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 painte