Lionel 2431070 - Vision Line Triplex Steam Locomotive "Virginian" #701

Product Description

Announced Date:

Oct 2023

Released Date:

Oct 2024

Individually Boxed:

Yes

Road Name: Virginian

Road Number: 701

Product Line: Vision Line

Scale: O Scale

Length: 27 1/4"

Minimum Curve: O72

Features:

Premium Features:

New Wheel Slip! - Tender wheels slip on user command.

4-Digital Addressing when using the Base3/Cab3 control system

Multi-speaker stereophonic sounds

Smokebox and tender steam

Whistle Steam

Swinging Bell

Rear Electro Coupler

Optional non-scale front dummy coupler and conversion to scale working couplers

Road number specific detailing

Legacy Railsounds including:

Separate boiler and tender chuffs

Road number specific crew talk

Additional Legacy Features:

Legacy Control System equipped - able to run in Legacy Control mode, in TrainMaster Command Control mode, or in Conventional mode with a standard transformer

Bluetooth Control - Operate with Universal Remote or LionelChief App

Lionel Voice Control (LVC) - run your locomotive by speaking commands into your phone via LionChief App

Odyssey II Speed Control

IR Transmitter that works with LCS SensorTrack

Powerful maintenance-free motors with momentum flywheel

Directional lighting including operating headlight and back-up light on rear of tender, where applicable

Bi-color illuminated classification lights on the front of locomotive where applicable. Using a Legacy controller, change the color of the classification lights between white or green

Traction tires

Interior illuminated in cab

Dire-cast metal locomotive body, pilot, and trucks

Die-cast metal tender body and trucks

High level of separately applied metal details

Separately applied builder's plate

Synchronized fan-driven smoke units

Adjustable smoke output

Authentically detailed cab interior

Cab "glass" windows

New engineer and fireman figures

Legacy Railsounds sound system featuring:

CrewTalk dialog with difference scenarios depending on whether the locomotive is in motion or stopped

TrainSounds that mimic operating dialog when the locomotive is in motion or stopped

Six official railroad speeds with CrewTalk dialog

DynaChuff synchronized with 32 levels of intensity as the locomotive gains speed

Legacy "Real-Time Quilling Whistle" control with instant response for realistic signature "quilling" and correctly timed warning signals

5 Difference whistles to choose from for a more customized experience

Single hit or continuous mechanical bell sounds - 5 levels of bell pitching for customized sounds

Sequence Control: play the sounds effects of an entire trip, including warning sounds and announcements, base on the movement and speed of the locomotive

Current speed and fuel dialog, cola or oil loading sounds effects.

Overview:

Erie’s Triplex locomotives - machines so big they inspire, intrigue, and move the

mind as much as they could move freight. Built in an era when the compound Mallet

design was just coming onto the scene, the Triplex took the concept a step further

in attempt to use not only the locomotive’s weight but also that of the tender for

traction. On paper at least, the locomotives could put 89% of their loaded weight to

use and pull a train 5 miles long. They were so powerful that you couldn’t put enough

weight behind them to truly test it without breaking couplers and by some accounts

remain the most powerful locomotives ever built.

The first Triplex entered service in 1914 as number 2603 and named after a prominent and recently

retired engineer on the Erie, Matt H. Shay. The locomotive was as much of a marketing statement for the

Erie as it was motive power. The locomotive performed well enough that two more were delivered in 1916

with only a few minor modifications from the original. The three were assigned as helper engines on the

Susquehanna Division - best known as the line over Starrucca Viaduct.

The Triplex was a compound Mallet, with high pressure steam going to the center pair of pistons

first. The left piston exhausted steam to the front pair of pistons and the right to the rear which powered

the wheels under the tender. The locomotives were also unique in that both the high- and low-pressure

pistons were the same size, using different valve sizes to accommodate the changes in pressure.

Predictably, the problem with these large beasts was not power, but appetite. The boiler would

struggle to keep up pressure against the consumption of six cylinders - even if it was only directly feeding

two. And although there were elements in the design to compensate for variable traction under the tender

as fuel was consumed, as it ran light wheel slipping could be an issue. The locomotives stayed in service until

as late as 1933.

Only the Virginian made another attempt at a Triplex with a single locomotive. It was rebuilt as a

smaller 2-8-8-2 soon after, however. While not a major success, they were certainly not a failure as far as experimental steam designs are concerned. More accurately, they were truly too big for their time. It would

have been interesting to see the concept revisited a few decades later when technology had improved

and train weights increased, but alas it never came to be.

To bring this locomotive back to the O Scale market as anything less than a VISION LINE model

would be a crime! We have packed every inch of this massive machine with amazing features including the

all-new wheel slip simulation. If your labor rate gets too high or the fuel is running low, watch out! Those

rear wheels might just start to slip. Not just a sound effect this time, the tender drive wheels have independent motor control and will actually slip under the right conditions. And when the wheels slip, of course

the sounds and smoke will follow along.

Other notable features include whistle steam effects, a swinging bell, road-number specific crew

talk and 4-digit addressing. We’ve also made several tooling changes to model both the “production”

models of 5015 and 5016 and the prototype Matt H. Shay