Veranda recap

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

After reviewing Trains & the Atlas forum, 80 replies, some which had no bearing on the problem,
the only authenticated failure was reported on Tonys Train Exchange web site.

One isolated failure. I suspect an over reaction.

Should anymore manufacturing questions surface, call Lionel, tech support.
586-949-4100, ext 1360, Debie or e-mail them at techsupport@lionel.com

It’s a new product and I’m sure they will make it right, that’s part of the warranty.

Lets get back to having fun.

2

I have no problems with the electronics in my Lionel Veranda!!! Only the wrong Airintake reduce my fun!
And I accept the small sidewalks because so the speaker is greater!!!

I like to run my trains but this model brings a lot of fun in the depot!

Switching movements with the ponydiesel - with reduced speed - funny. All this sound effects.

Drive to the train - start the turbine - The mars light is flashing - Very good!

Two tips:

  • Don´t turn the volume of the turbine not much higher than it is (Level 8). At level 15 you think you have a crazy vacuum cleaner at the layout ! THE SOUND MODULE IS ABSOLUTE GREAT AND LOUD !!!

  • Lionel wrote that it is possible to run the model without the tender. Don´t do so!!!
    The model is a GTEL 4500 in the later years. The UNION PACIFIC slogan was added to the nose and on the rearend roof the fuelpipings for the tender were installed. In this times the Verandas, and the Standards, never run without tenders - only possible in depots but not at the track!

And when someone control his layout only with DC and have a Broadway Limited Sidekick controler - this works also with the Turbine !!! (okay, both systems were made by QSI but I know everything is possible!!!)

3

locomotive3 and bigboy

It is obvious that this loco only runs on AC power(excluding DCC) so if you have a DC power layout you are basically out of luck, can you have the 2 power sources(DC & AC) on the one layout and if so how would you wire it up. I will be switching over to DCC in the future, maybe I’d better do it now than latter.
It sucks that only 2 trucks are powerd, could you rework the others to be powered as well?

4

House current is AC. The power pack converts it to DC for HO operation.

5

I heard it has 2 motors. Why on earth would they power 8 wheels out of a possible 16? Tony was right. That’s really not up to today’s standards.

6

Wonder if they made any of those in O scale and if so???

7

The spanbolster is the reason! Because of thigt curves at some layouts it´s impossible to install a gearbox in the first and last truck. this trucks must swing out more!

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8

The loco runs perfect on DCC, very good on DC and never on AC !!!

9

Unfortunately, there’s been another power failure reported on the atlas forum.

Still, that’s only two but the issue is getting a lot of unfavorable attention.

10

Make that three bad.

I just got the veranda and it stopped after the first lap of the layout. I removed the shell - just four screws and found that the problem was a bind in the front motor/gear assembly. I worked the bind free by spinning the flywheel, and it start running fine the rest of the night.

I think that Tony was a little harsh in his review and his decision not to sell the veranda - but I agree that the veranda is not worth the five bill price tag in its current condition.

The electronics are really very nice and the body detailing and paint looks good, but there are two major flaws that should be addressed before this lokie will be worth its big bucks price tag.

  1. The tender comes uncoupled on uneven track. This is simply because the coupler on the span bolster has too much vertical play. Multiply the annoyance factor by the number of dollars spent on this lokie. A drawbar would have made more sense and have the added benefit of leaving the rear deck attached to the body and not the spanbolster.
  2. The drive train has to be addressed. Sure the lokie can run on level 18" radius curves, but it looks really silly. I also do not think that this drive train is capable of doing any kind of climbing, especially on a curve. A better approach for the drive train would have been to power all axles and set the minimum radius to a more realistic 22" or 24".

With that said, in spite of the two cited flaws, the veranda had no problem pulling 20 cars on the straight and level - I did not feel like taxing it tonight. Assuming that the front motor does not cut out again, I would consider myself happy with this purchase - since it was at a deep discount. If I paid retail that would be a different story.

Later…

11

Perhaps the KD #22, http://www.kadee.com/htmbord/page67.htm or the
KD#27, http://www.kadee.com/htmbord/page72.htm will compensate for that slop.

12

I own a Veranda and I´m 100 % sure that my one is equipped with original Kadee couplers!
Use of washers will be the better way!