Lionel H24-66 question

Eric:

I've flipped through my classic Southern Railway in Color and the photos show these engines operating both long and short hood forward in local service.  I found one well lit side view of one of these though and the F denoting front is on the long hood end.

Curt

Hi, Eric.

 

Southern ordered its Train Masters with the intention of running them in the middle of multiple unit consists, primarily along the Rat Hole, a line so named for its many tunnels. The Southern's units possessed some readily identifiable characteristics. Most notable were lowered pilot decks which better matched the height of walkways of other units in the consist and a "Tunnel Motor" style radiator cooling array at the end of the long hood as an attempt to reduce the risk of overheating due to the excessive heat associated with the tunnels. Even still, modifications were still required due to heat buildup. 

 

Initially, consists were configured F7-TM-F7. Later consists of SD24-TM-SD24 were employed. Southern's TMs were set up for short hood forward operation and the bell was located at the top of the short hood. I haven't seen a Lionel model in person I couldn't speak from first hand experience so I thought the best thing to do would be to provide you with some of the major features to look for. I believe the picture in your post was of a catalog illustration and being aware of the possible differences between it and the production piece, I didn't want to base an evaluation around that.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Bob

Eric,

 

I think the corner hand rails were painted yellow on the Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway.   According to "Diesels of the Southern Railway System 1939-1982 by Paul K. Withers, Warren Callaway and J. Harlen Wilson, (page 112), the Southern had five Trainmasters, built for the subsidiary CNO&TP in May and June of 1955. The "F" is on the short hood end. The bell, is above the headlight on the same end. "  I think they ran short hood forward based on this book quote.

MTH usually tends to get stuff like this right, so here is a video of MTH's Southern Trainmaster. They have it running short hood forward with a bell over the hood.

Of the 5 Southern units 2 were demonstrators from the original 4 Trainmasters.  Gotta admit, there's a definite shortage on the net of TM's in Southern livery.

 

Bruce

Here's a scan (sorry, couldn't get a better one) from Sweetland's "Train Master, The Most Useful Locomotive Ever Built" book.

 

All 5 Southern Train Masters had the lowered end platforms.  Given the bell is on the short hood, it's a pretty good indication they were set up for short hood forward operation.

 

Rusty

Bruce:

 

The demonstrator units were purchased by SP and Wabash (two each).

 

Regards,

 

Bob

 

The book say they were all delivered in green and white.  It doesn't give a date when they were repainted black and white, but given the caption states the two are near the end of their careers, it's a safe bet they're black and not green in the photo.

 

Rusty