Any pics of the 2011 Lionel Tinplate Hiawatha?

Mike,

Better late than never.  Here is a photo of the engine on the Christmas layout last year.  I also included a video of the set running on floor in my family room.  All of the cars are not original to the set.  The Isaly's reefer, Lionel celebration hopper, and caboose are extra pieces.  I bought the set one piece at a time from my dealer.  I bought the freight set because I am limited to O54 curves.  The engine runs without issue on O54 but the streamlined passenger cars need at least O72. 

This is now one of my favorite sets.  It evens outshines my Lionel scale Hiawatha Atlantic.  The PS2.0 sounds in this engine are awesome.  I am glad MTH is finally moving toward a better sound system.

-Ryan

Thank You!!!

Ryan, that's really some engine! Fantastic!

Kieffer

Ryan,

If you are looking for a tinplate streamlined Hiawatha passenger car set that will run on tighter curves, you need to need to keep your eye out for a Pride Lines "Type 2" set. 

For years Pride Lines made a superb reproduction of the original Lionel tinplate Hiawatha set.  Unfortunately, like the recent MTH reproductions this set runs best on 072 curves.  However, in their last few years of production Pride Lines also made a Hiawatha "Type 2" set which incorporated several design modifications into both the locomotive and streamlined passenger cars that allowed it to run smoothly on 031 curves.  For example, the "one-piece" yoke bar between the engine and tender was redesigned to be a "two-piece" articulated design.  In addition, all the vestibules between the streamlined Hiawatha passenger cars were eliminated.  Instead, each streamlined Hiawatha passenger car was redesigned to mount tinplate trucks on each end and use standard O gauge knuckle couplers.  The result is a more traditional, i.e., less "snake-like", tinplate passenger train design, which both looks great and can be run on tight 031 curves. 

So if you're interested in having a streamlined tinplate Hiawatha passenger train running on your layout, what you need is a Pride Lines "Type 2" Hiawatha set!  

Bob

The Pride Lines set is cleverly designed and beautifully decorated. The locomotive got a much nicer and more prototypical paint job than the Lionel original, and the observation car looks a lot like the original Milwaukee Road beavertail. Unfortunately, it is mechanically problematical, to severely understate the case. I have one. I have replaced virtually every moving part on the locomotive, including the motor, with Lionel or MTH parts. The motor failed (bad field coli). The eccentric cranks broke (brittle casting, bad metal). The alignment of the cylinders was off, causing the piston rods to bind. The axles on the leading truck were not square to the frame. Almost nothing was square or properly aligned. Holes were not drilled at 90 degrees. Now, I still like this train and don't plan to sell it - but I wouldn't recommend it to anybody who isn't willing to spend a substantial amount of time and money getting it to work right. Some of the parts were pretty hard to find. 

Here's a picture of mine, with a 1988 Lionel repro for comparison. Note the striping on the locomotive and cars, the shape of the observation car, and the Indian logo on the tender. The photo only shows three cars, which was all that fit on the display shelf. If I remember right, the set actually came with five, plus there was an add-on Pullman that I also got. 

Thank you guys, I am glad you like it.

Bob,

Thank you for the info on the Pride Lines Type 2 cars.  I actually heard about these about a year ago and I posted a request on the Wanted to Buy page for a set of them.  If anyone on here knows of a set that is for sale I am very interested! 

-Ryan

Southwest Hiawatha,

Any interest in selling your cars that don't fit on the shelf?  Just kidding, but I figured it was worth a try.

-Ryan

Not hardly. I did that display for the photo; I have room to run all the cars on my layout or at the club. After all the work I put into making the engine functional, that set is going to be around for a while!

I do, however, have an extra of the older MTH Hiawatha freight set, conventional version, that I am considering selling. The drawback is that all of the 2001 MTH Hiawatha locomotives have kind of funky paint jobs due to incorrect surface preparation. If you look at it close up, it's sort of scaly looking, although it doesn't flake off. At normal viewing distance on a layout, not bad, but definitely visible if you look closely. The advantage is that I'll let it go a lot cheaper than a new one. If you're interested, e-mail me and I'll dig it out and send you some pictures. It's been run some but general condition is excellent and the paint job on the cars is fine.