, RS-Lite board, and a few other parts on hand to do a full Legacy conversion on my JLC Y6b(including whistle steam)-I just need the time to do it!
The CC2 models are insanely detailed too. I just sold my Niagra, or rather took a Williams brass Niagra in partial trade for it. I had brass gears on hand and I’d planned to run it until the original plastic broke, but told the buyer I’d change them. I kind of regretted that offer, as the gearbox really is major surgery and this is NOT an easy engine to take apart(someone advised me to treat it like I was working on a “fine brass model” but I had to disagree-I have a lot of brass and I could change a gearbox on any of them in as much time as it took me to take the Niagra apart enough to get to the box), but I sent it out knowing that it was going to run great for him for a long time. Since, of course in all of that the chuff switch decided to give up the ghost. he ended up getting a Gunrunnerjohn Chuff Generator and 4 chuffs/rev, since a $30 part and installation with only minor disassembly was MUCH more appealing to me than replacing the chuff switch(which is as involved as the gearbox, given that both mount on the same bracket deep in the chassis). It sure was a nice loco when finished, though, especially with a superchuffer and tuned up smoke unit.
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I think one of the big issues I have today with the Vision Line is how quickly Lionel will obsolete parts. Lots of money for a paper weight.
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That’s an issue in many industries and such. A 3D printer helps, at least.
Very true except the parts are electronic boards that render the engine a dud.
Those are harder to replace, unless you want to muck around with individual components. It can sometimes be done, if you want to have fun with a multimeter…
There is no fun when a board goes bad. Since most cannot be repaired and the engine no longer functions.
Occasionally it can be fun to think of obscenities to scream at the locomotive…