Buy anything cool lately?

To Tuscan Jim. A little modern for my taste but you are so right

I picked up this NIB Lionel 84122 FGE 40' Scale Reefer from the bay for an incredibly low price.  It looks great.  The only problem is that the doors are supposed to open, but I can't figure out how.  There's a lot of delicate pieces attached to the door area, so I don't want to break it.  Does anyone know how to open the doors?  I see some sort of metal strip in the top and bottom door channels that look like they're supposed to keep the door from sliding around once opened.

Don't know if it might help but I've carfully pressed on the left side of my doors and the right side would pop up slightly and then I could slide the door open.  I can't tell from your photo if this type of door is split on the ends or not. 🤔

During York Week, I received some pieces that didn't come from York. So I didn't display them in the York thread. I only got to photograph these (outdoors) today. but I kinda wish I had gotten out of the house earlier since the 4:30pm-ish sunlight was rapidly fading on me.

Every so often I go looking for some overseas O gauge. Not looking to convert or anything, just adding some oddballs to the collection. At the beginning of York Week, I won a Cabin Fever auction lot of three Lima O scale coaches and one gondola. The same week, a Google search for "Lima O scale coaches" turned up a listing on Trainz for a quartet of Lima coaches for less than $50 (before shipping). Now, these cars do turn up on Ebay, but not cheaply (what on Ebay is?), and the shipping costs often rival the price of the car because virtually all of these cars come from the UK. In this case, the cars were already stateside, so significant savings ensue:

Lima got into O scale around 1972, so they're in the same era as the cars Atlas O's Trainman line are descendants of, as well as AHM's O scale line (I have a near-complete set of both). I have a feeling there's no telling how old these cars are, beyond Lima closing up shop in 2004 and its new owner Hornby not continuing the O scale line.

Captions reference the photos above them...

The first four cars came from Trainz, and feature cars from four different railroads. This first one is marked for SBB+CFF, the Swiss Federal Railways. Model number 6611

Second one is marked for SNCF, the French federal railway. Model# 6610

Third one is lettered for Deutsche Bahn "Scharnow Reisen" which near as I can tell is some sort of German travel agency. Not sure if the name is there as an advertisement, or some special excursion offered by the agency. Model# 6609

Last one in this selection is a different body, that of a British Rail Mark 1 coach, lettered for Great Western. (Model number 6620) Noteworthy for being a different size than the three Continental cars above it due to UK clearances being tighter than the rest of Europe. I thought it interesting to compare this car with a Lionel Hogwarts' Express car, based on the same car model:

By the way, the Commonwealth trucks on the Lionel car are accurate for Mark 1's, the newer of two types they were equipped with. The ones on the Lima cars are a carryover from the ones they made for their continental coaches, so not prototypical for the Mk.1.

While the Mark 1's were around 64' long, there were versions built as short as 57' for certain areas where sharp curves gave regular-length coaches too much overhang. The Lionel carbodies measure a scale 53', a making them a bit short of the...mark

Going by these photos, the Lima version is a 64' car.

Now, if Lima did accurately scale their Mark 1 coaches (I don't see why not, given their market), this seems to show the Lionel car in a better light width-wise...but they still sit waaay too high on their trucks, a concession to the 036 curves they're expected to operate on maybe, but the amount of air between the trucks and carbody is just goofy-looking.

From the Cabin Fever lot, we have another Lima BR mark 1 "brake coach", this time from the LMS, or London, Midland and Scottish Railway. Coincidentally, Lionel also modeled this type in addition to the standard coach for the Hogwarts set. I just happened to pull that version from my set break-up cars (themselves a York show acquisition from Grysboski's) when grabbing an example for these photos. According to the product database at Hattons UK, the product number for this car is (31)6645

Back to the other style of European coaches, this one (model number 6603) is decorated in an SNCF "Le Capitole" scheme, according to the 'International Forum of Lima Train Enthusiasts', which I linked to in the second paragraph.

A SNCF restaurant car, model 6671. Interestingly enough, this car was equipped with Kadee couplers. The coach above it must have been positioned by its original owner as a transition car to unmodified Lima rolling stock, as it has a Kadee on one end and a Lima coupler on the other. Technically, I might not need to engineer a Lima-to-3rail coupler adapter to put this entire collection of cars behind a typical 3-rail consist, as the Kadee coupler will mate with our 'lobster claw". But I'm probably still going to do it -- these are still 2-rail cars, and handling more than one at a time might prove troublesome as my 'test track' is still tubular.

The restaurant car coupled to an MTH car for size comparison. I don't know if these Lima cars are 1/45 or 1/43. These are, according to the above-quoted forum, based on a UIC type 'Y' passenger car, and not too closely at that. Like the MTH coaches, they were intended as a catch-all models of standardized European passenger cars of the time. They looked a good deal chunkier sitting in my test-track 'yard', but now that I put it next to the MTH car, I can chalk that up to their larger windows.

The French-designed Type Y's were 80'6" long, as opposed to the 86' Type X designed by Deutsche Bundesbahn (the West German state railway that became Deutsche Bahn after the East/West reunification), so the Lima version is also a teensy bit short of full scale, as demonstrated by perching it atop the 18" MTH Premier coach.

So, European coaches are wider than UK coaches. The MTH coach proves that ours are fatter still . Oh, and the MTH car did indeed hitch to the Kadee on the Lima. Too bad there wasn't enough light for a closeup.

This two-axle gondola (model 6721 - a UIC type 2 open wagon) was part of the Cabin Fever lot. I don't have a plan for this one--it'll likely be another oddball that shows up on the back of a train in some random future video. It had its original box like the LMS coach above, but with obvious water damage. Only two cars in this lot (and none in the other) had their original boxes, and they'll both need repairs. Trainz, to their credit swaddled each of the unboxed cars in about 17 feet of bubble wrap (I measured it)  so they arrived in fine shape in their appropriately huge box packed with crinkled paper stuffing. The rest of 'em join the other cars cluttering up my living room couch waiting for me to fabricate appropriate boxes for them

---PCJ (and now to find some dinner )

(Late edits 12/11/23):

--The coaches and gondola car are 1:43 scale.

--The gondola car is of the Italian State Railways (FFSS), as per the Lima 1976 catalog

[More edits: Replaced dark photos with better-lit ones shot 5/20/24 (and again on 06/02/24)]

_{(Nav links redacted...Forum rule disallows crosslinking one's posts within a thread)}

I just picked up the MTH Railing Norfolk Southern 40' Hi Cube Box Car at Just Trains yesterday.Very sharp looking.

@RailRide posted:

During York Week, I received some pieces that didn't come from York. So I didn't display them in the York thread. I only got to photograph these (outdoors) today. but I kinda wish I had gotten out of the house earlier since the 4:30pm-ish sunlight was rapidly fading on me.

Every so often I go looking for some overseas O gauge. Not looking to convert or anything, just adding some oddballs to the collection. At the beginning of York Week, I won a Cabin Fever auction lot of three Lima O scale coaches and one gondola. The same week, a Google search for "Lima O scale coaches" turned up a listing on Trainz for a quartet of Lima coaches for less than $50 (before shipping). Now, these cars do turn up on Ebay, but not cheaply (what on Ebay is?), and the shipping costs often rival the price of the car because virtually all of these cars come from the UK. In this case, the cars were already stateside, so significant savings ensue:

Lima got into O scale around 1972, so they're in the same era as the cars Atlas O's Trainman line are descendants of, as well as AHM's O scale line (I have a near-complete set of both). I have a feeling there's no telling how old these cars are, beyond Lima closing up shop in 2004 and its new owner Hornby not continuing the O scale line.

Captions reference the photos above them...

The first four cars came from Trainz, and feature cars from four different railroads. This first one is marked for SBB+CFF, the Swiss Federal Railways. Model number 6611

Second one is marked for SNCF, the French federal railway.

Third one is lettered for Deutsche Bahn "Scharnow Reisen" which near as I can tell is some sort of German travel agency. Not sure if the name is there as an advertisement, or some special excursion offered by the agency.

Last one in this selection is a different body, that of a British Rail Mark 1 coach, lettered for Great Western. (Model number 6620) Noteworthy for being a different size than the three Continental cars above it due to UK clearances being tighter than the rest of Europe. I thought it interesting to compare this car with a Lionel Hogwarts' Express car, based on the same car model:

By the way, the Commonwealth trucks on the Lionel car are accurate for Mark 1's, the newer of two types they were equipped with. The ones on the Lima cars are a carryover from the ones they made for their continental coaches, so not prototypical for the Mk.1.

While the Mark 1's were around 64' long, there were versions built as short as 57' for certain areas where sharp curves gave regular-length coaches too much overhang. The Lionel carbodies measure a scale 53', a making them a bit short of the...mark

Going by these photos, the Lima version is a 64' car.

Now, if Lima did accurately scale their Mark 1 coaches (I don't see why not, given their market), this seems to show the Lionel car in a better light width-wise...but they still sit waaay too high on their trucks, a concession to the 036 curves they're expected to operate on maybe, but the amount of air between the trucks and carbody is just goofy-looking.

From the Cabin Fever lot, we have another Lima BR mark 1 "brake coach", this time from the LMS, or London, Midland and Scottish Railway. Coincidentally, Lionel also modeled this type in addition to the standard coach for the Hogwarts set. I just happened to pull that version from my set break-up cars (themselves a York show acquisition from Grysboski's) when grabbing an example for these photos.

Back to the other style of European coaches, this one (model number 6603) is decorated in an SNCF "Le Capitole" scheme, according to the 'International Forum of Lima Train Enthusiasts', which I linked to in the second paragraph.

A SNCF restaurant car, model 6671. Interestingly enough, this car was equipped with Kadee couplers. The coach above it must have been positioned by its original owner as a transition car to unmodified Lima rolling stock, as it has a Kadee on one end and a Lima coupler on the other. Technically, I might not need to engineer a Lima-to-3rail coupler adapter to put this entire collection of cars behind a typical 3-rail consist, as the Kadee coupler will mate with our 'lobster claw". But I'm probably still going to do it -- these are still 2-rail cars, and handling more than one at a time might prove troublesome as my 'test track' is still tubular.

The restaraunt car coupled to an MTH car for size comparison. I don't know if these Lima cars are 1/45 or 1/43. These are, according to the above-quoted forum, based on a UIC type 'Y' passenger car, and not too closely at that. Like the MTH coaches, they were intended as a catch-all models of standardized European passenger cars of the time. They looked a good deal chunkier sitting in my test-track 'yard', but now that I put it next to the MTH car, I can chalk that up to their larger windows.

The French-designed Type Y's were 80'6" long, as opposed to the 86' Type X designed by Deutsche Bundesbahn (the West German state railway that became Deutsche Bahn after the East/West reunification), so the Lima version is also a teensy bit short of full scale, as demonstrated by perching it atop the 18" MTH Premier coach.

So, European coaches are wider than UK coaches. The MTH coach proves that ours are fatter still . Oh, and the MTH car did indeed hitch to the Kadee on the Lima. Too bad there wasn't enough light for a closeup.

This two-axle gondola (model 6721 - 16-ton open wagon) was part of the Cabin Fever lot. I don't have a plan for this one--it'll likely be another oddball that shows up on the back of a train in some random future video. It had its original box like the LMS coach above, but with obvious water damage. Only two cars in this lot (and none in the other) had their original boxes, and they'll both need repairs. Trainz, to their credit swaddled each of the unboxed cars in about 17 feet of bubble wrap (I measured it)  so they arrived in fine shape in their appropriately huge box packed with crinkled paper stuffing. The rest of 'em join the other cars cluttering up my living room couch waiting for me to fabricate appropriate boxes for them

---PCJ (and now to find some dinner )

I think you have an excellent group there,  I believe you are running your equipment outside, which let's me compare to the bigger "G"gauge, In doing so the difference between 1/43 and 1/45 isn't near as bad as the difference of 1/18 and 1/20.  However as is said It's your railroad  nobody else should decide on give you any grief about what you run.

@VinceL posted:

Received Santa's Workshop yesterday from Charles Ro.

There is a mysterious hole in the roof.  Removing the roof, you can see a piece of black tape was placed on the underside of the roof to cover the hole.  It looks like Lionel had plans to put something else on the roof and then changed their mind.  Pretty crappy.

I have to agree with you. Though it has tape underneath, the hole makes it look like a piece of trim is missing. I was also disappointed that there is only one dialogue, though it automatically repeats after a few minutes.

@Guttersnipe posted:

I think you have an excellent group there,  I believe you are running your equipment outside, which let's me compare to the bigger "G"gauge, In doing so the difference between 1/43 and 1/45 isn't near as bad as the difference of 1/18 and 1/20.  However as is said It's your railroad  nobody else should decide on give you any grief about what you run.

I'm just photographing them outside since the lighting is better. The living room where my test track loop (and a disproportionate part of my collection is currently located) doesn't have overhead light fixtures, and it's hard to get even lighting for pictures most days.

---PCJ

@Bmurphy20 posted:

I have to agree with you. Though it has tape underneath, the hole makes it look like a piece of trim is missing. I was also disappointed that there is only one dialogue, though it automatically repeats after a few minutes.

After contacting TalktoUs, Lionel shipped me a smoke stack that they say is supposed to go in the hole in the roof.  Well, the smoke stack is too small.  It does not even cover the hole.  I have notified TalktoUS that the smoke stack that they sent is not the part that goes in the hole.  I know Lionel made a smoking hobo shack.  I am wondering if Lionel was going to make the Santa's Workshop with a smoke unit and the hole was for a smoke stack that actually emitted smoke (which would probably be larger than what Lionel sent to me).  I will post here after I hear back from Lionel.

@RailRide posted:

I'm just photographing them outside since the lighting is better. The living room where my test track loop (and a disproportionate part of my collection is currently located) doesn't have overhead light fixtures, and it's hard to get even lighting for pictures most days.

---PCJ

Been there done that.  Hopefully very soon, maybe Santa will somehow provide you with the room to build a permanent Track situation

@Bmurphy20 posted:

I have to agree with you. Though it has tape underneath, the hole makes it look like a piece of trim is missing. I was also disappointed that there is only one dialogue, though it automatically repeats after a few minutes.

Have you guys considered using either or both Evergreen and/or Plastruct materials and plugging the hole with a kitchen type vent?

Just received this 2-4-2 for the Christmas trains. It's from the Lionel Christmas Express RTR set. It's a no-frills basic LC / bluetooth equipped loco w/ smoke. More than adequate for looping under the tree.

Gotta wonder who chose the tender though........ it's almost as big as the engine.

Bob

@RSJB18 posted:

Just received this 2-4-2 for the Christmas trains. It's from the Lionel Christmas Express RTR set. It's a no-frills basic LC / bluetooth equipped loco w/ smoke. More than adequate for looping under the tree.

Gotta wonder who chose the tender though........ it's almost as big as the engine.

Bob

That is a massive tender for that loco.

@VinceL posted:

After contacting TalktoUs, Lionel shipped me a smoke stack that they say is supposed to go in the hole in the roof.  Well, the smoke stack is too small.  It does not even cover the hole.  I have notified TalktoUS that the smoke stack that they sent is not the part that goes in the hole.  I know Lionel made a smoking hobo shack.  I am wondering if Lionel was going to make the Santa's Workshop with a smoke unit and the hole was for a smoke stack that actually emitted smoke (which would probably be larger than what Lionel sent to me).  I will post here after I hear back from Lionel.

I have exchanged a couple emails with TalktoUs today.  Lionel finally admitted it was "a tooling issue."  I guess the factory used the wrong tooling for the roof.  They said if desired, it could be returned to the dealer for a refund.

@VinceL posted:

That is a massive tender for that loco.

Yea- a slope-back from an 0-4-0 would have looked better. Nothing in it but the speaker.

It is a very common tender. I have 2-3 other MPC steamers with the same shell.

@VinceL posted:

I have exchanged a couple emails with TalktoUs today.  Lionel finally admitted it was "a tooling issue."  I guess the factory used the wrong tooling for the roof.  They said if desired, it could be returned to the dealer for a refund.

I wonder if the ‘She Shed w/ Sounds’ and ‘Grandpa’s Workshop w/ Sounds’ which look to be based on a similar structure have the same roof detail?

@VinceL posted:

That is a massive tender for that loco.

It’s got a pretty big coal pile! Maybe it’s only taking care of the kids on the naughty list!!!

Got them at the the DuPage show on Sunday.  $300, now i just have find another set at that price.

@Mark V. Spadaro posted:

It’s got a pretty big coal pile! Maybe it’s only taking care of the kids on the naughty list!!!

It's a once a year Christmas Train, mainly for little tykes, they don't care they are just happy to see the chu chu, and we are happy that they like chu chu's someday they will want to be like grandpa and have one of their own and then the fun really begins

@Mark V. Spadaro posted:

It’s got a pretty big coal pile! Maybe it’s only taking care of the kids on the naughty list!!!

Well then half of it would be mine.....😋😋😋

@Dallas Joseph,

Thanks!  That worked. Still it’s a little delicate so I won’t be opening them too often.

Well I had a space on the shelf in front of the Unique Art Clock work. So this A-A F-3 showed up to take a rightful place on the tin wall; after doing laps.

@MTN posted:

Marx 3/16ths O gauge cars are not good rollers and the wheels/axles need to be oiled (especially the diecast tender which is pretty heavy) - I recommend Marvel Mystery Oil for those cars. You may need to thoroughly clean the wheels and axles - it’s not hard to spread the side frames out a little to get them spread apart (work slowly), then use your favorite solvent and scrub everything with an old toothbrush.

The drivers shouldn’t be spinning so hard - I’d give their treads a thorough cleaning, oil the appropriate areas (axle bushings, pilot truck and trailing truck (again with the Marvel Mystery Oil), grease for the gears (Red and Tacky is what I use). The 333 is pretty light, but that short train shouldn’t make it slip so much. Wipe the track down with track cleaner and you should be good to go.

Success! I received the tender wheel set from Jim Fleenor, Trainpartsformatx.com. I treated the passenger axels with graphite and I have a good runner! Thanks again!

Just picked up this Lionel MrMuffins custom run L1 Mikado.  

Took my recently acquired 726 to the club layout tonight to give her a brief run and check out. Very smooth and pretty quiet!  A truly beautiful classic early Post War locomotive.  Hard to imagine receiving this from Santa as a 6 yr old boy. It must have been like handling an anvil with the size and weight!

@c.sam posted:

Took my recently acquired 726 to the club layout tonight to give her a brief run and check out. Very smooth and pretty quiet!  A truly beautiful classic early Post War locomotive.  Hard to imagine receiving this from Santa as a 6 yr old boy. It must have been like handling an anvil with the size and weight!

Very nice, I just picked one at an auction earlier this year.

@texgeekboy posted:

@Dallas Joseph,

Thanks!  That worked. Still it’s a little delicate so I won’t be opening them too often.

Good to hear. 👍

Had ENOUGH of this buying anything COOL for the Polar Express Christmas layout over the past few years  ............well ..?........until Judy spotted this (   amazing  ? ) Christmas Carousel  💖.             ( I guess there is always room for MORE in this hobby . )

Have fun everyone . God speed.

Well, I picked up this Lionel TMCC M1a from a forum sale.  This one is a candidate for the Chuff-Generator and Super-Chuffer and it'll be a staple in my PRR roster.

A seriously fine looking beast

@pennsyfan posted:

Very nice, I just picked one at an auction earlier this year.

Very nice and great looking, and great looking layout.  Being left coast guy excuse my ignorance, but where is this club layout, It's now a visit on my bucket list

@pennsyfan posted:

Success! I received the tender wheel set from Jim Fleenor, Trainpartsformatx.com. I treated the passenger axels with graphite and I have a good runner! Thanks again!

Great tips

@pennsyfan posted:

Well I had a space on the shelf in front of the Unique Art Clock work. So this A-A F-3 showed up to take a rightful place on the tin wall; after doing laps.

Great catch, but could you show us the whole collection on the wall, It looks like it should be a museum

RailRide:  that was a very interesting "lesson" in European passenger cars.

I had a void on the shelf that holds my newly acquired clockwork set and F3s. Along came Thick Nick (eBay) with a boxcar. It came today and makes the shelf whole.

Problem is that there was a tender that came along for the ride. I’m afraid to ask what comes next. 😱 I’m already hearing voices.

@pennsyfan posted:

I had a void on the shelf that holds my newly acquired clockwork set and F3s. Along came Thick Nick (eBay) with a boxcar. It came today and makes the shelf whole.

Problem is that there was a tender that came along for the ride. I’m afraid to ask what comes next. 😱 I’m already hearing voices.

Bob/Pennsyfan,

What awesome graphics on your new clockwork set and new boxcar.  Thanks for sharing.

Purchased THIS little gem recently.  I know it's not "prototypical" but who cares, right?  I buy what I like..PERIOD.  These "fantasy" schemes may be just that, a Fantasy, but how many black steamers or gray diesels can 1 person own?  Imagine seeing this in the real world...

The way I understand it is. It's your railroad you are the boss, so to bad for anyone else, Happy railroading

@TomlinsonRunRR posted:

It is what makes the hobby great, each one of us has things we like

Well given the posts above, I am feeling like I might be able to post my latest acquisition without being exiled !!  This is a clockwork HWM (Heinrich Wiemer of Nuremburg) set that allows you by interchanging parts to "build" 3 different train sets.  A passenger set w coach, a goods train w boxcar and a freight with a log car.  Likely from the 50's or 60's and an inexpensive toy that many remember from that era, likely sold at something like Kressge's or Woolworth's.

Best Wishes

Don