In the Spirit of 76 set, how many different loco and caboose combinations were there? I have seen a Seaboard loco, Frisco caboose and a Banger and Aroostook loco and caboose set. Did they make matching loco/caboose road names?
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Great question that I’m also interested in. Hopefully resurrecting this post will give it some traction.
Officially, there was the Seaboard U36B and a Frisco N5c cabin car. The Bangor & Aroostook engine/caboose were part of a separate freight set.
Jon 
I own that set purchased new in SLC in 1976. It was hard to complete with all the cars.. I was finely able to do that. A few were sold here. My understanding was that most of the Seaboard engines had no white lettering on the side of the frame coming out of the factory new. I saw both versions in the train store when purchased new. The caboose was the same graphically. Mine has the white lettering and is currently posted for sale on KSL classified ads. It is like new condition with all factory crisp boxes . Smoke free. The engine was a U36B with the N5C caboose. The Bangor and Aroostook was a GP9 and caboose- red white and blue with chrome like power trucks...beautiful engine and caboose graphics. They wobbled going down the track because the wheel sets had casting ridges so the traction tires were uneven, The fix was to take the tires off, carefully file down the ridge with a small jewelers file narrow enough to fit, and reinstall the traction tire. Then they ran correctly. The 3rd item in the "1776" theme was the Norfolk and Western GP9 set with the circle of white stars near the cab and was also red, white and blue. I bought the set, kept the engine and caboose and sold off the cars. All of these items have been overlooked and underappreciated for a long time..
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The1776 Spirit of '76 was 15 pieces, all separate sale, never offered as a set or outfit.
The only "set" with a Bicentennial U36B was the 4 unit passenger set 1976/1975/1974/1973.
The 8665 BAR Jerimiah O' Brien GP9 & caboose is a set, the two pieces, in one box.
The 1584 Norfolk & Western Spirit of America GP9 is also a set, a 7 unit freight complete with track & transformer.
If you were 76 shopping, the U36 was sold to go with the state box cars. MPC only released a few each year so you really had to keep tabs at your train store, or you might miss them. No online shopping in those days.
Many MPC GP/U type engines did wabble. The main reason was some wheelsets were pressed on off-center. Filing down the wheel might balance it out, but the real fix was to replace the off-center wheels. Many had more than one wheel pressed on that way.
@Jim 1939 posted:...keep tabs at your train store, or you might miss them. No online shopping in those days...
Most of mine came from Owen Upp... pre-ordered.
The State of Virginia Car is the rarest
Rumors at the time claim that after the run, the state of Virginia bought a bunch of them to sell in their visitor centers, leaving fewer for the open market. However I don't recall anyone at MPC stating this as fact.
