Hi everyone.I was just thinking back to when lionel was a little late with this delivery along with the legacy system.Anyway,that time has come and gone,so I was wondering what has become of your Big Boys.Are they daily runners or shelf queens? Mine is a daily runner.It's gone back to lionel twice for repairs,and they have done good by me.Just love this engine wrong whistle and all!

What's wrong with the whistle?

According to the experts,and I am NOT one, it's not prototypical.But that doesn't stop me from enjoying this engine.

Pretty much shelf queen status. Superb runner, probably the best diecast effort ever put forth.

Mine has been a great runner and it gets run a lot on the layout. Although it has been back to Lionel a few times, including right now. I do have to say though Lionel has done good by me also. The correct whistle would be the one that Lionel used in their FEF Northern. When I asked about getting a correct whistle for the Big Boy, I was told if enough people ask then maybe Lionel will fix the whistle with a new recording. I would suggest all the Legacy Big Boy owners make this request of Lionel if we want to get this corrected.

In this case how does Lionel obtain correct whistle recordings? Were there actual recordings from the 50s? Or can the whistle on the real thing still be operated with a separate steam source? Just curious.

Norm, I agree.And I say the same about your work and layout.FANTASTIC.CSXAL DITTO for you.If I only had a fraction of your skills.Al I did not Know this.This is news to me.Who do we contact at lionel?

jpbito, I would call Lionel customer service and tech support and voice your wanting a correct whistle for the big boy. If enough people do this maybe we will see a corrected sound file.

I run mine constantly..smooth as silk..great sounds..(except for the whistle)..
very detailed and looks super with a long string of PFE reefers behind it?

Couple of questions....was the BigBoy ever used for long coal drags and did they ever use an extra water tender??

Thanks,

RD, here's picture of a big boy coal drag. They did ore car drags as well.



I've never seen a picture of a big boy with the extra water tender, but according to Lionel they were used. Here's their actual description for the auxiliary water tenders from 2001:

"Designed so that steam locomotives could travel longer distances without having to stop for additional water, auxiliary tenders played an important role in helping to reduce cost and save time. You can now add these tenders to your own collection. Built for the Union Pacific Challengers and Big Boy, as well as for the Norfolk & Western Class A, these die-cast beauties will look spectacular behind your Lionel scale models. Make your collection complete with these all-new tenders."