Lionel American Freedom Train

I have all 18 of the Kline cars, They are 18".  It sure makes a nice long train. I also added a MTH Baggage car. It also is 18".   I might buy the Lionel GS4. I have the MTH GS4 and the MTH T1. Also have the Kline GS4.   When I take this to our Modular set ups The people really like it.  Over 30 feet of Red White and Blue.

YES, the 21" cars are too long.  Most of the cars, including the 2 showcase cars, 10 display cars, entrance and exit/power cars, the other power car and most storage cars were ex-NYC 9100 series baggage cars.  These cars were 73'6", or 18.5" in O.  An 18" car would have been a better choice.  One of the storage cars was from SR; don't know its lenght.  The 5 crew cars and tool car were 21".  The 3 flatcars were TTX F85Cs.  It would be nice if they had made the set with the correct lenght cars.

Thank you for your help I noticed the display cars pictured are also missing the American Freedom Train logo between the windows. Hope lionel corrects it

I would think they would correct errors before the cars were made.

I also have the full K-Line set, and using two MTH AFT baggage cars to fill in for support cars.  I hope Lionel sells the 21" crew cars, and hopefully future tool car, separately from the other cars so I can add them to my K-Line set for a more realistic appearance. 

I think we also need more American Freedom Train cars.  Cars like: the Pie car, Bar car, Office car, Press car, & the Showcase cars.

I could be wrong (and frequently is), but I believe Lionel will do the remaining display cars, the showcase cars (a must), and the five crew/passenger cars (those Peter mentioned).  Basically, what K-Line did.  Since they already have one power car I think they would do the other.  Not sure about any of the other 8 cars.

However, I think if this first set of cars don't sell well, we may not see any more.

ADDED:  I am going to pre-order the Station Sounds Exhibit Car assuming this is the first of the 5 crew cars.  I can't tell from Lionel's lousy low resolution catalog, but it looks like AFT's Sleeping Car #201.

The display (baggage) cars will be 18" long, truly representing a scale 72' long baggage car.  Only the coach (technical car) will be 21" long in this set.

Thanks,

Mike

Mikado posted:

The display (baggage) cars will be 18" long, truly representing a scale 72' long baggage car.  Only the coach (technical car) will be 21" long in this set.

Thanks,

Mike

Thank you Mike for your reply. I really appreciate it when a company is there to address our concerns. With the help of the other forum members I have decided to go ahead and buy it. Mike took away any last doubts I had. Thank you everybody.

Bob

Mike,

Thank you for the clarification.  I will make sure I correct my other comments.  I'm going to talk my way out of this by blaming the poor resolution of the online catalog for my error; I could not read the details

Here's some info that some folks might find useful.  Aside from just a general familiarity with the AFT, I had no prior knowledge of any of the train's specific configuration.  But just discovered this web-page today courtesy of Google:

http://www.freedomtrain.org/am...ain-consist-main.htm

Looks like this can be quite a series offering, if Lionel follows through with the add-ons in future catalogs.

David

ALL.  Need to do another apology.  I have owned the K-Line AFT cars for neatly 20 years and have spent a lot of time researching the cars K-Line did not make.  I thought I read all 5 crew cars of the set, #201 through #205, were too short.  I was wrong.

Being immobile due to a skiing accident, I have looked up these cars and only one, #201, was longer (21").  #201 was a SP 4-4-2 Pullman sleeper.

The other four cars came from the Reading Railroad and are all 72'.  #202 was initially a 51-seat combine, and the other three were initially coaches.  Anyway, these four cars should be 18" in O.

(Don't believe everything you read on the internet.)

Rocky Mountaineer posted:

Here's some info that some folks might find useful.  Aside from just a general familiarity with the AFT, I had no prior knowledge of any of the train's specific configuration.  But just discovered this web-page today courtesy of Google:

http://www.freedomtrain.org/am...ain-consist-main.htm

When you look deeply into the subject, you're likely to be surprised how much equipment that train really had.

I've contributed to that site a few times, including shots of the Lunar Rover, the observation car (which is slowly rotting away about 50 miles from my house) and other things. I saw the train in 1976 and never forgot it...

CAPPilot posted:

(Don't believe everything you read on the internet.)

Now that is funny!

Might have missed it, have you ever run all the cars? If so, what engine(s)?