Empire State Express Variation Choices

Tender style really depends on what era you model. The original tender and engine with full streamlining only ran that way during the war years. When the PT tenders came along the streamlining started to come off. A few years later diesels took over so the less streamlined PT tender trains only existed for a few years right after the war.

Who knows, Lionel may elect to sell the PT tenders separately later as they did with the earlier release.

Pete

Exactly my point Pete.

I for one like to model all stages from time to time, because I have a rather extensive roster of NYC equipment already, from the prime steamers to early diesels.

I did opt for the whole set to get the best deal in the long run, but I really fancied the PT version as a stand alone version since that version doesn't come up particularly often.

I model the Boston & Albany. I have a book with a pic showing this engine in 1946 at Framingham Mass. . The engine is still somewhat streamlined but has a standard Hudson tender with the matching streamlining removed. I believe the Lionel model has an emblem on the nose for the Mecury. Thought of buying it. I'd remove the emblem and heavilly weather the engine to make it look like the picture. Not sure I want to go to that expense just to model one day of history on the B&A. Not sure of the history of the picture. It doesn't mention the train it was pulling. I'm guessing it was pulled off the ESE and before it went on the Mercury it saw a few runs on the B&A and perhaps some other locals. I doubt it was just out of the shop and being broken in. It was in desperate need of a good wash.