Lionel Trains - Christmas Express HO Set, O Gauge

Great value

Beautiful set, the sound and looks are amazing. The track is useless. I had to use my Bachman Track which worked flawlessly. One of the passenger cars stopped coupling after a few rounds of the track, I ordered a new coupler from Lionel three weeks ago which I never received. I only ran the train for about 15 minutes each time, it’s fairly noisy unless you turn the sound off. After a total of about two hours the engine completely locked up. I tried everything but to no avail. I put my old Bachmann engine on the track and it ran perfectly....so it wasn’t the track or the lack of electricity going to the engine. This set is not inexpensive, it cost me over $350.00, for that price it should run for many years without a problem. I may have got a lemon, but not willing to take a chance with another set. It was returned in the original box. I DO NOT RECOMMEND the Polar Express HO scale set by Lionel, unfortunately.

Fantastic remote control train set However, train tracks are soft ( very flexible) in nature, sometimes challenging to connect and keep connected. However, placed them of a 1/2” plywood board and screwed (#4 1/2” wood screws) them down. Perfect! Remote really fun to operate, authentic rail/ bells/ voice sounds, you’ll enjoy this item!

The train is absolutely beautifil, but kind of "stale" and runs just fine. The reason for only a 4 star is the shiney plastic makes it look kind of plain. I am running it on an under tree Christmas village train board. The train has tested fine on my track and runs well. I'm not using the Lionel track it came with so I haven't tested all the sounds yet, and can't comment on the track yet, but I do get the steam release and chugging sounds and it sounds great. As I am a hobbyist I will need to add some personal flare to the Locomotive, tender, and cars to make them less out of the factory clean. If the train didn't look so plasticy and fake I would upgrade it to 5 stars. I will run it some more and try it on the track it comes with and maybe do an update on the review. But personally I will need to add some paint weathering to create a less toy looking train. So far it is worth the money.

The couplings didn’t attached and it kept derailing. It’s a nice train but a little frustrating putting it on the tracks as you have to make sure that all wheels are aligned in the tracks. I hope the manufacturer sees the reviews as for the price they should do a little better in design it