Lionel Geeps, PW & MPC

MPC made a lot of colorful GPs. Mich. Lionel did do a Wabash for JC Penny. They are nice engines but will not perform as well as later 2 motor engines do. They are close to scale with exceptions being made to fit a price range and run on 027 track. They have one major flaw, many of them have off set drivers that make them wobble. 

Traditional Lionel GP7/GP9 models are scale sized, hence why they are taller/larger than most traditional freight cars and 027 Alcos. My recommendation is to either buy the Postwar versions or late MPC/LTI/LLC versions with the pullmor motor and Magnetraction. These are good runners with separate motors and trucks. The early MPC units with a combined motor and truck assembly with traction tires are wobbly and don't run well. Avoid those. The later 90's units with TMCC and Railsounds can usually be had new or like new for less than $150 and run very, very well. 

I agree with Lou1985 on the GP engines with TMCC and RailSounds from the late 90s into the 2000s. Great sounds and bulletproof operation. Lionel also did 3-4 GP7s or GP9s in the earlier 2000s (I think) that had two DC can motors. Very smooth operators. All those are conventional (not TMCC), I believe. As Lou also said, Lionel conventional Geeps are scale-sized, so they look a little taller with traditional rolling stock, as the OP observed, but they still look fine together.

In the Wabash road name, Lionel also did TMCC/Railsounds equipped tradtional GP engines in a 3-engine set (two powered and one dummy. Item no. 18872. Very nice, but with three engines, a bit more money.

Being scale, they will dwarf 6464-type boxcars. If that's not a biggie to you, you'll be fine. If you want better proportion visuals, it WILL be a biggie for there's quite a discrepancy.

Depends on how you want to enjoy your trains.

Andre

No Lionel GP-7/9 post war or MPC ever had two motors. The early MPC GPs were not as good looking as their later engines. I didn't like the early MPC flimsy railing. Another engine you might like is the MPC GP-20. Don 

Yes they did. Many had two truck mounted can motors. 

Lou, I thought those came after MPC. I know the early ones were all single motors like the F-3s. Don

They came out late MPC/early LTI era. They were mostly starter set locomotives. 

not trying to muddy the waters on you, but you may take a look at Williams GPs …..they are real stump pullers, and good runners, and sometimes can be had on the cheap...and most are twin can motors with flywheels....

Thanks for the info. I wasn't a dealer later in the MPC times. Don

I like the PW/MPC GP9/7's, I dunno there's just something about them. The roadnames and colors. So far I have the Illinois Central 8030 my second diesel from when I was a kid in the late 70's, but more recently I collected 2 ea PC 3 ea CR, 3 ea CNJ, 1 ea Great Northern( A very nice re-paint), 1 Ea CN.  The reason I collected 3 of some is because I forgot I already had two! LOL!! I would like to get a second IC, and two each Erie Lacawanna, GTW, Rio Grande, and the list goes on. So much for collecting two road names, NYC and CR.

Redshirt214 posted:

Did MPC ever do the Wabash again?

 

MPC never did a Wabash GP.  However in the Kuhn era there was a  J.C. Penny's special Wabash GP9.  The paint on the long end was incorrect, the white stripes should go all the way around instead of having the white bib. (Trainz auction photo)

They made the same mistake with the J. C. Penny's Wabash Train Master.

Rusty

Rusty Traque posted:

MPC never did a Wabash GP.  However in the Kuhn era there was a  J.C. Penny's special Wabash GP9.  The paint on the long end was incorrect, the white stripes should go all the way around instead of having the white bib. 

They made the same mistake with the J. C. Penny's Wabash Train Master.

Rusty

They did that part correctly on the 3-engine set pictured above, though.

harmonyards posted:

not trying to muddy the waters on you, but you may take a look at Williams GPs …..they are real stump pullers, and good runners, and sometimes can be had on the cheap...and most are twin can motors with flywheels....

I second this suggestion. In fact there are a couple of Williams Wabash GP9s—really a GP7—on Ebay, including this one. (Note that they have the same paint-scheme error that Rusty Traque points out in the Lionel J.C. Penny version.) They are well-built, heavy, and has harmonyards says, they are real stump-pullers. I have a K-Line MP15, with two truck-mounted can motors, and there is no comparison, the Williams GP9 wins hands down.

(If I have one criticism, they are geared a bit too high, so I re-wired it in-series, but that is pretty easy to do, and there are threads here that describe how. I ended up doing the same to my K-Line MP15, too.)