Why LionMaster? Will Lionel bring them BACK??

[@trevithickrob]

Just a heads up, Railking has several product lines unto themselves. You have Railking, the basic entry level, Railking Scale, which is O Scale, at a much more sane price and then there is Railking Imperial. This is an area that MTH has always smoked Lionel. The Imperial line is a huge help for people that have small layouts but want to run something besides a Berk or a Hudson. I have been fortunate enough to pick up two used untis, a Northern Pacific 4-8-4 northern Engine and a Blue Comet P47. Both were bought used at Train Shows for generous prices. They are worth every penny. They also can run with regular transformer power, old school throttle, and it is a pleasant experience. Lionel kicks MTH's butt with how easy it is too use the blue tooth, but it sure is nice

[@johnandrus3901]

Very nice. I agree with you on LionMaster. Even though my outer main is O72/O96 and my inner main is O72/O72-54 hybrid, I would rather run the smaller equipment. Those large, scale engines and cars just take up too much space, really. I've mentioned this to Dave Griffin on his channel. The smaller, semi-scale and traditional Lionel equipment help make a layout look larger than it is. The post-war Lionel F's, TrainMasters and a few other diesels, were scale-sized. They look perfect pulling the 15 inch passenger cars and semi-scale freight cars. I would love to have a semi-scale T1, pulling my AMT Pennsylvania Railroad Broadway Limited set. A semi-scale S1, would be even nicer, for sure.👍😋 Either way, those LionMaster locomotives pulling the MTH semi-scale cars look just right on your layout and would on any layout, regardless of size. I think that Lionel really did drop the ball on this one. There are plenty of O gauge operators that would benefit from the LionMaster line. They should bring it back and promote it better. I'm sure that it would sell just fine, if they did. As usual, an excellent video and commentary.

[@Craig-fe5hr]

What about the MTH Imperial Series?

[@MrToby844]

lol I love it when he leaves the passengers cars

[@mzinet2099]

The reason, most of the time, is about money. Lionel probably wanted to make money from the high-end trains from wealthy train hobbyists. They wanted to included low-end trains to get the rest of the common consumerists to stay interested. The problem, like you said, is that the common consumerists have a very small limited selection these days. Somewhere along the line, someone made a BAD decision to limit their biggest base of people in favor of the wealthy few. I'm not sure how anyone can move LIONEL to open up the train models to the common consumerists, but I am really glad you came out with this video to talk about it. Realistically, I just want a certain design of a train that only exists in their high-end models. - It's just a set of motors with an external housing. If LIONEL is realistically making their different models differently inside for each model, then that's the problem. - Yes, steam engines are different and require different designs, but many of the diesels can have the same insides and just different audio. Make a lionmaster size inside for a large group of diesels and just sell them. The lionmaster steams can made too buy just modeling them as smaller versions of the high-end models. They could remove a couple of features so the wealthy hobbyists would still want the high-end models. - If they are not doing it because it is too costly, then maybe they need someone else to make better business decisions to make it happen. There are products sold by other manufactures that are able to offer wider selections. To be honest, if the wealthy hobbyists can afford the high-end models, then maybe readjust the prices to make up the difference on any losses incurred by lionmaster models. The wealthy will still by their high-end model (they have the money). - This is my 2 cent opinion (I could be wrong) - I don't know why LIONEL decided to hurt their customer base, but I think someone in Lionel needs to fix their mistake.

[@Ben-Dover75]

Agree 100%. I’d love a Lionmaster UP DD35 or something along those lines. Large diesel engines would be pretty cool.

[@johnbutler1323]

I think the Allegheny was the old K Line tooling. Those were 1:58 scale and some came equipped with Rail sounds and TMCC and they can run on 031 curves.

[@Dadified86]

K-Line made some awesome semi-scale engines. I absolutely adore their Daylight 4449 (that I feature in several shots in this video)

[@TrainManIII]

Even though I have been able to expand my layout to have 072 curves on my outer line. I would still love it if lionmasters were brought back not just because of the minimum curve radius, but also because you get the good sounds and detail for a lower price.

[@ajmayowskijr]

I love my Lionmaster LionChief 2.0 Big Boy. I would love to see more offerings.

[@prhf]

The earlier Lionmaster from 2010 had whistle steam and cost less. Wish they could add that feature back.

[@mikesamericanflyertrains]

Awesome video guys and very informative. As an American Flyer modeler, I had no idea about all the size and scale variations on Lionel and MTH products. I have to agree that not every modeler has the space or the deep pockets to buy/run scale legacy.

[@Ed-ICE-Berg]

I would love to see Milwaukee Roads #261 in a semi-scale version. And there are so many more restored locomotives running the rails today that would be good candidates.

[@Newt1969]

I never really thought about Lionmaster before you started talking about it Mike, now I'm all in! Let's get it going Lionel!

[@TwistedMacGyversTrains]

Great video Mike! I wish they would still make the lionChief articulated locomotives. I have the tight curves as well and would benefit by new locomotives. 👍

[@Dadified86]

Yeah the LionMaster LionChief Big Boy and Cab Forward we have are fantastic engines to run and really aren’t missing much from their Legacy counterparts.

[@TwistedMacGyversTrains]

I have both of the same locomotives but made by MTH RailKing. 😆

[@DFLTrains]

Agreed! Great video

[@BigBoyTrains-]

I didn’t know that much about lionmaster. This was a really fun way to learn about it!

[@Dadified86]

You should join Art and I when we do the LionMaster LiveStream! We’re gonna have em all!

[@calebeastertrains]

Excellent video Mike! It would be awesome for them to bring back the lionmaster line, I understand what ya mean with the curves, I’m still rocking those 0-36 curves 😂 keep up the good work man!!

[@Ben-Dover75]

**raises hand** I too want more Lionmaster. Get on it Lionel! However I currently have four, all LC2 models. Two Big Boys and two Cab Forwards. Very happy with the performance and details on them. Wish we’d see some more.

[@dennis2494]

They should bring it back and phase it into their Lion Chief Line possibly as Lion Chief 3.0

[@TomsTrains0718]

Mike you have a great collection I myself never considered lionmaster as I went from conventional to falling in love with legacy yes more pricey and take alittle longer to save for but what I have gives me great pleasure running on my layout great video Mike look forward to your podcast with Art

[@MachRacer4]

As someone who just has an oval of O-36 radius track, I would love to see a semi scale Milwaukee Road 261.

[@Dadified86]

If they made that, they’d likely be able to make all sorts of 4-8-4 engines! SP Daylight, UP 844, Santa Fe 3751, Greenbriers, Niagaras, Reading T-1, there’s all kinds they could make if they did it!!

[@RABSTRAINS]

TOTALLY agree with you🔥👍👍🔥❤️ I would consider a purchase!

[@williamkolina3988]

As Craig said what about rail King imperial Highly detailed semi scale Truth be told 1:48 is too big for most basement layouts. Traditional and semi scale is more appropriate. I got the scale virus and can only run 10-12 cars. You would laugh when I. Put 89' flatcar,autorack. And hi-cube 86' boxcar The loop is basically filled up Oh well it's all fun

[@TrainBandit]

More lionmaster!!!

[@larken24]

Hey Mike, I think they came back 😉

[@Dadified86]

Honestly was not expecting that!

[@EricHartner-hm6ce]

Did you use indoor outdoor carpet on your layout?

[@Dadified86]

I did! Just covered this in our recent “Layout Tour” video. Check it out!

[@prhf]

Lionmasters are nice but the price tag is too much for me. I went with MTH Imperial all the same features and details for a much lower price. As for size, the later Railking (Imperial - circa 2007) Big Boys are just a tad bigger in size vs. the Lionmasters. Catalogs advertise the Lionmaster at 29" and the Railking Imperial at 29 1/8". The MSRP from the latest Lionmaster Big Boy (2019) was $1200 vs the latest MTH Imperial (2022) at $850.

[@Dadified86]

I have a lot of Union Pacific in our roster and everyone asks why I haven’t gotten the RailKing FEF-3 “844”. I’ve seen those engines before and the detail/proportions just aren’t there. Looked silly next to my LionMaster challenger. The Imperial Big Boy proportions are a little strange and it’s got no number boards above the signal lights. Like someone shaved the eyebrows off 😅

[@prhf]

@@Dadified86 I replaced my first run Lionmaster Big Boy with an imperail and upgraded the sound set with quilling whistle. The scaling is subjective to ones preference. There are pluses and minuses to each model. The only feature I missed on my Lionmaster was whistle steam but that's not even available on the newer ones made recently. Yes the Imperial is missing the number boards but those aren't worth an extra $350.

[@DaltonStrnad]

Dumb question, do you prefer longer ore (hopper) car or shorter ore (hoppers)

[@Dadified86]

So far we’ve just had the longer ones but I’d like to get a set of smaller ones for the elevated line. I think they’d look good there.

[@DaltonStrnad]

@@Dadified86 ok thank you I was planning on buying a couple of sets from menards and it is almost the same price to get 4 of the long ones or get a set of 8 short ones

[@bernardconeghen]

MTH is user friendly you do not have to have the remote and unlike lionchief railking chugg does not suck like lionchief but your right lionmaster was great I have the pa T1

[@Dadified86]

I’ve seen MTH with remotes. Or were you talking about out of the box?

[@bernardconeghen]

I could be wrong what I meant was you did not lose anything for not having the remote but if you got the MTH remote you got extras

[@csxrailfanbronyzachbecker2105]

I don’t see anything wrong with Lionel locomotives with a 4 chuff rate, do you?

[@Dadified86]

I don’t really count the chuffs or rivets or know the chime to what train has what whistle. They’re just fun to run

[@csxrailfanbronyzachbecker2105]

Good point.

[@Douglas-not-Dougie]

The lionmaster ttte line still exists

[@Dadified86]

I didn’t think those were LionMaster. Those have been branded as LionChief for a long time.

[@Douglas-not-Dougie]

@@Dadified86 I think your son would like them

[@Dadified86]

@@Douglas-not-Dougie We have plenty of Thomas Trackmaster, Wooden Trains, Books, and other toys. Plus they have Thomas at our Local Club so we're set.

[@Douglas-not-Dougie]

@@Dadified86 Okie dokie

[@Douglas-not-Dougie]

Also you should get a Lego train, they are o gauge and can both go on the floor and the layout