I've never been much of an O guage model railroader past On30, but because of you're videos I think I am going to pick up an Iron Hippo set and build an O guage layout. I did not know this level of realism could be achieved!!!

I've never been a huge fan of O-gauge trains. Always been fond of H.O. layouts. But you have really sold me on O - the level of detail and the size looks amazing on your layout. Now I'm old enough to enjoy even the geeking out bits and all the work that you put into your layout. Its so much more than just putting a train on the track and watching them move. Personally - I think its nuts after paying for new trains that you'd have to do any work on them though. The fact the one was shorting out of the box really seems to be the lack of Q.A. people put into products nowadays. Keep making more videos and thanks for sharing your journey. I really liked watching the double header moving around your layout.

Norm I gotta say I love your videos. The work you put into them, and arguably the best home layout I’ve ever seen. Great work keep it up. 👍

Never tired of watching your vids…. Beautiful layout and a wealth of info. 👍🏼

UNBELIEVABLE!!! The light, the scale, the camera work…real artistry!

Excellent layout, with beautiful scenery! Makes me wish now I had kept the O-Scale sectional layout I but for my daughters back in 1991. I had a Weaver 3-Rail NKP -2-8-4, and the Lionel Scale Reading T-1 in CSS paint. Back then though, the chuff on the CSS 4-8-4, was Not very realistic. Very nice weathering on all your locomotives, makes them very realistic looking! I too weather my HO Steam locos, & diesels, either with my airbrush, and/or with pan pastels. Sometimes I use India Ink thinned with alcohol & Bragdon weathering powders for certain effects. Great video!

@caseyjones1950

4 ай бұрын

Made some errors do to a faulty Keyboard-----O-Scale sectional layout I "Built" -----Not but! LOL!

These are great! I think I need a second one...

@normstrains

6 ай бұрын

These were a better experience compared to the L1 debacle.

@ChrissTrainsandThings

6 ай бұрын

@@normstrains ain’t that the truth. I’m glad Lionel admitted the L1s were a miss as soon as they were delivered and had already adjusted for the i1s color. I still need to get my L1 into the weathering booth.

@johnh.toytrainfanatic5300

6 ай бұрын

I will second the second engine 😂

Another awesome video! They looked great double-headed. Old-school Pennsy! The Big Six was great again! I agree with you on loving the 10-drivered locos. The I1sa, Big Six, WM's I-2 decapods, and the Pennsy J's, all mean just raw power for heavy trains and steep grades. Merry Christmas!

Thanks Norm, many letters and emails were sent from myself and dad. You should see the Buff color being a little more gold in the future, I sent them a correct match based off the PRRTHS color drift cards. The Brunswick green definitely is/was a factory issue. The color standard Lionel is using is plenty dark, it was the factory paint that was not matching the standard.

@normstrains

6 ай бұрын

Glad you guys got involved! These are much better than the L1s.

I really lucked up! After learning through your L1 Mikado video that Lionel had produced a train with road number 1369, I knew I had to get that train. (1369 has always been my number) It arrived last Saturday and thankfully, It has no binding issues in either direction. Great job on the decapods. Watching that now

They look fantastic weathered. Great job as always! More videos of your weather techniques on engines, rolling stock, and scenery is always appreciated!

Great video Norm! The realism of your world is on another level. The locomotives came out great and they look awesome double headed!! - Ryan

Awesome work as usual Norm and we got 2 videos from you, I just caught the Boxcar Video! Merry Christmas to you and your Family Norm and to all of my fellow viewers and may Santa fill your stocking with Trains!!!

Great video!!! Always a pleasure to watch your videos Norm!

This is the first of your videos that I've watched, and I have to say that it's a truly beautiful layout!

Great video. Always love watching all your vids!

Beautiful engine's and great sound as well. I certainly enjoyed the video.

Awesome video as always Norm. I gotta be honest I’m jealous because I should’ve ordered one these, they are nice looking for sure. The weathering on these is spectacular on them and great action of them in the engine yard doubleheading on your layout.

MASTERPIECE THE BEST THERE IS NORM BRAVO AND MERRY CHRISTMAS

@normstrains

6 ай бұрын

Merry Christmas!

Norm as always a fantastic video. I recently received my Russian decapod and had passed on these might have to pick one up. Detail is really nice.

Nice video Norm! I’m glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t care for the rail squealing and creaking sounds.

Looks like a solid model to me. Great video Norm!

@normstrains

6 ай бұрын

Wish they had Pittmans 😭

Great video as always.

@normstrains

6 ай бұрын

Thanks man!

@robwillett7832

6 ай бұрын

Any plan to expand the layout? I have a ton of atlas o track And switches if you have thought about it.

Not gonna lie, those locomotives sound so good. I find HO and N scale locomotives with sound sound so tinny

Look like very smooth runners Norm. Impressive.

@normstrains

6 ай бұрын

Hey man merry Christmas 🎄

Great vid Norm re the I1 Decapod showing the detail and revised Brunswick green. I held off purchasing as I'd previously purchased the L1 and it was baby shit green. This is much better .. also, if you can, please ask Neal and Steven if they can request of Lionel to also get their classification lights the correct color tone and intensity.

@normstrains

5 ай бұрын

I wish I could at least dim them via the remote. They hurt to look at!

@badams0244

5 ай бұрын

I'd respond but just ran some modern legacy ,, can't see a damn thing after retina assault .. is it normstrains or normsstrains @@normstrains

@badams0244

5 ай бұрын

as in strain to look at ... so long term, how is this fixed (corrected), hire personnel to fix, assign a fixed cost per unit and globally produced, go legal via class action and implement the corrective plan and outcome. all doable under the false claims act. as an appreciable expectation of the commodity/product for purchase is different than the final product. lionel is VC funded (after Neal young's departure) so what they understand is $ ..

i absolutely love these engines

I'd love to have a set of these on my layout!!!! For now my MTH RK Hippo will have to do. Thanks

Thanks!

Gorgeous!

Love it Norm

I’m glad I didn’t do the Tuscan roof they really haven’t gotten Tuscan red correct either. I’m partial to the prewar pensy style as well as the coast to coast tender ordered #4241. Hopefully they get everything right with the M1’s I ordered the fancy passenger version of that.

Another great video, now hear me out, 3 triple header, thats all I’ll say

@Nathan93Baker

6 ай бұрын

Double header, one rear. Would be my choice.

@normstrains

6 ай бұрын

@@Nathan93Baker 🤔

@mike6206

6 ай бұрын

Double-headed on the front, Big Six as the "Hyndman Helper" on the rear...

Nice video and review. Those Decapods are quite nice. It is refreshing to hear someone else knocking the crew talk. In my entire career, I never heard such goofy dialog. It detracts from the beautiful, realistic scale layouts, such as yours. Very childish, really and just abysmal. Either way, your layout is just plain amazing. Have a great Christmas and a fine New Year.

@normstrains

6 ай бұрын

At least the crew talk stuff has to be triggered manually. The rail squeal and grinding sounds are constant and tend to detract from the exhaust. I cranked the labor up for deeper exhaust in an attempt to drown out the creaking and groaning. I hope their new system gives more control over this but I’m not holding my breath!

Have you ever considered opening a weathering service? I have a couple of HO and O locomotives that need some grime, and I think your weathering looks awesome

Was that an observation cabin mounted on the back of the tender ? Living in the UK we only had one couple of large locomotives but nothing to compare to the locomotives that ran on the US Network

@normstrains

4 ай бұрын

That is the doghouse for the front end brakeman

Hi norm. I enjoy your videos more than most. I love the realism and attention to detail you display not only in your weathered trains but also the realism your buildings have, an often overlooked detail being the highly realistic authentic interiors. But, I have one nit to pick. No disrespect to your attention to the period modeled. The oxide P&LE 40 foot box car with its NYC cigar band emblem is totally out of place since NYC adopted this design in late 1959-60. Time to get out the air brush?

@normstrains

3 ай бұрын

I have a few cars that are a little beyond the transition era but I’m not too worried about it.

Decapod December.

I noticed that your front freight car with kadee coupler's is hooked to a Lionel oversized knuckle coupler. I learned this back in the early 1970's when my dad and I first got into model trains. Kadee built their 'scale' coupler to mate with the Lionel oversized knuckle coupler. This is why they have that hyper-extensive movement when opening up. To me, the independence of volume control is where DCS is still superior to Legacy because even with Legacy, you'll have a bell on steroids if you want your whistle to be strong, with DCS, you can customize your independent volumes (and chuff rate). Overall though, DCS is not quite as reliable as Legacy when it comes to radio communication with the hand held remote.

@normstrains

6 ай бұрын

Merry Christmas! Yes, 805s can grab onto the lobster claws no prob. You’ll never sell me on DCS. Just never liked anything about it!

@asdfdsa45

2 ай бұрын

@@normstrains I hear you and agree since we do have Legacy with it's superior sounds, just wish for greater independent control. Speaking of Kadee couplers, have you ever had any experience with Atlas "scale" electro couplers? I understand that mounting them can be a bit of a hassle but with your advancing skills with 3D printing, you can probably get around that. Atlas' scale couplers certainly mate with Kadee (but not Lionel oversized couplers) and they do look great, just not sure about their reliability.

@normstrains

2 ай бұрын

@@asdfdsa45 Never tried them. Maybe if I ever find some I can experiment with them..

Just picked up this engine, my plan is to double head it with the Mikado. Looking forward to putting that together. I have a question about your Kadee couplers. I plan on putting a Kadee coupler on my Strasburg 90 but I don’t really know how to make that happen. Is there anything special you do to hook up those couplers or is it self explanatory? What number do you use? Any information would be helpful. Thanks.

@johnh.toytrainfanatic5300

6 ай бұрын

they will not double head with the Mikados , already tried that and the Mikado is either going to push it or pull it as it is faster than the hippo 😢 I honestly thought building it as a train in the legacy system automatically speed matched them somehow but they don't.

@normstrains

6 ай бұрын

Lionel should have supplied a Kadee adapter with a set of 2mm screws for the tender. A Kadee 805 or a 740 would most likely work. I home brew the front Kadee if it’s needed. Most of their Kadee mounts are pretty good but I don’t know if they even show them in the manual. I’m surprised to hear the L1 won’t match speed with the Dec. They should if they are set up correctly. I think Legacy handles lashups pretty well since all the Leagcy stuff is pretty well speed matched. I’ll have to try it out I guess.

@johnh.toytrainfanatic5300

6 ай бұрын

let us know if you get the same result as I did on double heading . I don't couple them when I first set them up so I can see if they are matched or close enough to not worry but over about 40 feet of run I gained about 16 inches more between them than what I started with . I had two mikados double headed and was going to use the hippo as a pusher but since it was showing to be slower I knew I would just string line the train in a curve .

@DJHProductions

5 ай бұрын

@@johnh.toytrainfanatic5300 Sorry for the late reply, so I didn't have the same issue you had, however the Mikado does seem to go faster than the decapod. I would say it gained about 4 or 5 inches going around my layout. I believe it could be ok for not an extended period of time, I do have alco's or f units where one pulls slightly faster than the other and I run them together with no issues. I can see where using one as a pusher would cause an issue though, but a straight up double header should be ok. If only everything worked the way we wanted it to....

Hey Norm….can you in instances like this with these 2 bad boys tied together give us OO fanboys an idea of the length please. Not just by a tape measure but everyday items like, how many boxes of Cornflakes long are they? 👍

@normstrains

6 ай бұрын

Tip to tail these two measure about 42”.

@johneaton25

6 ай бұрын

@@normstrains Good Lord that’s nearly 4 foot bloody long Norm without even hauling anything! 🤣 Your train room is bigger than some of the houses in the UK where you’d have a family of 4 living 🤣 🇬🇧

@normstrains

6 ай бұрын

@@johneaton25 I love the UK! Was just there in late October goofing off in Hammersmith. Went down and rode the Bluebell Railway for an afternoon. Visited many pubs! 🍺

The paint on the tender wheels has to be scraped off and the screws have to be loosened and then retighten. I had ground problems before with the paint they put on there wheels. like the h10 coal hauler set and strasburg sw switcher. the i1 decapod tender is trying to get its ground through the drawbar since the wheels aren't catching anything.

@normstrains

6 ай бұрын

I only had to remove and reinstall the ground lugs. I probably could have chased them out with a tap. No continuity present from the trucks to frame, etc., that's why the ground path tried to make itself through the drawbar. This is the only one out of four that was hosed. I have yet to encounter paint on the wheels that wasn't put there by me when I do the weathering.

I’m actually surprised that you don’t have a flowing creek in this.

Glad the paint is getting better. What is wrong with the long tender versions?

@normstrains

6 ай бұрын

The only one who got it right was 3rd Rail.

@Mr.Funk92

6 ай бұрын

@@normstrains curiosity is getting the better of me. Is it that the coal bunker portion on Lionel’s is to long? That seems to be the biggest difference between the two long tenders.

@normstrains

6 ай бұрын

@@Mr.Funk92 Lionel most likely used MTH's Q2 tender which is a bit different from the 180F82 the I1 should be paired with. Here's a good link to check out: prr.railfan.net/diagrams/PRRdiagrams.html?sel=ste&sz=sm&fr=

These look great! They look so much bigger than the L1, but I think they are pretty close in size, correct? The higher running boards might give the illusion of it being masive.

@normstrains

6 ай бұрын

Not much longer but they have a stocky looking boiler!

@MMID303

5 ай бұрын

​@normstrains I finally got 4521, and I'm very pleased with it. No issues with mine. Definitely a chonky locomotive 😊 I just wish I could turn off the class lights. Can't do it with the Cab 1L. Hopefully possible on the Cab 3 App.

@normstrains

5 ай бұрын

@@MMID303 I wish it had the Canon drive but I don’t think Lionel will put those in the ex-MTH/K-Lines. Other than the tender grounding issue these were a better experience compared to the L1s.

I feel like they should include a draw bad on the front of all those because they were all double headed

I want so badly to see your layout in person. I am in Youngstown Ohio. Do you ever do an open house event?

@normstrains

6 ай бұрын

I typically host a party or two every year for the groups I hang with. I may host visitors summer '24 during Train-a-Palooza. If you're ever in the area, just send an email..

How so did you think they would not do the PRR Decapod coast to coast tenders correctly?

@normstrains

6 ай бұрын

Cuz MTH didn’t get them right..

Good , you passed over the dreaded unboxing.

Do you have a large layout?

@normstrains

6 ай бұрын

Not too big - 29' by 36' L shaped.

No smoke?

Norm, I completely respect you, but I just don’t understand why you guys keep spending your hard earned money on current Lionel? The DGLE is off as well as the buff being yellow. The quality isn’t even close to the price paid. I think they are UGLY! No roof or tender deck paint! If they did do it, it wouldn’t match anyway. The only way Lionel will get better is not buying Walmart engines at Rolex prices

Do Lionel make two rail locomotives?..