First off, Congratulations Patrick for you layout appearing in this issue of OGR! That's a great layout. I was thumbing through the pages showing your layout, when I thought to me self, gee these pictures look familiar. Sure enough, some were scenes from Team Track Tuesday. I really like the look of your Whitehead Flyer. Did you paint that yourself? Great job!
Last week I showed the piggies going off to market, as it were.
This week the little piggies have been...um, processed and are ready to be shipped off to market....Uh, that's redundant isn't it?....
Enough said!
Mark - Once again ... great team track scene!! I love the packing boxes marked chops, loins, etc.! They look terrific! Also very nice attention to detail with the brush growing up on the underside of the loading dock area. You've made it look convincingly real for sure! The sign on the box truck says it all :-)
Thanks for the kind words regarding the OGR article on my layout!! Much appreciated! Yes i could not resist a TTT photo or two.
As for the Whitehead Flyer: With my last name being Whitehead it was a no brainier to purchase this set at a train show about 5 years ago. The set was brand new in the box with the certificate of authenticity. The 3 passenger cars are extremely lite and are pretty fragile ( unlike their postwar cousins ) The Alco FA2 locomotive is also pretty lite and has nylon or plastic gears ( I can't tell which ) includes a head light and horn and actually operates. I only run this train a few time annually as I don't want to wear out the gears on the loco. The Whitehead Flyer set was actually a custom run set that Lionel did for Schweppes Ginger Ale. Lionel produced about 1030 of these sets as a promotion for Schweppes .... I'm assuming as Christmas gifts for their distributors, employees, etc.? All in all these sets look good and are cheaply made and feel cheap ... for the lack of a better word. The set sits on a shelf in my train room and is a nice conversation piece for sure.
Commander Whitehead was in the British Navy during one of he world wars. Upon arriving back on British soil, at wars end, he was interviewed by a radio news person. When the commander was asked how he got thru the war, he replied something to the effect " by drinking a whole lot of Schweppes". Upon hearing this interview Schweppes management immediately signed him on to be their official spokes person.
I've never seen another of these sets in my travels to various shows or on the Bay..... not that I'm on the look out for it either. I'm really an operator not a collector.... although my train room might suggest otherwise :-)
Mark - thanks for being a regular contributor to Team Track Tuesday! Happy New Year to you!!
