Lionel Peanuts Halloween Train Set

 At first glance, this may seem expensive for a toy train set, but it's a reasonably good value considering what is included.My kids wanted a train set, but they've already been through the all-plastic, battery-powered junk that we found in the big box stores over the past few years. I started shopping around for a Lionel set, just like I had when I was a kid.I quickly found that Lionel, like so many other legacy manufacturers with a highly-recognizable brand, seems to be in a “race to the bottom” in an effort to slap their name onto cheap Chinese-made garbage. But in terms of name brand recognition and cachet, the “Lionel” name is hard to beat. As a result, entry-level Lionel train sets start at around the $100-150 price point.Even if you skip the all-plastic (even the track!) “Ready to Play” sets, most of the sub $200 trains are of poor quality and bear little resemblance to the Lionel sets of days gone by. If you look closely at the rolling stock, you can see some differences. The cheaper cars tend to have no “bogies” or “trucks” at all. These are the pivoting assemblies that support the axles of real train cars and most quality model railroading cars. On the cheaper Lionel cars, the axles are simply attached to the chassis itself. Since there is no ability to pivot when following a curve, you get only a single axle per end. The cars and locomotives also have less detail than their higher-quality cousins. For example, the doors on a Lionel box car can normally be opened and closed, but not on these entry-level sets.I found quite a few one-star reviews on the entry-level (can't call them inexpensive) Lionel sets, with a recurring theme...it seems that they often fail to run, either right out of the box, or an alarmingly short time later. That's a problem that most former Lionel owners wouldn't expect.Step up to the New York Central RS-3 Freight Train Set (http://www.amazon.com/Lionel-Central-Freight-Train-Gauge/dp/B01C35QO5Y) and you'll find the kind of quality that most folks would expect from Lionel. Two detailed cars with swivelling bogies, a well-made locomotive, and an oval layout (what kid wouldn't be bored with a circular layout within five minutes?). Like most modern Lionel sets, this one uses Fastrack sections, which have the same rail setup as the old tracks, except that the roadbed is now attached to the rails. Some folks like it and some don't. As someone who bent and damaged plenty of the old-school tracks, I can see the appeal of the Fastrack sections. The roadbed lends rigidity to the rails so that they lie flat on a wide variety of surfaces and don't rise and fall as a heavy locomotive passes over. They also reduce the chance of your locomotive picking up carpet fibers. You also get an AC power pack and a wireless remote, which not only controls the train's movement, but also has three buttons for sound; whistle, bell, and announcements.But I knew we wanted more than two cars, and decent ones start at around $40 each. Plus I really wanted my kids to have a steam locomotive, so I kept looking.When I found the Peanuts set, I decided that while the Halloween theme was a little goofy, all the other boxes were checked. A quality steam locomotive, four well-detailed cars and an oval layout for around $150. I placed my order and in a few days it arrived.As it turns out, this set is very similar to a Lionel Silver Streak set I had as a kid. Except for the Peanuts livery, the heavy, die-cast 2-4-2 locomotive is virtually identical, right down to the stripe along the side, the working side plates and the smokestack that actually puffs smoke. It includes a tender with a large speaker underneath, through which the announcements, bell, and whistle are played with surprising clarity. In this set, the “announcements” are Halloween themed...mostly demonic laughter and creepy organ music. You can hear as much or as little of any of them as you like. You also have the option to shut off the sounds altogether, with a switch on the underside of the locomotive.You get eight curved and two straight sections of Fastrack, enough to make a decent basic layout, but we added two 30” straight sections (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009K7DRE) to put together a larger 49” x 69” oval. Fastrack sections “lock” together, and can therefore be a bit trickier to put together than the old style tracks. So far, it seems like an improvement to me, but it's good to know that these trains will run on the old style track, and vice versa.At least one other reviewer complained that the new-style power pack has no on-off switch. The old Lionel power transformers didn't either, but if this bothers you, there's an easy fix. Use a switched outlet or outlet strip, or one of these $5 gadgets: http://www.amazon.com/Leviton-1470-W-125-Volt-3-Wire-Grounded/dp/B01894YMX4We haven't experienced any problems so far. I thought I would dislike the battery-powered remote, but it's actually pretty slick. The level of control is smoother and more linear than the old-style transformers, and there's no need to sit right next to the track to manipulate the speed. The remote can be easily passed around for anyone to try driving the train, and forget about having to wire a separate motor-driven whistle or bell.Overall, this set performs well, comes with a full-featured engine and good complement of rolling stock, and seems like a welcome fusion of old-school Lionel quality and workmanship with the modern technology of the wireless remote and digital sound reproduction. Highly recommended.

Purchased two sets in 2015 to give away as Grand Prizes for my Halloween games. I would love to add the pic of the lucky kid (and his mom) who received one of the sets, but I don't have their permission or even know who there were. The second set was claimed by one of my grandkids who helped with the event. Of course, that set is still here and comes out nearly every time the grandkids are visiting. It works perfect and has a great audio mix of phrases and Halloween-sounding music. I purchased another for this year and will likely get a couple of more just to hand out as prizes once again. With added track, the kids continue to fully enjoy this set by running it through new layouts. I hated to see a couple of reviewers had functioning issues. This set is so cool since it reminds me of my earliest Halloween memory...that being the Peanuts Halloween cartoon. If I had issues with my sets (assuming the set given away was free of defects), I would certainly state that. Bad reviews always 'spook' me away from Amazon products. If you're 'still on the fence' with this product, feel free to stop by this Halloween and maybe your trick-or-treater can win one for free!

Surprisingly fun train! The Halloween sounds that this makes are the best sounds I have ever heard coming from a train. The werewolf howl instead of the whistle is fantastic.You can do either / or with this train. Standard train sounds, the chugging with synchronized smoke and a regular whistle and bell, or as my daughter would say you can turn it into Halloween mode and all of the sounds become Halloween themed.I would give this a 5 out of 5 however the graphics on this set are pretty basic. The sounds dont relate to Peanuts in any way and I think they could have done a slightly better job at making this a Peanuts train for Halloween. its kind of a "monster mash" if you will of classic halloween sounds and scares with Peanuts pictures on the cars.

I really like this train like most people I did have problems getting it to smoke but I went to lionel.com to ask about the smoke they said to blow in the smoke stack like you are blowing out a candle and if it still doesn't work to try to add 3 more drops but all I had to do was blow in the stake and it started to smoke. I really think that part should be in the instructions but its not thats why I gave it 4 out of 5 I would give it 4 1/2 but there is no 1/2 stars

Smoke stack feature never did work. Everything else worked as advertised and the kids have a lot of fun operating the train. They do get bored of the train after watching it go around in circles for 10 minutes. I will have to buy additional track and other features to keep them occupied for a longer period of time.

Great train set for the price that serves my purpose. I wanted an electric train to go around my halloween tree and village this year and this is it. I haven't tried out the smoke unit yet but the set itself runs great. Arrived quickly and packaged fine. Thanks Amazon. I also ordered an extra car thru Amazon which I also received and works fine with this set. Thanks again Amazon and Lionel for great quality and service. I am also hoping to order a train set for my my Christmas village from Lionel's 2014 catalog ( the Victorian Christmas set). I am hoping Amazon will stock this set when it is released.

My 5 year old daughter is obsessed with trains and wanted one terribly for Christmas. I knew that the smaller sized trains, based on reviews and the research that I did, wouldn't...

Good quality and price.

Train will not smoke , paint is chipping off of the locomotive.. Will be returning , I'm tired of Lionels cheap Chinese quality.

BEST PURCHASE EXCELLENT!!!! I HAVE IT GOING AROUND MY ANIMATED WITCH TOO COOL!!!

This set is a lot of fun, granddaughter and I have enjoyed it very much. Thank you.

My son loves this train. Can't wait until Halloween to add to our Halloween display. Pay attention to the description, the engine and tender sounds effect won't work with regular...

Excellent train for excellent priceOf the remotes is very reasonably priced.If has more better sound options than preceeding

The smoke never work and I followed the directions exactly. My little one was very disappointed as it was one of the reasons we bought it.

Great price and starter train !!! Packaging was done beautifully.

Piece of crap. I bought one that had no audio (yes the switches were on) so I returned it for another that only had idling audio and just simply didn't run.