I had the opportunity to purchase an original 1949 2151W Santa Fe set today from the sister of its original owner. Most of the original boxes are present (some better than others) including the original set box with its price tag ($67.50 or roughly $730 in todays money) from the long gone Detroit Kern's department store. Outside of some oil on the axles and a few things being in need of a rewiring, it runs great. Since the video was taken I've since rewired the light in the caboose. I'll tinker with things as I have time since I have to make an order for the few minor parts that are missing or damaged. Overall it was taken care of very well. The silver paint on the powered unit has some minor rub marks, but they're in much better condition than the 2343's in my 2175W set from 1950. A few additional pieces were added to the set, probably fairly early on and were also included. It's always a good feeling when you can give a nice Postwar set a good home.
The F3's appear to be an interesting conglomeration of early and late production parts. They have the nickel plated coupler shields versus the later lower cost blackened ones. The powered unit has the GM decals on the rear doors, while the dummy has them behind the door up higher where they were supposedly located in early production.
