My dad works for Lionel and can hold your Mantua tooling hostage

That locomotive is begging to be made into a Conrail custom

Every 20 yearsish Lionel tries HO, and every time it fails.

I was not aware a train set could make me physically violent. I hate this thing so much. Comment ᴾᵉᵉˡ ᵀʳᶦᵈᵉⁿᵗ if you agree

Psychopath model train review… i needed that in my life…

In 2003 lionel released 2 HO locomotives that are actually worth a damn. A Challenger and a Union Pacific diesel. Those two models are actually very good,and I recommend you look at both of them.

This is glorious chaos 😂 I've still got my first run Polar, but they really need to revamp this lineup to stay relevant. Funny thing- they had a 3D printed prototype for a full scale theater car in Concord HQ..There was potential on the table, but we ended up with..this.

Lionel actually attempted HO scale again in 2004 with a Challenger and veranda turbine with DCC sound which were made in Korea by the same factory who makes BLI models. They were later produced by MTH. I got a Lionel HO tanker recently and I thought I got a good one. The paint and decoration looked nice, the knuckle couplers stayed coupled, and managed to roll as good as most of the cars I have. I only paid like 10 bucks for it too, which is about what Bachmann sell their warehouse finds cars for.

I got their HO Polar Express when it released for the first time. About 4 months in the engine began dying and I salvaged it for parts. I still have the coaches though. Somewhere anyway

It bugs me how Lionel insist on making these so expensive right out the gate. It’s a model power train with dcc, it should be 100-200 at most.

I once found one of their berkshires (the polar express one) for 1/2 off and decided as a challenge if I could make it something good, or at least decent. As it was from the semi-earlier batches, I dodged most of the issues with them, and Ive been detailing, fixing, and generally improving it over a few years. Maybe in a few months I'll finally have something worth Lionel's absurd msrp! Then again, the Bachmann one will still be just as good (detail wise) when I'm done fixing Lionels errors with this abomination of locomotion.

At least the locomotive worked. I returned a Polar Express set that was shipped with broken bits and non functioning engine. The replacement was also DOA. No QC at Lionel’s Chinese manufacturer

Absolutely beautiful video. Summed up Lionel in a modern context perfectly.

Another 20 hours im waiting here chips in hand

Another reason I will continue to happily enjoy my 70 year old postwar Lionel

Thanks for usin my clip! I assume the postwar HO tooling is long gone, or we'd have HO scale space and military cars again. And possibly less shitty rolling stock, since those actually roll. Also.... pretty sure my Marx HO rolls better and weighs more than what Lionel is making now. Rip.

The only good thing about lionel relaunch of HO is that they are releasing the old Pola made model power kits that faller didnt want to re release undernthenfaller name unfortunately despite having bought that ancient tooling, they sell if for triple the price. 😞 Same with the freight cars that used to be marx and mehano.

I’m pretty sure a Play station one has less bitcrunched sound files than that thing

This set is more expensive than the O gauge Polar Express

Beautiful content. Destroying the “expensive” cause that Lionel puts so much “effort” into deserves a reward. I solute you good sir.

The sad thing is that if they actually *tried* and made HO the same quality as their O scale legacy stuff… it’d be a hit

The track bends like it’s made of clay

We are here we are waiting

Instant sub from me. Love the no holds bar approach. The prices lionel charges for anything is insane.

This is the first time I've ever seen your channel, and I'm only 30 seconds into your video before I had to comment. I swear like a sailor, but I also deeply appreciate you warning your audience in the beginning. Damn near no one does that

This is a great video, you have a real talent for KZfaq and content creation!

Lionel should go back to the way the made model trains in the past in 1940’s,1950’s and1960’s

8:35 lets deliver some Christmas cheer Oh shit the tracks are destoryed by a god damn. Maniac what ever shall we do

That whole thing is a nightmare.

I was laughing when you squished that hopper car It’s lokey kinda funny

10:14 "A new load is available. You have a new deliv'ry."

I did have a Lionel HO train set in the 1960s. All I remember is that the locomotive was a NYC diesel and it worked. I don't believe there any photos as all of my HO layout. I started with American Flyer S gauge because that is what Santa gave me. When I got back into model railroading with my son in 1986, it was with my two original American flyer trains because they still worked. In December of 2000, I started all over again with Lionel built American Flyer coach because I liked the movie and the American Flyer coach looked more realistic than the HO or O versions. That one car became three Polar Express cars, but everything else I have on my layout is A.C. Gilbert production, and there will not be any Lionel products added. After having to re-soldier the wiring repeatedly in all three PE coaches while producing my Christmas video, I ran them behind a 1950s American Flyer locomotive at a public display, then put the coaches back in their boxes, probably to stay. I still prefer the Gilbert produced S gauge trains to anything else, because the combined quality and realism are still unmatched by anyone else.

This video reminds me of the thing I said acouple of times before,Lionel is the Disney of model trains All they have to do is ride of from their name of nostalgia a good times in order to sell a product, and since there's no big competitors anymore there's no reason to improve or to make something better anymore.. who's to say that Lionel is running a monopoly on the O gauge market..

I get your point about Lionel HO and their lazy products.

This was worth the wait lmfao. Peel Trident

Let’s see, gloves check, board for just in case, check, guard on chop saw, check, safety glasses, eehhhhh, I’ll let it slide, but all in all, you cutting that tank car is OSHA approved 👍🏻

I wonder if the reason the curves are a 20 inch radius is because they're reusing tooling from their S gauge line. 20 inch radius is the standard curve Lionel makes in that scale, and since this was clearly made on the cheap I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to reuse even more tooling.

Did you know some of the Lionel Hallmark trains can fit on n scale track I just wanted to put that out there

Very interesting. I can very much appreciate Lionel trains (my godfather had an O scale layout in his basement), though I seem to have gotten more into HO as it's the scale I model in as well as what my local model railroad club runs. Additionally, I do have two HO scale Lionel Polar Express coaches, but have yet to test run them.

Thanks for your review. I am glad to learn the things you pointed out. I am disappointed with Lionel also. They are missing out on delivering great quality and creativity of their products. I want them to have an eye for color, imagination, animated products of train cars, and durability.

Being a long time collector of all things Lionel HO, I completely understand. I voiced my concerns about this product directly to their developers and you can see how that turned out. They never commit to HO scale. The Bluetooth was a nice touch, but I feel like there could have been more features. Quality control is a major problem will all things modern Lionel. Nice touch adding in the postwar and mpc variants. OO was just a victim of the time it was released. Truly amazing stuff there. Also, don’t forget that fancy rail scope alco set and of course the veranda and challenger fails. Unless it’s O gauge… they treat it like that stepchild they have to support until it’s no longer profitable.

From what i have seen lionel is thriving on o scale with new engines that are outstanding i didnt think they were making trashish rehashs of old molds

My dad still has his post war lionel trains

This kid is nuts.... "subbed"

That is a cursed toy from an evil demon !

Just figured out that the price for inflation on marx trains would be between 90-110$ Which is very cheap compared to modern lionel

Some time ago I made a comment about how Lionel should try going into the N scale market, now I'm not so sure. Who knows, maybe one day.

Lionel just taking old tooling, doing re-releases, and slaping different (in some cases laughably unprototypical) paint schemes, has to be the most accurate statement about lionel that I have ever heard.

Yeah accidentally buying a Lionel ho gauge locomotive was the worst mistake I’ve ever made

That’s why I’m going for Bachmann when it comes to HO scale!

This is a great video, could you also do a deep dive in review video of the history of the rise and fall and rise again of American Flyer S Gauge Trains?

I got the army hospital train set and I had a lot of issues with the magnetrack, still barely works

Despite me being a fan of goofy and wacky paint schemes, the one on that Lionel Christmas Berkshire just doesn’t look right in my opinion

And I thought Heljan was overpriced plastic tat.

I'm glad I didn't buy that. Plastic axles what the hell were they thinking.

Lionel - their line runs on POLAR EXPRESSES

Before that Lionel did make HO trains in the past they were actually pretty solid in fact I was thinking of getting the Polar Express train set and cars I was maybe getting a CSX flat car maybe some other train sets like the Santa Fe flyer and possibly the New York Central

The Lionel HO scale industrial locomotive was better that the Athearn Hustler be cause it had a gear drive, not rubber band.

so i have that locomotive, and i actually really like it. its pretty nifty for my layout. im thinking about repainting it though.

Lionel isn't the only US model train company to re-badge models from other foreign manufacturers. For example, Model Power used to sell Triang-Hornby H0 locos and Budd Rail Car set badged as AT&T products, back in the 1970's.

why you destroy the train set's rolling stock (and track)

I understand, I have death threats for my k-line boxcab electric! It’s real “O” trash can

I was curious about the lionel HO, you satisfied my curious.😊

Awww you should have tried to recreate that scene from super 8 where a alien bangs on the car door and it flies off And you use the blowtorch to recreate the dents made by kt

I'll say it sents no one else will. Lionel quality has been going down for awhile now and only focusing on their most premium Oscale locomotives and only bringing out the same shit every year.

That polar express frame Lol

Until Lionel gets their act together there is only Mantua Red Box "Pro Series" Locomotives to hold them accountable for Dealing them dirty. If there was one thing that I could say is that Lionel is stuck in the dark ages, the Model Railroad Industry has moved onto Realism instead of "Toys" like you said. I don't have anything against Lionel, but the way they are puncturing their brand and making it Gimmicky makes the Carnival Game look more honest. I am sorrowfully Disappointed in Lionel's Business Model, if this is going to be the norm with them. I am not surprised they used Mantua Tooling which I don't blame them for. I would only be purchasing Steam engines from BLI (In N scale) Kato or Bachmann (In HO), and maybe Rapido, Riverossi, & Athearn if they make them cheaper (probably Roundhouse, not Genesis)

Also MTE did you notice the trains road number 1224 is close to the polar expresses one 1225

I have post war Lionel 027 which isn't really O scale. It's more like S scale at 1/64th scale. The 027 was smaller than true O scale and a lot cheaper than regular O scale. I did enjoy the destruction of the track and melting of the boxcar. Also the fire at the end was funny. Cheers from eastern TN

Current Lionel is just more expensive reissued Model Power product..which itself was chunky and lousy in quality...and was imports from other brands like Mehano and Triang.

I think Lionel only cares for the gentleman collectors who can spend the big buck . The rest of us are just riff raft . The great unwashed masses . If you can’t spend a couple or few grand on an engine , you’re not welcome in the club.

I think Lionel did hit it off when they did their Post war HO with the missile launching car helicopter car and basically all of their operating cars in HO My favorite being the exploding box car Not only that they were given real metal trucks that had real springs on them

i got a atsf set which they don't even offer any more the board will break after 6 months of use and then the rest of the tender electronics just slowly burn out

5:08 does the bachmann locomotive run on 18” radius curves?

I was gonna buy the Army hospital set, I'll just buy a Model power US army 0-4-0 and two US army coaches instead 😞

I own the discontinued Army set that I bought for less than $200 shipped from Amazon to try out. The only good thing about the set are the Model Power passenger cars.....

Good thing Lionel didn't quit their day job. (That being making 027 scale engines and rolling stock.)

How to do peel triddent?

i love how lionel refuses to let go of the polar express, they even have recycled the exact same polar express engine body for many other trains with goofy-ahh “reskins”

My Lionel trains 027 gauge and 80 years old or older that is when quality mattered and they are older then me and I’m 47 years old..

Drinking Nos from a coffee cup with 2 hands? Mom must be behind on dishes.

A really different kind of review.

just in time for Christmas

Ok so I have a question if you use the remote will it run on dc track?

Lionel ho is Penn Central

4:55 The Bachman Berkshire rolled up to this review like "Sup?" 😂

I love Lionel a lot but everything here is so true. I wish Lionel would both get their stuff in a line and try to put out rolling stock comparable to their HO releases and get the Mantua tooling back out there. That could be their ace in the hole for the HO market but they are blowing it. With how good their NASCAR division is doing, it is a shame their train division is sinking

😢and I found myself interested in the Southern Berkshire set

Ive collected lionel for many years… modern lionel is nothing like it was years ago. I have many Prewar O gauge locomotives and these locomotives have QUALITY. Something modern lionel wishes they’d have again.. almost 100 years old and run and look better than anything they make these days unless its a 1500$ piece

i loved the tug of war the trains had😂

I always hoped that Lionel would carry their quality from O to HO.... but its like they went into their design meetings and said "lets see how much more terrible when can be this time and rip as many people off as possible". Unfortunately, they make horrible Christmas HO trains and no actual models.

10:38 no it dosent sound like machine gun fire It sounds like a minigun

My bli n scale p70 passenger cars came with the metal wheels with plastic axles and they derailed over every bump in the turnout so I replaced the wheels with all metal and now the light circuits don't work 😢

LMAO I had that exact same BN GP30 181, i loved that thing to death but had to sell it a few years ago as it didnt hold up anymore and it didnt ever properley run.

Oh, Ouch......

I have a Lionel LionChief Ho polar express.. and it runs great.. have had to fix the tether once or twice but other than that it’s actually run better.. and probably an inexpensive way to get a Berkshire, and for not wanting to bite the bullet and buy a Bachmann Berkshire.. it’s better.. and I have heard Bachmann did make the decoder but it’s not bad for the money.. i got mine from an eBay with 2 polar express coaches and this is not bad honestly I like the trains, and I think the best bet is to buy the set without the track and or only the locomotive. Is it as good as the Bachmann one? no.. but it’s better because I don’t have the money to buy a Bachmann Berkshire yet. But a friend has one and it’s not that bad and both are actually close matched in speed and do well double headed and since the decoder is a stripped down Bachmann dcc decoder.. I’m not Surprised bout that.. and honestly this sets theme is cool.. but I feel the only train for Christmas should be the polar express and that’s it.

You are better off buying a Piko Smartcontrol set, or a walthers or roco z21 wireless Dcc set

Track is something left to be desired but the engines are more durable than any Broadway limited or Bachmann model I own

I cant believe Lionel would actually sell this piece of sh#t

if you want good lionel you dont get anything non O scale or modern just get postwar items they are pretty much the same tooling as the new stuff , im sure the HO department is a broom Handle and a paper shredder