I have one of the 1225 Berkshires Need advice on replacing hand rail stantions.

You need to use the Lionel stantions.  They are insulated because the hand rails (both sides) are the antenna for the command signal.  I have to dig thru some of my records to find the part number.  I had to replace some - they are fragile.  Do you know the lionel number for your engine ?  Is it TMCC or Legacy control?

Part Numbers for the stantions.  I ordered two different types.  You will need to take a measurement to see. Don't remember which ones I used. 

6108056135 .090 dia x .210 ht,  6101155250 .090 dia x .240 ht

Hope this helps

George, I know what it's like to dig through a Master Parts Book for car parts, so I thank you for checking. It appears as if there are about three or four different lengths. Since you replaced some, how is the best way of getting the stubs out? Are they force fit, glued in or ? I'm sorry, I can't tell the model # as I have a floor layout and run in conventional mode. One thing I know I'm going to do is get rid of those oversized road #s on the cab. It doesn't look like a Lionel engine at all with those Polar Express #s on it! Any suggestions of a road that may have leased or mingled with the PRR that used Berkshires? Outside of the ACL, I don't have any other favorite other than the NYC and I don't think they used them either, did they? When I was a teenager, the Big Four ran near our home  in Indy and most of the engines in the late 50s were Mohawks with smoke deflectors. My train buddy kept us on the lookout for a Niagara but we never saw one. We'd wait on the slope under the 38th Street overpass when they came through. Got a little noisy. 

The broken stanchions can be pushed out from the inside of the body. Lionel does have a stanchion chart on the parts website.

I think the C.C.C.StL. in the waning years of steam leased some P&LE 2-8-4's for a while. Both New York Central System.

One other hint - Order extra's !!! - These stanchions are fragile and will break.  They are about .50 cents each.

Thanks for the suggestions. P.& L.E. it will be. Now if I could do something with that stupid looking cow catcher... (Why did they have to make it look like a toy???) (I think I have figured out how to replace the one on the 675 to make it look Pennsy.) 

Vandalia Guy posted:

Now if I could do something with that stupid looking cow catcher... (Why did they have to make it look like a toy???) 

To match the engine in the movie, obviously.

BTW, the B&A used Berks.  As a matter of fact, I have seen a convincing argument that the 726 (and its prewar predecessor) was based on one of the B&A classes.

These may help: 

https://ogrforum.com/...04#43524897881803204

https://ogrforum.com/...65#43524898030656965

Mitch 

Chuck Sartor posted:

The broken stanchions can be pushed out from the inside of the body. Lionel does have a stanchion chart on the parts website.

I think the C.C.C.StL. in the waning years of steam leased some P&LE 2-8-4's for a while. Both New York Central System.

Note - the P&LE 2-8-4's (class A-2) looked nothing like the NKP Berks that tend to be the "prototype" for nearly every 3RO 2-8-4, no matter how inaccurately. But, the NKP, Erie, Pere Marquette (later owned by C&O) Berks all have a (literal) family resemblance. I'm sure some of them bumped into the PRR.

The P&LE A-2 Berks have been produced by MTH a couple of times. Great models - and they are even green, as the actual locos were. The P&LE was controlled by the NYC, but never merged into it, and went their own way in minor ways on locomotive specs. 

The P&LE Berk was designed by the NYC, specifically design boss Paul Kiefer, who brought us the NYC Hudsons, the later Mohawks and the Niagara. The A-2 favors the Niagara externally quite a bit, but is a different beast internally, designed for a very different job.