This was a set I always wanted and I was lucky enough to find it at York this spring. I recently added a two pack of additional cars. This set is so well done and I'm fortunate to have it in my collection.
Enjoy!
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Beautiful!!!!
Great train, Chris (especially the K4 
). When that set first came out, the green trucks turned me off, but I must say that they have really grown on me.
The Harding funeral train is similar, and we have them sale priced at $1199.99 - follow the link for pictures of the K4 and cars.....
Lionel 1922030 - LEGACY Steam Engine Set "Warren G Harding Funeral Train"
@Apples55 posted:Great train, Chris (especially the K4
but the green is correct for the period, isnt it?
@Dave Koehler posted:but the green is correct for the period, isnt it?
I’m really not sure, Dave. Maybe @CAPPilot might chime in as he is a real detailed Pennsy fan.
Nice. Congrats on obtaining it!
I have that set as well. One thing of note is that the K4'S have a gearbox flaw. Pat AKA Harmonyards has a topic on that.
See this topic for details Chris. I've got a few K4's that I need to get fixed as well as a few other engines on the list.
Chris: Great video, layout, and train. Would have been nice to see smoke coming out of the stack. And the long-haul tender looked a bit strange to me with it being longer than the engine pulling it.
I guess being a western roads guy, I’m not that familiar with the Pennsy’s motive power in the early 20th Century. I understand though, that it was quite the railroad in its day. Those heavyweight passenger cars are superb.
Nice acquisition and thanks for sharing. 👍
@Apples55 posted:I’m really not sure, Dave. Maybe @CAPPilot might chime in as he is a real detailed Pennsy fan.
Thank you for the compliment. My focus are things (trains, cars, planes, clothing) that were actually around in the 1947-49 time period, so my research centers around those things (car, paint scheme, building) that were around in that time frame.
And a great find by Chris. A really nice looking set to have. I considered it, but here is what I found for this train when it first came out:
-The engine is correct for pre-WWII.
-The coast-to-coast tender (or long haul) first showed up on K4's in 1929. They were no longer used on the K4's by 1940. Ten K4s were equipped with it, and one source stated 8 had the 210P75 tender and 2 had the 250P75 tender. The lined passenger livery used on all passenger train tenders was discontinued in 1932, so based on only the tender I think the Lionel set could represent a train between 1932 and 1939. FYI, there were two problems with this tender on the K4.
-Something called "Set Up Running". The large amount of water in the tender surged too much behind the smallish K4 for passenger operations.
-To use these very heavy tenders, heavier than the K4, required removing one to three revenue cars. Accounting probably did not like that.
-The green undercarriage was used up to 1943, and lasted on some cars (especially baggage or mail) until 1949. Not sure when the green paint was first used, but definitely in the 1920s. Since the green lasted until 1949, I do have a couple cars with it.
-The coloring of the passenger cars is more complicated. I have not looked closely at pre-WWII passenger paint schemes (other than FOM), but one reference stated this type of graphics was changed in 1937. Assuming this paint scheme actually lasted that long, adding the tender information indicates the Lionel train probably represents the Broadway Limited in the 1932 to 1937 time frame.
ADDED: According to PRRT&HS Pennsylvania Railroad Passenger Car Painting and Lettering by Blardone and Tilp, the sash as in this set was painted dark orange until 1937, when the sash was painted the same color as the car. So I am sticking with my 1932 to 1937 time frame for this set.
@CAPPilot posted:-The engine is correct for pre-WWII.-The coast-to-coast tender (or long haul) first showed up on K4's in 1929. They were no longer used on the K4's by 1940. Ten K4s were equipped with it, and one source stated 8 had the 210P75 tender and 2 had the 250P75 tender. The lined passenger livery used on all passenger train tenders was discontinued in 1932, so based on only the tender I think the Lionel set could represent a train between 1932 and 1939. FYI, there were two problems with this tender on the K4.
-Something called "Set Up Running". The large amount of water in the tender surged too much behind the smallish K4 for passenger operations.
-To use these very heavy tenders, heavier than the K4, required removing one to three revenue cars. Accounting probably did not like that.
Thanks for the marvelous history lesson, Ron. While I am as far from a rivet counter as you can get, I always appreciate the scholarship that I consistently find on the forum. I am particularly fascinated by the issues with the long haul tender. Following Chris’ lead, I also picked up a K4 from Grzyboski’s and it has the long haul tender… luckily, due to layout constraints, I usually only run 4 or 5 passenger cars at a time. And I don’t care what accounting says
