Which Lionel set is best? Please help

Nice steam engine upgrade w/ Railsounds - the handcar is a nice touch - they can be found on eBay cheap as set break-ups (my B-I-L just bought one for $20.00 at a show) but Charles Ro has this set at a very attractive $199.99...

new york central flyer

adds Railsounds over whistle(PA Flyer) for the steamer...

or PA flyer?

Good starter set - will run forever and takes kindly to add-ons(as any Lionel does).

Take a look at the 31985 Santa Fe Fast Freight too. More play value, upgraded engine(over the "flyers"), & Railsounds, 3 loadable cars, uncoupling track included in set.

Any set will benefit from extra track & a few more cars - action or cargo.

Look to your LHS (Local Hobby Store) for track as eBay is WAY overpriced(for some strange reason) on the Fastrack!

Rob

RTRNYC. LTG :)

I agree. The engine + tender in this set are well built (at least as far as Asian manufacture goes) and beautifully detailed.

of those

Derek,

The locomotive is identical in both sets, the difference is in the tender.

The PA Flyer tender has a "traditional" air whistle, which doesn't sound too bad. It also doesn't sound that great.

The NYC Flyer has a "Trainsounds" printed circuit board and speaker that provides digitized whistle, bell, and steam 'chuff-chuff' sounds. When the train is in neutral, with power on the track, hitting the whistle button also activates crew-to-tower/tower-to-crew 'chatter'. The 'chatter' function deactivates when the train is moving.

Len

Except, he's asking about 3 sets...

doesn't sound that great.

Rob