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18 Jan, 2017
Great Starter Set
1 of 1 found this helpful This is a great starter set for the price, which was less than $200 including shipping around the holidays. The engine is metal and comes with conductor and engineer figures (many introductory Lionel engines do not). It also comes with remote control, engine sounds (chuffing, bell and crew talk) and smoke function, which all sound great and work well. The one drawback on the lower priced starter sets is that the tender is plastic. Higher priced sets (those with Berkshire engines, for example) have an all metal tender. I have both. No difference in sound, just a cost/durability consideration. The other cost tradeoff with the starter lionchief engines is don't lose the remote! Unlike the higher-end lionchief plus engines (where you can run train from remote or a conventional transformer) you need the remote to run the engine. Overall, I was ok with the trade offs for the price and my kids really enjoyed running the train with the remote under the tree his year.