James the Red Engine Review

 James the Red Engine

James the Red Engine sparked a brand new moment for Lionel in their Thomas range, as it was the first new loco tooling to be created since the late 90's. James released in 2006 as a conventional control unit but was eventually phased out by the 2014 Lionchief offering (being reviewed here). This version then got replaced by a Bluetooth Lionchief release which hit shelves in 2019. Whether it is James' 2014 or 2019 release, James is for some reason a very hard model to find. Perhaps they do not make as many as they do for Thomas or Percy. And perhaps that is for good reason....

I was lucky enough to find that my local model train store had the original 2014 release in the starter set box still for sale in 2017. I promptly purchased it. James was always my favorite character in the show, so it was great to have an O gauge version of him available to run on my layout. The starter set comes included with a loop of track, the Lionchief remote, a specially painted freight car, a caboose, and James himself. The addition of an American styled caboose is questionable but I find it endearing. The freight car is shockingly pretty well detailed, good wood plank texture all around.

 

But let’s talk about James. Right off the bat, we must address the elephant in the room – his size. This model of James is very wide and very short. James’ boiler does not line up with his smokebox nor is his steam chest at the correct height. This is not a good look for the character, he is the same length as Thomas which in terms of scaling and sizing is entirely incorrect. His looks are also up for debate as his dome and lining are painted in yellow and not gold. This is a very odd choice, but matched up with official art of the character at the time. Pretty cool however is the addition of separately applied metal handrails – now THAT’S a great detail! 

James’ chassis, while sporting the correct and unique wheel arrangement of a 2-6-0, is oddly small, with Thomas’ wheels towering over James’. In the show, Thomas and James have the same sized wheels so this is another inaccuracy.

The saving grace of this release however is the face, which is absolutely flawless. It is styled after the CG era of Thomas & Friends, and while that may not make many older modelers happy (as it lacks the nostalgic jovial look of the original James character), the face is beautiful compared to Lionel’s 2006 offering… yikes(!)

The tender has the right details, but is also fat and square (James’ tender is rectangular – this makes a shockingly big difference). How James gets power is through pick ups on the bottom of his chassis and a connection to the tender. Many Lionel James models have suffered the unfortunate fate of children not handling the wires correctly and ripping them, resulting in a non-functioning model. 
 

The sounds that James comes equipped with via his red Lionchief handheld controller are a whistle (from the TV series, not a weird American horn like the 2006 release), a bell sound (odd choice, James does not have a bell), and Sir Topham Hatt shouting, “All Aboard!” I would say they should have included a line from James himself, but his 2019 release actually includes just that and I am all for improvement. As an adult, I like the Sir Topham Hatt talking, but I am sure children want to hear James’ voice.  
 
Lionchief James models from 2014 have a reputation for being very poor runners, breaking down and not working after some use. And this happened to my James as well! But, I somehow fixed him myself (huge accomplishment on my end) and he works fine. Perhaps there was a reason James was silently discontinued back then, his quality was quite poor and the technology was still new for Lionel. James has no problem pulling his included rolling stock, but he is pitiful pulling long, metal, traditional O gauge freight or passenger cars. This is due in no small part to his flimsy plastic coupler.  

 
James is a great character, and Lionel’s model has a good paint job, feels sturdy and reliable, and comes included with great interactive sounds. But unfortunately, the cons far outweigh the pros. Between a squished design, poor pulling power, and unreliable quality control, the 2014 release, for as rare as it is, is simply not the best to have or run. As for his 2019 release, he does pull much better and has a very good slow speed performance.  
 

The ball was dropped on James it seems. Which is a shame because I like the character and wanted one on my layout. But of Lionel’s releases for Thomas & Friends, James is without a doubt the least desirable. If you can look past the cosmetic inaccuracies, the 2006 or 2019 versions do run well and have good pulling power. But this is not Lionel’s best offering.