Is it time for a 150 Sesquicentennial last spike Train set?
May 10, 1869 the Union and Central Pacific Railroads joined their rails at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory.
The Golden Spike National Historic Site is a great place to visit and see the operational replicas of the original engines reenact the last spike event. http://www.nps.gov/gosp/planyo...motiveoperations.htm
I enjoyed visiting and photographing the engines, very stunning and colorful.
I always thought they would make for a great pair of models.
MTH did some engines up but the engines do not appear to be very scale like a bit over-sized and awkward looking especially the over-sized tenders. They have done Premier and Railking versions.
http://www.mthtrains.com/searc...ge_ak=1.4&page=2
SMR trains has done some nice scale engines and perhaps for prototypical is the best choice
But perhaps it is time for Lionel to use their General model and do a pair of commemorative sets.
While I would like a nice scale engine the Lionel General in a LionChief set with commemorative information and a few extra details and some fine paint work for both the UP 119 and CP Jupiter would make for a nice more affordable pair of train sets.
Would you buy a set of each engine and some extra cars in a commemorative set if it was offered by Lionel or ?? perhaps paying a bit more if as close to the originals as possible ??
I would think that if Lionel was to offer these sets they might consider offering them soon in a catalog in the next year or 2 to make sure they are on the market and in stores well before the anniversary takes place!!!
Sometimes projects have been delayed for example Lionel Christmas sets or special sets that have come out well past the actual event date.
By having the sets on the market an in stores well ahead of the anniversary one would think they would sell better when the 150 event rolls around and perhaps is a well publicized event. Perhaps well ahead of Christmas the year before. Perhaps a major store chain might pick up on this and consider selling sets??