Introduced in 1972, the 4-6-4, numbered 8206 and lettered for the New York Central, made it to production. It too was a reissue of the Postwar-Era 665 and used its boiler mold and drive train.
The 8206 included a new feature not found on Postwar-Era steam engines, the Electronic Sound of Steam. The Sound of Steam is actuated by the drive wheels on the engine closing a circuit which is connected to a primitive circuit board in the tender, creating a white noise sound resembling the chugging of an engine. The 8206 also had an electronic whistle, but it was unreliable and many 8206s have defective whistles today.
The 8206 was one of the most significant engines of the MPC era. During its first two years MPC/Lionel focused almost entirely on starter sets, with only limited offerings of extra cars and accessories, and no other locomotives other than those included in the sets. The 8206 showed a willingness by the company to bring back some of the bigger, higher-quality pieces from Lionel’s glory days.