MPC Fan Thread

Only took me 30 years to finally get this set...

That's the majority of my MPC collection. Great trains!!

quote:

Originally posted by ed h:
Only took me 30 years to finally get this set...

Ed - I love that set. The Royal Limited!! When I was longer, there was a hobby shop my Dad would take me in every so often & this set, the Mid Atlantic & another set were always there, on shelves when you walked in to the place. I wanted it since then!! One day I'll get it - that's part of the fun of the hobby

Nothing inspires me more than seeing other folks' photos! Some very nice stuff here, especially since I had never heard of MPC.

I believe this is LTI production but it is just a slightly later version of the MPC Trainmasters.

FM Trainmaster, MPC at its best.

Great thread and great pics. There's so much colorful Lionel stuff from this era that's easy to run it's hard to pass it up.

Some great GP's, FM's, passenger cars, cabeese, freight.....

Just when I think there's not much more I'd like to add to the collection there's a thread like this and it's a whole new game!!

BTW, just picked up the 9308 aquarium car myself!!

Actually, this is better yet MPC.

Wow, beautiful pictures Chris.
Looks like you cornered the MPC market..
Joe

quote:

Originally posted by Dave Warburton:
The MPC era has gotten a bad rap. They made some nice stuff along the way and kept the company alive when few thought toy train would survive.

Kudos to the Lionel employees -- from executive suite to shop floor -- who did such a fine job with limited resources over those many years (1970-1986)! It is due to their hard work and perseverance that we can enjoy the hobby as we do today.

Dave, You've really hit it on the heard here with these comments.

The start-up period of modern Lionel is an interesting story and I would encourage any of you so inclined to read the excellent resource book "Lionel - A Collector's Guide & History" Vol IV 1970-1980 by Tom McComas & James Tuohy.
It gives a clear picture of the early dealings of General Mills and their Model Products Corporation buying the almost defunct Lionel Corporation and resuming production of Lionel's trains. It is fascinating because the authors give you a feel for the mood of the day and trepidation felt by many as this venture began. Try to imagine what that was like. Highly recommended for you MPC enthusiasts!

quote:

Nothing inspires me more than seeing other folks' photos! Some very nice stuff here, especially since I had never heard of MPC.

I agree. Mark

If it wasn't for MPC era Lionel we would not have the wonderful trains we have today. It was the 1972-3 catalogs found at Sears in Ala Moana shopping center, Honolulu that got me back into trains. Sears had no trains on the shelf, just these two catalogs sitting on a shelf during Christmas. I ordered my first Lionel trains in over 14 years. I was on my way.

MPC era trains, and those made at Mt. Clemens were to start a revolution in technology and burst in the O gauge hobby.

TEX
Steve

I see allot of items in these pictures that i used to have. I can remember buying freight cars for $6.00 new at the local train shows. Still have a few items in my collection. I now run mostly scale sized trains but it was the MPC era that really got me in to all of this madness. It seemed i had more fun back then or maybe it was i was heck of allot younger. Great thread!!!!!!


Dave

quote:

Dave, You've really hit it on the heard here with these comments.

The start-up period of modern Lionel is an interesting story and I would encourage any of you so inclined to read the excellent resource book "Lionel - A Collector's Guide & History" Vol IV 1970-1980 by Tom McComas & James Tuohy.
It gives a clear picture of the early dealings of General Mills and their Model Products Corporation buying the almost defunct Lionel Corporation and resuming production of Lionel's trains. It is fascinating because the authors give you a feel for the mood of the day and trepidation felt by many as this venture began. Try to imagine what that was like. Highly recommended for you MPC enthusiasts!
The Appalachian, Tampa, & Santa Fe

I second your recommendation of the McComas and Tuohy book. The detailed account of how MPC came to be, makes for a great read. Ron Saypol of the Lionel Corp., was in many ways the unsung hero since he wasn't going to let just anyone buy the rights to make Lionel trains. An interesting comment that came from some of the Lionel people who joined MPC is that they know had a "corporate big brother" looking over their shoulder.

Ken

I am not an expert on this period, and I do understand why some people feel that the quality was not up to previous Lionel standards, but remember, when someone purchases a company, they want their investment dollars back before they sign the deal to purchase the company. Then, they need to cut all possible expenses and make as much cash as possible as fast as possible for their shareholders. This is presented to us as capitalism, and is one part of it, like it or not.

Anyway, after that long-winded statement, I have personally been searching for the uncataloged MPC Famous Foods set for a while and can't find one. They were, supposedly, pretty much giving them away at train shows for years, but I guess I missed those shows, and I can't find one. I believe that supports the general opinion here that MPC did, in fact, manufacture desirable items during that period and it did keep the company alive long enough so it made it to its next phase. Ya' gotta be happy about that, right?

The thing that draws me to MPC is the colorful graphics on the boxcars, and that trumps light construction and plastic trucks, as least as far as I'm concerned.

MPC stuff is great - colorful trains, good prices & for the most part, really good running engines!

I always had a Soft spot for the Chicago & Alton set. That was my first set back after spending about 20 years in ho. I bought it at Madison Hardware...on layaway. I think it was $239 for the set. Still have it and well worth it.

rat

quote:

I am not an expert on this period, and I do understand why some people feel that the quality was not up to previous Lionel standards, but remember, when someone purchases a company, they want their investment dollars back before they sign the deal to purchase the company. Then, they need to cut all possible expenses

Most folks have it backwards.
General Mills didn't degrade Lionels PW product line. They simply took over where Lionel Corp that had been producing an already degraded lower quality product line for nearly a decade left off.
Folks should give General Mills credit for breathing new life into a nearly comotose bankrupt company.
Joe

quote:

Originally posted by ratpak:
I always had a Soft spot for the Chicago & Alton set. That was my first set back after spending about 20 years in ho. I bought it at Madison Hardware...on layaway. I think it was $239 for the set. Still have it and well worth it.

rat

The Alton set is really pretty! They did a great job on the gloss paint for the engine & cars!

I have lots of MPC rolling stock and accessories mostly bought when our boys were young, late '60's and early '70's. I am not into rivet counting so it all works well on my toy layout. My only MPC engines are an 8206, a strong runner and good smoker and SD18 Milwaukee Road, never had a problem either. If you keep it in the context that they are toy trains I think they are great.

As I read and looked at this great thread, I too thought of the T&M Vol. IV in the Collectors Guide and History of Lionel Trains. I may sometime sell all of the many books I have on Lionel, but not this series. I have always thought that Dick Branstner was the hero of this time: T&M write: "After General Mills bought Lionel and Dick Branster's initial research at Hillside" -- (the old Lionel factory) --"was finished, he agreed to stay there and prepare the 1970 line, the first made by General Mills. Under agreement, the Lionel Corporation was resdponsible for the 1969 line. He became director of engineering and development for Lionel, a division of MPC... He gathered his team around him and went into the archives and found some of the old quality pieces and began to study them, those items that once made Lionel the top of the toy industry. The lionel...brought out in 1970 was not the same Lionel that was produced in 1969, when quality had totally deteriorated." We can be grateful for guys like this that picked up Lionel from the mat and kept our hobby alive. Dick Craig

I still have all of the MPC engines and rolling stock I ever bought and I'm glad I've kept them. I think its kind of neat to have trains from the different eras beginning with Pre-war and continuing on to the present day. I like having engines and accessories which exemplify the technological progression of the toy and model train industry.

All that being said, the one train set I wanted in the worst way back in 1977 was Lionel's Southern Crescent Limited. I could not afford it at the time and used to go into Nicholas Smith's when it was located in downtown Philly and just drool all over it. Back in those days I had to limit myself to one train set about every two years and I had purchased the New York Central 8600 Empire State Express the year before so the Crescent was out of reach. Sad to say that to this day I still don't have one. Just no excuse for that.

The TM Book has a lot of good early color photographs and the chapter on the Archives has some neat stuff. It tells how as far back as the 1930s when Lionel began to collect samples of their earlier production that a space was created which eventually became the Archives. In the 1960s engineering samples and things from the internal museum were collected on the 2nd floor of the Hillside plant. With the move to Mt Clemens, the Archives had become disorganized and decimated. Much that was there during the period from 1066 - 1976 was stolen, lost, and given away.
Can you imagine the unusual, oddball, and one of a kind items that are 'out there' in private collections?

quote:

I still have all of the MPC engines and rolling stock I ever bought and I'm glad I've kept them. I think its kind of neat to have trains from the different eras beginning with Pre-war and continuing on to the present day. I like having engines and accessories which exemplify the technological progression of the toy and model train industry.

It would be interesting to get a handle on the numbers of those who still own their MPC, the percentage of folks who display as a collectable verses those who operate it with no regard to value.
Some 27 years after the last MPC piece rolled off the line I would think the numbers of closet collectors are increasing and now outnumber operators.
Joe

The bulk of my collection is MPC, with the remainder being postwar & pwc stuff.
Id say about 95% of my MPC stuff is mint and came with the boxes. I still run them all, but proudly display the stuff on shelves when it's not on the layout

quote:

Originally posted by Christopher2035:
The bulk of my collection is MPC, with the remainder being postwar & pwc stuff.
Id say about 95% of my MPC stuff is mint and came with the boxes. I still run them all, but proudly display the stuff on shelves when it's not on the layout

I run all of my MPC and display it as well but most of what I have is post-war. The MPC stuff is great for displaying because most of it is so darn colorful.

I run anything I buy, that's what it was made to do. MPC engines have a good track record, some bloopers with off center wheels but for the most part they brought Lionel back.

Photo's leave something to be desired :-)

I know those presidential observation cars were kind of hard to find until i found a few the other day while rummaging through the back warehouse in Broomall

a few more -

Christopher,

I've got that 8551 EP-5, one of my fav's from first sight!!

quote:

Photo's leave something to be desired :-)

LOL, Blurry or not, I can see enough to know you've got one impressive MPC Wall of Fame on those shelves.
Its been so long since I added to my small MPC/LTI collection I forgot how much fun searching out and finding a key piece was.
Joe

Don't have much MPC stuff, but I really like these. There is a similar collection of Beer cars. Beer and smokes. A what a great combination...



Took some time to collect all nine. We'll never see these offered again.

Gilly

No No No..this is a passenger train, the biscuit express will follow.

This is the Bandit and Alton from about 1982.


rat

I wish the rectifer was at ot closer to scale, like the W/WBB body.

During the MPC era, the graphics were improved, and we got road names which should have been done years ago.

The only gripe I have with MPC is the nylon gears on the diesels. Other than that, MPC rolled their sleeves up and came up with new tooling right from the start. The 1971 9090 Mini-Max car is one I'd like to see reissued. 1973 brought the new "Baby Madison" cars and the Standard O line which came with the finest trucks on a Lionel product up to that time. The F3s and FMs came back and eventually got proper gearing and dual power for the F3s. Ditto for the GG-1s and the Rectifiers. On the steam side, things went a bit slower but climaxed with the 783 Hudson which still ranks as one of the finest pieces ever made before today's Chinese tech wonders. Besides, that 783 will be in running condition long after the caps have dried up on all those Legacy boards, leaving us with a bunch of $1500 shelf queens.