for years, my holy grail has been the red/black transition cars that franks roundhouse made,i had never seen a picture of these,but I did buy the 385 awhile back from arno's collection,everyday would look at bay,nope ,was hopping that I could get the cars from the collection ,but that didn't happen,about 4 weeks ago,,bingo,it was a 7day auction,,long story short,,i was the only bidder,they were from another collection,,,enclosed are the unveiling,this is my brass ring ! of course I could use a blue 385
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Congrats, Terry. They look great.
Who is or was Franks Roundhouse ? ...did they repaint MTH ? or Lionel bodies or produce their own cars ? what time period were they made .....are your other unique color sets also Franks ?
Thank you
Cheers Carey
"Inquiring minds want to know!"
From Arno
These trains were made from extra parts and leftover LCI Lionel Classics stock. When Mike split from Lionel after the Lionel Classics era, there was left over stock. Most was sold at a discount price thru retailers, but some were repainted by Frank Rash (Franks's Roundhouse).
Collector of Modern Era Standard Gauge trains
Writing the book on little known standard gauge trains.
thanks steve,i didn't know the full story,here is a link to then franks roundhouse I believe the time frame was 89/90 ish
Congrats Terry!
I have seen the 392E in Blue on E bay but not the 385.
Are the cars with black roofs or blue. They look black in photo.
I have the 392 in blue,i have seen only 1 385 in blue,they were made with brass or nickel trim,only 10 set of each were made ,that's my understanding and what it says on the box,the roofs are black,i think the red/black/cream trim are the best,but that's only my take
those are beautiful!
Terry Hudson,
Great pick up, the are definitely beautiful Cars!
PCRR/Dave
Thank you for the links and background about Frank's ..