Buy anything cool lately?

Finally.  After years of waiting, I got my hands on one.  Die cast ES44AC from 2011...and this one was somehow still mint, sealed in the box.

And best of all, perhaps miraculously, I didn’t have to take a second mortgage to pay for it!

@NS1975 posted:

Any chance to get a video of the PFA sequence.

Sure! I’ll record a video of the sequence and upload it as soon as I have some time. Work has been crazy busy lately so I haven’t been able to get on here a lot. It’s not the most detailed PFA sequence like some of the other MTH engines, but it’s still pretty cool that they did a special sequence specifically for these engines rather than doing a generic one for them.

Thanks for the suggestion😎

Woody Ridenour, Congratulations on acquiring the die cast ES44AC, these diesels are very nice, for your information, be easy on the hand railings, be sure to grease the wheel gears, gear casing, just be really careful. There are no parts at Lionel, I’ve had each one of each the DieCast diesels and only because I’m down sizing I sold them. Mike Reagan at the time of being head of Lionel Service told me they would not be remaking these super nice diesels. This is why I’m chiming in, enjoy, they are great pullers. Thanks for posting. Happy Railroading Everyone

@leapinlarry posted:

Woody Ridenour, Congratulations on acquiring the die cast ES44AC, these diesels are very nice, for your information, be easy on the hand railings, be sure to grease the wheel gears, gear casing, just be really careful. There are no parts at Lionel, I’ve had each one of each the DieCast diesels and only because I’m down sizing I sold them. Mike Reagan at the time of being head of Lionel Service told me they would not be remaking these super nice diesels. This is why I’m chiming in, enjoy, they are great pullers. Thanks for posting. Happy Railroading Everyone

Thanks for the info!  I'll bet they modified the same molds to handle plastic so to produce the plastic ES44AC's, so they no longer have the ability to make the die cast ones.  Just a guess. 

I spent 24 years in the USAF. Of those 24, at least 5 years in SAC (Strategic Air Command). Just purchased this car issued by LCCA:

@paulp575 posted:

I spent 24 years in the USAF. Of those 24, at least 5 years in SAC (Strategic Air Command). Just purchased this car issued by LCCA:

Nice cars and thank you for serving.

@Drewski1992 posted:

Had to get these: MTH PREMIER American Freedom Train Alco Pa’s 1948 and 1949.  Talk about a beautiful set of engines! Now I understand why they’re a hit with nearly every age of model railroader. I can’t recall anyone that’s ever said they don’t like the Alco PA LOL

I know that the American freedom train didn’t have originally two locomotives. It was just a single PA unit number 1776, but I thought that it was a fitting tribute that MTH did by numbering both of the units for the years that the American freedom train ran.

You guys know me if it’s red white and blue I got to have it LOL

The PFA sequence on this model is absolutely awesome and I kind of got a little emotional when I heard it being the patriot that I am.

Either way still an awesome set of engines!

Like you, if it's Red, White and Blue, I also have to have it.  I went as far as having Madison cars painted in a Red, White, and Blue scheme. These 6 cars came in today, here's just one, the observation car;

A new-mint in box Z4000!  Yes, date of manufacture is 1210 (Guessing that means December of 2010), but I confirmed it’s new-mint, and purchased it. Tested on my 87B mult when I got home with it, all voltages come up, handles move smooth as can be. Smiling wide on this lucky find. It’s will serve as a back up to my Z4000 circa 1997 until I begin construction of the new layout.

I saw these semi scale Lionel cars on EBay and decided to put in a rather low bid. I expected to to be out bid so I never paid attention to the auction. Imagine my surprise when I was notified that I WON! They were delivered yesterday in the shipper too! Now I’m searching the other cars at a reasonable price.

Bought at train show today Medina Ohio...postwar Lionel 3413 Mercury Capsule Car with just a barely noticeable slight crack in one railing.....all original...

@gandydancer1950 posted:

Bought at train show today Medina Ohio...postwar Lionel 3413 Mercury Capsule Car with just a barely noticeable slight crack in one railing.....all original...

Sweet!

MTH 20-89013 - End-of-Train-Device. Bought a couple of these. So far they are working great!

Just purchased an interesting Lindberg Model Kit ; Snark SM-62 intercontinental ballistic missile in 1:48 scale...from our local Ollie's discount store.  Comes equipped with 9 figures, mobile launching platform, and a tractor to pull it...all for $16.00.

@NS1975 posted:

I just keep checking their website once it gets closer to the estimated ship date. Nothing sophisticated at all.

Is there somewhere - besides the regular place - that you can search for estimated arrival dates on the Lionel website? I've tried to search for some upcoming items and they aren't even on the schedule.

I also checkout TrainWorld's website. Their due dates seem to stay updated much better than Lionel's.

https://ogrforum.com/...c/153603996320878489

Wow fellows, great finds, nice purchases. My Chessie System #902440 caboose finally arrived and I picked it up today, ordered out of the Lionel 2019 Volume 2 catalog. More pictures when I arrive home. Happy Railroading Everyone

@leapinlarry posted:

Wow fellows, great finds, nice purchases. My Chessie System #902440 caboose finally arrived and I picked it up today, ordered out of the Lionel 2019 Volume 2 catalog. More pictures when I arrive home. Happy Railroading Everyone

Larry,

Treat that caboose nice and maybe I can buy it from you some day, like another B&O caboose I bought from you once before! Stay safe!

Tom

Tom, I’ll write a note and place it in the box so that I won’t forget to give you first shot. I’m glad you remembered. It’s a fun Hobby. Happy Railroading

@FrankRazz posted:

Like you, if it's Red, White and Blue, I also have to have it.  I went as far as having Madison cars painted in a Red, White, and Blue scheme. These 6 cars came in today, here's just one, the observation car;

Wow Frank!! Those are bad ***! I’m jealous. I love the open air deck at the end! I love riding in passenger cars and standing out on the open air deck it’s the most awesome thing in the world as matter fact I could probably do an entire trip standing on the deck because it’s just so invigorating to me to with all the sites sounds and smells.  Was this an idea that you came up with? Also what are the cars based on or paying tribute to?

Postman dropped these off

Lee, that mailman of yours is sure a nice guy.

Mark. He is the best he puts my packages in my old farm truck and locks the door so the won’t get stolen.

I bought this Mth Railking Maryland & Pennsylvania Doodlebug over the summer.It came out in 2006 but are next to impossble to find.  It also has 2 passgener cars to go with it.

Enjoy!

@Tristan Mundis posted:

I bought this Mth Railking Maryland & Pennsylvania Doodlebug over the summer.It came out in 2006 but are next to impossble to find.  It also has 2 passgener cars to go with it

Enjoy!

This is awesome!  Congratulations and enjoy your find!

Ok Tom, MNCW, eat your heart out, (kidding) The caboose is home finally. Pictures of the caboose out of the box. It’s well detailed, has a figure inside, looks great. Made in Vietnam. Check it out. Happy Railroading Everyone

Larry the Chessie caboose looks great!  It is worthy of many photographs!!

I had paid for a couple of prints from large-format negatives of the ET&WNC's last run in 1950 (they looked great, BTW) and they showed up today.

Inside the tube was this, something I didn't expect.

Needless to say, I sent the guy a email thanking him very much for that. I didn't have anything like this in my modest collection of paperwork from that RR.

It's be neat to know what that was for...

And this is the photo print, printed from John Krause negative that made the cover of Trains, of the final freight run of the 3 foot gauge ET&WNC, crossing the little Doe River outside of Hampton, TN.

I'd never seen each side of this shot before. Its always been printed in books and magazines as a horizontal format:

I had the image printed as a 18x24, then cut the sky away as you see it now, in a 12x18 frame.

@leapinlarry posted:

Ok Tom, MNCW, eat your heart out, (kidding) The caboose is home finally. Pictures of the caboose out of the box. It’s well detailed, has a figure inside, looks great. Made in Vietnam. Check it out. Happy Railroading Everyone

I fail to see the point of the number patch on the bay windows, when there isn't the same on the caboose ends. IMO it takes away from a otherwise nice paint job and a favorite scheme of mine.

Rusty

Maybe not too cool but a necessary part of my layout...Ibought a 4x8sheetofply tobuildmy testtrackon.

Got these in the mail the other day

@lee drennen posted:

Got these in the mail the other day

Great worms Lee!

@RSJB18 posted:

Great worms Lee!

Thanks Bob. I just had to get that GP7 White Worm they run good I think I had one at one time and sold it wish I never did.

The latest acquisition for my M.O.W. dept.

Rides on Atlas O track too!

Thanks Nicholas Smith for finding me these hard to find items! Dig the Gold finish on the billboard!

Today I picked up a rusty old (Marx?) bridge at a local antique store for cheap.  I was going to paint it, but I love the rusty patina better.  I threw an auto loader car at the end of the UP passenger consist real quick to make sure they’d clear it! Lol!

Bought some weathered cattle cars

Nice Cattle Cars @Ulus Ekerman !! Certainly look well-weathered!

@Former Member gotta love those Marx bridges! I know you said it’s rusty, but does it still have the name on the top of one of the ends? Also, nice UP heavyweight! Just curious who’s the manufacturer?

@lee drennen Cool Penn Central buys! That’s a RR to which it took me awhile to appreciate but now-a-days I do. That’s besides the point, either way, those are both nice pieces!

@StevefromPA posted:

@Former Member gotta love those Marx bridges! I know you said it’s rusty, but does it still have the name on the top of one of the ends? Also, nice UP heavyweight! Just curious who’s the manufacturer?

I looked at the bridge closer and it says Rock Island on the ends.  As for the UP passenger cars, they are MTH.  The funny thing about them is that they track better on old school tubular track instead of MTH's RealTrax.  They derailed like crazy on the RealTrax.  Odd.

Got quite a few items to add to my intermodal fleet this week from the postman! Some have been weeks in the waiting, it was nice that they arrived all in one week!

Weaver 52’ Trailer Train bulkhead flat! I’ve become a big fan of trailer train, love Cofcees- especially of the bulkhead variety. For a Weaver car, this has some nice weight to it with a metal bar along the bottom of the frame. The container isn’t new, but it’s an Atlas O APL 40’

Ordered these in mid-January- Three Weaver 20’ o scale containers- Orange NYK on the far Left C&O K-line by Lionel flat car(the other container on that car is an MTH premier 20’). On the K-line CSX flat car on the right, silver-gray Mistui O.S.K. & dark red/maroon Xtra Lease.

Also, just delivered today, a diecast K-line Thrall well car with one 40’ APL container and one 40’ BN America Container(shown below)

And as an added bonus in that purchase, it included a 48’ BNAU container

Obviously, I needed to modify the flat cars and Weaver containers to make all of them fit nicely. To do that, measuring, a dremel, thick styrene, and these two Right of Way  Industries 20’ containers(just sharing now- bought a couple months ago) made everything work out just fine

Hence the bottom of my Weaver containers now look like this

I’d be happy to elaborate more, but didn’t want to do it here. To finish things up, here’s a picture of some very welcomed additions to my layout!