Skip to main content

I have a all Aluminum WP hopper I'm trying to list as new but not sure as it is 2 rail scale car.  I thought I bought all my cars new. I would like to know if Lionel did produce 2 rail scale cars in the past. I find little information on my search for this car. I have a Kline NYC that is 3 rail aluminum and I  wonder too if Kline made 2 rail cars as I have this 2 rail Kline UP aluminum hopper.           I  bought them as they are sweet looking cars and was looking fwd to running them on a layout, my never finished layout. I was intrigued by the fact that they were made of aluminum vs brass. PA010022P9130004 [1)P9130006 [1)

Attachments

Images (4)
  • P9130004 (1)
  • P9130006 (1)
  • P9130036
  • PA010022
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

prrjim posted:

I have never seen a 2-rail car coming from Lionel from the factory.    I have seen lots of conversions.   

They did do some museum quality passenger cars in 2 rail I think.

Fine Art Models (Ace PM Korea) and Lionel with Smithsonian did PRR Broadway and NYC 20th Century sets. FAM did runs also. Yes they are benchmark quality models and imho still hold the high water mark for American passenger cars. 

Lionel 27xxx series freight cars are certainly scale models though never offered in 2-rail. They include that center flow car as well as a beautiful PRR H43 100 ton hopper car and an offset side hopper which are  diecast as well as PS1 box cars, PS2 covered hoppers and PS flat cars and gons as well as a very accurate PFE R-40-23 car. All are 3 rail though with work can be 2 railed by a truck change and (in the case of hoppers and center flow cars) a more difficult Kadee coupler conversion.  Oh, and the modern Mechanical reefer is also accurate and 2-railable.

Lionel also did the PRR T1 duplex steam locomotive in 2 rail. It incorrectly used the tender from the Lionel PRR S2 turbine which had a notch at the front of the tender coal bunker for the S2's cab overhang. The T1 did not have any cab overhang and therefor no notch at the coal bunker. Otherwise the tenders were very close approximations of one another.

At the time (early to mid '90's as I recall) Todd Wagner was responsible for Lionel's product development and gave the 2 rail sample model to another fellow and me to check out and see what we thought. As I recall Lionel only made 25 of the locomotives in 2 rail. I know two individuals who own them. Can't speak for the location of the others.

Last edited by rheil
Erik C Lindgren posted:
prrjim posted:

I have never seen a 2-rail car coming from Lionel from the factory.    I have seen lots of conversions.   

They did do some museum quality passenger cars in 2 rail I think.

Fine Art Models (Ace PM Korea) and Lionel with Smithsonian did PRR Broadway and NYC 20th Century sets. FAM did runs also. Yes they are benchmark quality models and imho still hold the high water mark for American passenger cars. 

There just happened to be a FAM PRR fleet of modernism car at the Strasburg meet today!

Rule292 posted:

Lionel 27xxx series freight cars are certainly scale models though never offered in 2-rail. They include that center flow car as well as a beautiful PRR H43 100 ton hopper car and an offset side hopper which are  diecast as well as PS1 box cars, PS2 covered hoppers and PS flat cars and gons as well as a very accurate PFE R-40-23 car. All are 3 rail though with work can be 2 railed by a truck change and (in the case of hoppers and center flow cars) a more difficult Kadee coupler conversion.  Oh, and the modern Mechanical reefer is also accurate and 2-railable.

Thanks for that invaluable info! I have a Lionel PS2 hopper that someone else had 2-railed/Kadee'd previously, & assured me it was to scale. Nice to see both confirmation, & what else from Lionel to look out for!!

  I agree with Eric that the Fine Arts Model (FAM) 20 Century Limited cars are fabulously detailed benchmark models - the same can not be said of their Broadway Limited passenger cars.  Unfortunately those models were simply NYC bodies painted in PRR Feet Of Modernism colors.  While the 38 Broadway and Century shared many design elements (Pullman owned the cars), several of the floor plans were different which in turn affected  window arrangement.

An interesting difference between the two trains was the placement of the aisles and bedrooms in the observation cars.  The NYC arranged with Pullman to have the aisle on the right side of their observation cars so that  premium passengers riding in the master bedroom would have a view of the Hudson River on the run north out of New York City.  The had  Pullman build the Broadway observation cars with the aisle on the left so that the view of the countryside would not be blocked by opposing trains.

 The most flawed FAM Broadway model was the lounge car - it bears no resemblance to the Raymond Lowey design prototype. Adding insult to injury FAM  misspelled the car name - Harbour Point vice Harbor Point.  A window arrangement issue also exists between FAM's representation of the Broadway's 18 roomette due to the Century's similar car being a 17  roomette.  FAM never imported a model of the 38 Broadway diner to round out the consist - perhaps because the Century's diner was a lightweight car while the Broadway's was a modernized heavyweight.  

While not as highly detailed as the FAM cars, a far more accurate model of the 38 Broadway was recently offered by Golden Gate Depot - at 1/3 the price

 

Add Reply

Post
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×