This is my Lionel #2055 post war Hudson locomotive. It was given to me by my grandfather in 1954. It came with a NYC gondola, a Lehigh Valley hopper, a Sunoco 2-dome tank car and an SP caboose. I still have all of them. My 2055 locomotive has been rebuilt and repainted in the Brisbane & Bushong Railroad livery. It is now locomotive #106...the badge I retired with after 33 years in law enforcement. It runs like a champ! Matt
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My question to you is do you still run like a champ. LOL
Don
boin106 posted:This is my Lionel #2055 post war Hudson locomotive. It was given to me by my grandfather in 1954. It came with a NYC gondola, a Lehigh Valley hopper, a Sunoco 2-dome tank car and an SP caboose. I still have all of them. My 2055 locomotive has been rebuilt and repainted in the Brisbane & Bushong Railroad livery. It is now locomotive #106...the badge I retired with after 33 years in law enforcement. It runs like a champ! Matt
nice work, the coffin tender matches up really nicely.
Those baby hudsons run excellent.
Signalwoman posted:nice work, the coffin tender matches up really nicely.
I believe it is the Lionel 2046W whistle tender and it came with the locomotive. Matt
Looks great Edward, nuttin' like Postwar IMHO.
Did you restore it or was it done professionally?
Lionelski posted:Looks great Edward, nuttin' like Postwar IMHO.
Did you restore it or was it done professionally?
No...not that talented. I had it professionally done. This is the only post war Lionel I have...it has sentimental value. All the rest of my trains are scale. Matt
With respect to using your badge #. That is very cool. That gives me an idea in the future with numbering one of my engines with my badge #.
Matt,
I really like the badge number usage as well. The idea that you took a loco that means a lot to you and made it your own is really cool. A family heirloom to pass on when the time comes.
boin106 posted:Signalwoman posted:nice work, the coffin tender matches up really nicely.
I believe it is the Lionel 2046W whistle tender and it came with the locomotive. Matt
Not that this amounts to much but the square "coffin" tender is a 6026W tender which did come with the 2055 baby Hudson. The 2046W accompanied the 2065 baby Hudson. The 2055 is a nice running engine. I'm running one on my layout now. I also have the 2055's brother engine, the 2065 with the feedwater heater, which is currently out of commission with a bad armature. I'm wrestling with that now trying to remove it but not having any luck. Great restoration and a great story to go with your engine. Good post.
Nice ..
2055 was my intro into model trains back in about 1955, Dad bought it when I was 3. Still have it, still runs! I also traded all my HO stuff for a friend's O about 1973 so I inherited a 2025, till have still runs. Have looked at a few others at shows tempted to buy a couple of others!
My neighbor gave me his well used and stored 2055 some years back. With the kind assist of Jim Barrett, I got it up and running, repainted, and renumbered with my kids birth date. I am going back to PW and Williams by Williams more and more.
I got my 2055 at Xmas, 1955. Along with an actual 4-switch, 2 spur and one passing siding 027 layout. My rolling stock was a NYC gon, LV hopper, Sunoco 2-dome tank and an SP (one coupler - always annoyed me) - and - a yellow operating barrel car, another hopper (covered/gray/N&W) and a PRR 6464 boxcar. Still have them all. I always thought that my "set" was a set, but I have suspected for years that my father added on some items that I got Xmas morning. Can't ask him now. Wish that I had thought to before he died in '96 (at 90).
The 2055 and clones were the best runners of all the PW locos, I think (except the occasional 700E-offshoot), and had better tool-and-die work than all the others, too. Sharper detail; different construction; lighter; easier to assemble/disassemble/manufacture. Quieter.
The 2055 (etc) was also a fairly accurate (downsized) interpretation of the big ATSF 3460-class 4-6-4's, too. When MTH brought out an actual 1:48 Premier version of a 3460 Santa Fe 4-6-4 some years ago, I think I was one of the first to reserve one. The 2055, all grown up - and yes, you can see the same prototype in both of them. (Except for the 2055's NYC-style boiler front.)
I agree, by virtual of its smaller size the 2055 / 2065 looks great on sharper curves.
I've noticed that the casting of the LionChief 4-6-2 Pacific very closely resembles a 2055. I don't own one, but I would love to see photos of old and new side-by-side to see how close they really are. Also, whether it's possible to install the Elesco feedwater heater boiler front on the LionChief clone.
That you could put a Postwar shell on the LC+ chassis is too much to hope for. But I want Lionel to throw us MPC-era kids a bone... How about an "MPC Celebration Series" set, headed by an LC+ clone of FARR #1 ATSF 8900!?
Getting off-topic, but a FARR #2 reissue would also be possible, since there's an LC+ clone of the 736 (which was used for UP 8002.) New Lionel catalog in eight days, place your bets!!
That's fantastic! Thanks for your service!
"I've noticed that the casting of the LionChief 4-6-2 Pacific very closely resembles a 2055."
Yes - Lionel chose to, yet again, to interpret in a sub-scale version, the 3460 ATSF 4-6-4 - as they did with the 2055, although the new iteration has been offered only as a Pacific, I think, not as a proper 4-6-4. I thought for a while that I was the only one that noticed that (couldn't be).
This tooling came out before LionChief existed, and are around as "TMCC command upgradeable" (you just need the radio board; plugs right in) conventional locos.
These locos are more scale-y than the 2055, and could live on a Hi-Rail 1:48 layout without looking out of place. They are actually more the "compressed" type than the "sub-scale" type of product.
Here's the 2055 with coffin tender in the Lionel 1955 catalog. Don
D500 posted:I got my 2055 at Xmas, 1955. Along with an actual 4-switch, 2 spur and one passing siding 027 layout. My rolling stock was a NYC gon, LV hopper, Sunoco 2-dome tank and an SP (one coupler - always annoyed me) - and - a yellow operating barrel car, another hopper (covered/gray/N&W) and a PRR 6464 boxcar. Still have them all. I always thought that my "set" was a set, but I have suspected for years that my father added on some items that I got Xmas morning. Can't ask him now. Wish that I had thought to before he died in '96 (at 90).
The 2055 and clones were the best runners of all the PW locos, I think (except the occasional 700E-offshoot), and had better tool-and-die work than all the others, too. Sharper detail; different construction; lighter; easier to assemble/disassemble/manufacture. Quieter.
The 2055 (etc) was also a fairly accurate (downsized) interpretation of the big ATSF 3460-class 4-6-4's, too. When MTH brought out an actual 1:48 Premier version of a 3460 Santa Fe 4-6-4 some years ago, I think I was one of the first to reserve one. The 2055, all grown up - and yes, you can see the same prototype in both of them. (Except for the 2055's NYC-style boiler front.)
First Lionel train I played with as a kid was my dad's 2065 (2055 with a feedwater heater front). Gave me a fondness for the Santa Fe 3460 class Hudson. I now own 3 of the MTH Premier model (3460 "Blue Goose", 3463, and 3464).
OKHIKER posted:boin106 posted:Signalwoman posted:nice work, the coffin tender matches up really nicely.
I believe it is the Lionel 2046W whistle tender and it came with the locomotive. Matt
Not that this amounts to much but the square "coffin" tender is a 6026W tender which did come with the 2055 baby Hudson. The 2046W accompanied the 2065 baby Hudson. The 2055 is a nice running engine. I'm running one on my layout now. I also have the 2055's brother engine, the 2065 with the feedwater heater, which is currently out of commission with a bad armature. I'm wrestling with that now trying to remove it but not having any luck. Great restoration and a great story to go with your engine. Good post.
my mistake, i thought they came with a streamlined tender for some reason.
@D500 do you have both a 2055 and one of the 1999 and later Pacifics (the one that became LC+)? Neither one is exact but it's almost as if the tooling was wearing out, so rather than try to come up with something new, Lionel told the Asian factory "just make something that looks like this."
Getting off topic, but I had a chance to examine the LC+ Berkshire and a postwar 736 side by side. Obviously the driving wheels look different (LC+ has Baldwin discs like the old 726.) But on the Berk, I believe the boiler shells will interchange between postwar and modern!
I happen to like the chunky look that many of Lionel's postwar steam locos have. They are compressed but usually only in length (which for small layouts with sharp curves is a good thing!) Many "traditional-sized" trains that were introduced after 1995 or so look like S-gauge locos on an O-gauge chassis, probably because they were scaled down on a computer. Postwar Lionels were artfully compressed and give the impression of a prototype loco in three-quarters view through a big telephoto lens!
Nice job on the restoration & custom paint.
My first foray into O gauge about 25 years ago was acquiring a 2055 that some had (poorly) painted over the numbers and renumbered as a 665. With a little cleaning and lube, it ran like a champ. This led to acquiring a handful of other postwar locomotives, a few dozen cars, etc. Then I discovered the Modern Era equipment with RailSounds, Protosounds, Command control, and you can predict the direction that went. I have sold off some of the postwar stuff and will likely sell off most of the rest; however, I will hang on to a near mint 221 and passenger cars, and of course the 2055.
-Jim
Sugnalwoman, that's because most all small Lionel Hudsons came with the scoop tenders through those years. Even the 2055 came with the scoop tender some years as the 2065 came with coffin tender some years. Don
I got my 2055 about 2 years ago. It was pretty sluggish at first, but that changed after a good cleaning. Has all the good qualities of a Hudson- great runner, great puller (at least for the trains I run), and great in the looks department. Great everything, I suppose. Great job on yours!
Ted S posted:@D500 do you have both a 2055 and one of the 1999 and later Pacifics (the one that became LC+)? Neither one is exact but it's almost as if the tooling was wearing out, so rather than try to come up with something new, Lionel told the Asian factory "just make something that looks like this."
Getting off topic, but I had a chance to examine the LC+ Berkshire and a postwar 736 side by side. Obviously the driving wheels look different (LC+ has Baldwin discs like the old 726.) But on the Berk, I believe the boiler shells will interchange between postwar and modern!
I happen to like the chunky look that many of Lionel's postwar steam locos have. They are compressed but usually only in length (which for small layouts with sharp curves is a good thing!) So many "traditional-sized" trains that were introduced after 1995 or so look like S-gauge locos on an O-gauge chassis. Postwar Lionels were artfully compressed and give the impression of a prototype loco in three-quarters view through a big telephoto lens!
Nice to see that the 2055 (etc) getting a little love. They always looked better than the small Berk-boilered Hudson to me, especially around the valve gear, specifically the eccentric rod. The "other" small Hudson and its Berk sibling had an eccentric rod that was way too long and odd-looking.
Mine came with what some are calling the "coffin tender" - looks a bit more ATSF than the PRR style, even though it is, I believe, a model (better than average tooling here, too, as on the 2055 boiler) of an Erie RR switcher tender (feel free to correct me there).
I agree - the "chunky" look of the PW down-sized steamers appeals to me more than the "down-scaled" nearly-S-scale products, also. Selective compression can shorten things while still preserving a hefty and muscular look. Lionel's use of the scale 700E Hudson smokebox front basic tooling called for a fat-ish boiler, also. The "new 2055" - the modern one that became the LC+ loco you mentioned does that well.
I've said here and there before that one of the best "compressed but impressive" locos - maybe the best - is the RailKing Triplex. Much of that loco is actually 1:48 (cab; cylinders; general overall width), and looks more like a 1:48 model of some railroad's smaller Triplex.
I acquired my 2055 towards the end of 2017. I had my childhood 646 and my mothers 2065 (handed down to me), but never had a 2055. As everyone above has said, it is a very nicely proportioned locomotive and a great runner.
I am very pleased with it.
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