Missed the fine print with the Culvert Loader/Unloader

JND:

   You should be able to find one at the show. The original PW was a red #6342. There have been a bunch since then: 37057 Bethlehem Steel, 39498 Jersey Central Lines, 19485 Pennsylvania, 19478 NYC and others (I believe).

John Knapp

Erie, not Eerie

I missed it likewise.  I had to dig out my old post war cars. 

I'm almost certain you'll find something at the GV show this weekend.  They usually have a lot of stuff.

I also believe that all new Lionel accessories are Legacy/ TMCC controlled only. 

By the way, the channel for all of the Lionel YouTube stuff is: Lionel CS2011. Just search that on YouTube. I found this out from reading another forum members very timely post.

I still haven't gotten my loader/unloader yet. I have my trains in NC, and I live in FL, but my LHS in NC was very good in telling me that the gondola didn't come with the loaders. So I "have " all three purchased. At my LHS. In NC. While I'm working in FL. And I cannot get to my trains until after Easter (4/8)

SIGH

Watch the clip from 10:15 in... Mike has a defective 345 unloader.

For some unknown reason...to me anyway, the Bethlehem Steel Culvert cars are selling for really high prices on the "Bay". I was looking for a second one but I refuse to pay that much for one. I started looking for the Pennsylvania Railroad version and that was near impossible to find. I was emailing Hobby Stores that deal in previously owned items all over the country. Finally one showed up on the forum a couple weeks ago. I barely got my email out in time so my search is over. Good luck in your search. I just wanted to give you a heads up about the Bethlehem Steel version.

"Ages 8 & up."

Jon

You just never know what's gonna show up here on the forum...   Glad I was able to accommodate!!!

If you any of the 6462 gondolas, you can make your own.....the new sets do come with culverts, don't they?

Take 5/16" styrene L girder and 1.5" sheet styrene. Cut them to 9.75". Glue and paint.  The only difference is that the inclined plane hangs over the side a little....but it works fine.

The one in the front is the homemade one.

Peter

....and you're no longer restricted to the road names Lionel made......any 6462-type Lionel gondola will do...

Peter

It's amazing how the cycle of "partial shipments" turning something into a "moment-in-time" scarcity just never ends.  Dealers (and consumers re-selling on eBay) seem to latch on to this stuff like the price of oil going up.  I lived in Middletown, NJ back in the 1980's, and there was a dealer in a neighboring town who would always adjust his prices based on whether or not Lionel shorted his order quantity.  Lots of times he'd try to sell those items above MSRP, sighting their scarcity.

And then in another year or so, Lionel would issue a similar item in a different roadname... and voila, there was seldom a reason to ever pay the premium in the first place.  

Peter, thanks for sharing that tidbit of "modeler's info".  That's a GREAT way to turn run-of-the-mill items into something special.  Bravo!!!

David

Picked this up out of a bin at the great Lionel garage sale back in 02.

Looks fairly simple to fabricate a culvert car out of a gondola.

Joe

Merry Christmas to everyone and a special thanks to Peter "Putnam Division" for the ramp idea. I too missed the fine print and almost had a Christmas morning let down for the kids as I could not find a culvert car at either of my LHS. Thanks to this forum, a search quickly turned up this post and I was able to build a ramp for one of my gondolas. Worked like a charm and now I will make a bunch more so I can use all of my gondolas with my loader/unloader.

Thanks to everyone on the forum for all of the posts and information. I would'nt have been able to get my layout this far without you. Have a great Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Jay in Ottawa

Jay.......you are very welcome!

Peter

Peter,

You've singlehandedly balanced the supply and demand for culvert gondolas.  The culvert car speculators over on ebay just lost some potential customers.

Joe