Pretty Ladies of the Southern Ry

Hi Dewey,

 

Nice photo's, I always liked the Southern Crescent Limited. I think the bottom photo is the Lionel version if you want to sell it let me know.

 

Thanks, Alex

Dewey

That is a very nice collection.

I was lucky enough to take the Cresent Limited a few times from Philly to New Orleans and back.

It wasn't steam but it was a fun experience. It carried a dome car from Birmingham down and back.

 

Thank for sharing

Charlie

I rode the Crescent once, July 5, 1949 Greensboro to New Orleans, but alas behind diesel. Connected with the Southern Pacific enroute to boot camp in San Diego.

During the sixties I frequently commuted on your road: Southern's Piedmont Limited to D.C. leaving at 6:30 p.m from Greensboro and riding behind the big Pennsy Electrics to Pensylvania Station in NYC, arriving at 6:30 A.M. I was always awake to feel the "bump" when they changed power in Washington.

 

You're right Alex its the Lionel version of the Crescent Limited in the bottom photo, my favorite. It has more attractive detail piping from the Elesco Feedwater heater than the MTH version.

 

Some of my Modular Club friends accuse me of being biased against "dismals" [aka diesels] Not true--I have four diesels, 2 of them Southern Green:

Dewey

From a TN guy to a NC guy..That's nice! I'm working on em..

Larry

To me, the beautiful ladies of the Southern, are the un-rebuilt West Country, Merchant Navy and Battle of Britain class locomotives. A nice example of which may be found at the Bluebell Railway. (Photograph borrowed from this link http://www.train-photos.com/picture/number11975.asp )

Dewey:

 

Did you get the new 25654 Crescent Limited cars?  The shipping schedule shows they have shipped.  Also thank you for serving in our nation's military and defending our freedoms.

 

Neal Jeter

 

Nothing against Southern belles, but I always liked British ladies . . . . 

Dewey, I envy your collection.  The steam engines are just beautiful! 

Nice collection, Dewey. I'm envious.

Nicole

Southern Railway President Fairfax Harrision actually got the idea for decorating his famous green 'n gold "Harrison Pacifics" of the 1920s after seeing your country's Southern Railway green livery during a visit. Harrison was a very patrician fella and obviously wanted a little more "class" on his railroad. Where else would one steal "class" if not from the Royal British.

 

Neal

Thanks for your comment on my service. Interestingly I left Yodo Island, Wonsan NK 60 years ago December 2 after TAD duty with Marine Combat Task Force 95.23 to fix their field generators, searchlight, Higgins Boats,etc.[I was a Navy electrician, a "craftsman" among warriors].

No, I haven't even seen the new Lionel Crescent Limited cars. I need to catch up on what is showing. Passenger cars have been my buying weakness over the years. But now, my little senior citizens layout is too small for more than 4 car passenger consists.

 

Nicole

Keep Lee Willis away from your beautiful green steam "ladies"', he tends to paint them black and reletter them for western lands.

 

 

Dewey,

 

Very nice photos of a very nice collection.

 

George

I like that green!

My pretty lady of the Southern purchased from a Forumite appreciates good company provided by this thread on both sides of the Atlantic.

 

 

 

 

I won't say I'm jealous............. that would be an understatement.

The missing Southern Ps-4 "Lady" that I would like to have. Ps-4 #6689 the "Queen of The South" as painted by Jim Jordan while shown sitting in Birmingham and sub-lettered for the AGS [Alabama Great Southern].

I have been tempted to add some details[piping,etc] and have my 1990 Williams brass Ps-4 #1401 redecorated as the "Queen".

Would prefer for Lionel or MTH to make it.

I was so happy to find the 1401 after years of searching that i wrote an article about her  for our church newsletter, The Parish Press. I'll post it here to add some details to Dewey's comments. This also provides an opportunity to praise an eloquent book, The Georgian Locomotive, by H. Stafford Bryant, Jr., whose words bring readers into the times, into the worlds, of these elegant ladies.

 

After seeing your Southern collection, I now have to add a new railroad to my layout.

 

doug

Dewey,

 

Like the paint on that Pacific (I think, as I can't see the drivers that well) in the second image. That 2 tone tender makes it! Just love that deco stuff.

 

Simon

Hi Simon

That is Southern Ps-4  4-6-2 Pacific #1380[Weaver model] as designed by Otto Kuhler and streamlined by Spencer Shops in 1941. It was dressed up for use on the new Washington--Lynchburg  run of the Washington--Memphis "Tennessean" passenger train. Southern did not want to use one of its new E6 diesels for the short run to Lynchburg where the N&W "J" took over on N&W rails across the mountains to Bristol. Back on Southern rails at Bristol, the E6 diesels then took over for the run to cities across Tennessee and on to Memphis[at the time N&W did not allow diesels on its rails--changed the policy later].

 

The "Tennessean" is an interesting train to model because of of our ability to use it's diversified Locomotive power---the SRR Ps-4 1380 or the N&W "J" or the Southern E6 diesels are all individually/prototypically correct as its headend power.

 

Southern always made sure there was abundant promotion surrounding the #1380 "Tennessean" when it departed Union Station in DC for its run to Lynchburg. The "Tennessean" was one of Southern's first "Silver Trains" along with the Southerner and Crescent when the new lightweight stainless cars arrived in 1941[Pearl harbor put a stop to delivery of any more new cars until the late 1940s]. 

 

After WWII and dieselization, #1380 could be found pulling the Monroe Va. to Spencer/Salisbury local as well as other local passenger consists.

It really amazing to see how different the MTH and LIONEL Southern Ps-4 looks.

I favor the Lionel model over the MTH version since I have 2 Lionel Ps-4 #1403 and #1396 in my collection. I haven't made up my mind if I want to get the New Legacy Ps-4 but I know I would have to paint the roof black.

Pretty Ladies of the Southern Ry ?

... I thought there would be something more like ...

Sean

The Importers can't help themselves, their theory is that red roofs market better. Note that all of my Ps-4s pictured including MTH's early #1396 Crescent Limited with looped umbilical cord, have the correct green roofs. Mike factory painted my #1396 roof green to humor me when I did research for MTH in the very early days. All the rest were red.

 

We know from SRHA research where the Ps-4s were shopped [Spencer, Pegram, etc] and how the Master Mechanics decorated them. [all of the Southern Ps-4s ended up at Spencer Shops during the late 1940s]. 

Lionel's green Southern 4-8-2 Ts-1 Mountain Class, an Asheville Engine, arrived with a red roof also even though they knew well ahead that the TS-Class had flat black cab roofs. I had sent them a color photo[s] from Spartanburg and descriptive photo captions.

Just tape the roofs off, sand and spray 'em---collectors will throw up!.

Ace

Love your cheesecake  posters. Although the Roaring '20s were wild and wooly, conservative old Fairfax Harrison, SRR President, would never have marketed the Crescent Limited with such "scantly clad" ladies. Anyway by 1932 the Great Depression had put an end to the beautiful name trains.

Here's my humble, non-scale contribution: A Marx 666 with Lionel tender, custom painted to haul the green Lionel 2400-02 cars.

Great SRR inventory Sean.

If I recall correctly, in a few years your son will be old enough to run some trains so you need to think about getting a layout built. Or, you could buy a module and join the Piedmont Triad group. I realize it is a 100 mile commute to Winston-Salem but the events are not that often. The members need more steam to offset Club President Roger's horde of stinking "dismals" [aka diesels]. He thinks steam is for sawmills only.

 

I have not opted to buy the new Legacy or Proto 3.0 SRR Ps-4s. Its great new technology but at my age and diminished capability, and now reduced to a small attic layout, I don't need better operating features or just slightly better detailing. 

 

I would like to redecorate[have done] a Ps-4 to the beautiful Southern Queen and Crescent livery---may try it with my old Williams brass conventional Southern 4-6-2. 

 

Photos below: 

I decorated my Weaver 2-8-0 as Atlantic & Yadkin #481,leased from its Southern parent. As you can see I still need to paint the smokebox, cylinder fronts and firebox imitation aluminum or light graphite and the tender deck red oxide. Also you see that I relocated a bell[Cal Scale]to the top, front of the smokebox. The headlight and markers are not "Southern style" but are good enough for me.

TIES published Southern's freight engine paint scheme back in the day and noted that the cylinder fronts[covers] were actually coated with babbit which easily wiped down.

 

Dewey,

I forgot to mention I also have a Brass Williams Mikado in black and lettered for Southern on the tender. I'm been looking for Southern Steam decals but I haven't had any luck finding them. The weaver 2-8-0 is a good model for a Ks-1 class but of course the marker light and the bell are mounted in the wrong place. Looking at the photo's of your A&Y reminded me that weaver model has a Baldwin builder plate so I going repaint mines into 722 unless I can find some O Scale builder plate.

Wesley just turned 2 and I'm in the process for looking for a bigger home that will house my layout. So I hope to moving and building by the end of the year.

Dewey, sure a neat roster of Southern steam.  It would be nice to see them all working their associated consist on a layout.

 

My roster is much smaller including:

A Best Friend of Charleston as a flat car load,

a 0-8-0 MTH RK  in black as it should be,

a Weaver "Queen" that I intend to upgrade to PS-2 (MTH was a great "Tennessean" PTA sound file to use),

MTH Premier Ps4 Crescent Limited,

Lionel Ts1 mountain but a 2-chuffer,

K-line 4501 in green excursion dress,

also a K4 Kanawha in Claytor brothers Southern excursion dress.

 

Of course there are those "Dismals"

An AB set of DLs,

set of FTs

Train Master green

and a SD45 to use with a GP35(non-pwrd) mid consist with it RC-car.

 

But would really like a high hood GP30 and prototypical correct cabooses.

 

Hi Ron

You seem to be doing very well rosterwise.

 

I have a fairly large roster because I have been at it for a long, long time. But I don't have the latest and greatest technology--Legacy or Proto 3.0 although I have TMCC. One reason it is a large roster, as regards Southern equipment, is because over 35 years I have focused on buying essentially only Southern roadnames, a few N&W  engines and a couple of Clinchfield. If its Southern and came after the death of Southern steam in 1953 [or 1960 for N&W] I don't have it. Likewise I don't have the modern Norfolk Southern stuff, just some rolling stock of the old original NS.

 

I spite of my teasing Roger, my friend and fellow Club member, about his stinking "dismals" I do have a lot of transition Southern diesels: Trainmasters, PAs, GPs, Es and Fs. One of my earliest engines was a Lionel Southern 2333 pair of F3s and an early ABA Williams F-7 set, both of which I still have. Believe it or not, I traded a steam engine for the Lionel 2333 pair. Back in the day, Lionel had decorated a Hudson for the Crescent Limited which in a weaker moment I bought and I was glad to trade the fake to a friend in Rye, N.Y. who repainted it for the NY Central.

 

A large number of my engines have recently become "shelf queens"[as seen in the photos above] because I had to dismantle two fairly large layouts; in '08[14x28 at the mountain cottage] and again in '09, a 15x25/8x12 here upstairs in the Condo. I am now in a small 9x16 attic over the garage with a round-the-room layout [unfinished] that will not handle very large consists. However I will have no problem running four car passenger units and 7 car freights round and round and my curves are wide.

Right now I am very slowly working on cleaning up the general mess and placing structures. Hopefully by late Spring I will have clean rails and be in shape to run some trains. 

 

I love the green and gold Southern Ps-4s but my favorite engines are workhorse black Mikados and Consolidations with red cabooses behind them. I gave up on getting realistic Southern Cabooses from the Importers and had Malcolm[Brother Love] make me some. He does excellent work as you may know.

I thought we were going to see something other than trains???

hey dewey!!! you posted the WRONG type of southern diesels!!!!!...lol..........rogerw.

MTH Ps-4 no. 6688 in the "Queen and Crescent Limited" lettering should be shipping soon:  http://www.mthtrains.com/content/20-3465-1

Yeah ... that was no lady, that was a train !

Thanks for the Queen & Crescent Info. I no longer pick up the catalogs.

 

I see right away that Mike is continuing to design with the incorrect red cab roof--he knows better. Also the prototype was sub-lettered on the Tender for the AGS.

I know its nit-picking to some but it would be so dang easy to decorate it correctly.

 

Some images of the Southern Lady at the Whippany Railway Museum in NJ... Southern Railway 2-8-0 No. 385 (built 1907).  The snow shot is of 385 in service on the Morris County Central RR (in NJ) in 1978.

A link to some history on the engine: http://www.whippanyrailwaymuse...am-locomotive-no-385

Its nice to see Southern steam motive power restored and running the rails again.

4501 Should be completed this year to make her debut on the NS 21st Century Steam Program.

 

Dewey,

I just noticed in the picture you posted with 1380 are those the custom K-line Southern Aluminum Passengers Cars from the Train Loft?

Dewey,

 

Often the locomotive Mike delivers looteeters better than what is portrayed in the catalog or on the website.  I would take a wait and see approach on this one.  You may want to check out the MTH Facebook page where they post many photos of the locomotives they are ready to release.  I will try to remember to look for it and post some pictures to this topic on the forum.  The locomotive you are seeking may be just around the bend!

Here are some photos of Southern Railway Ps-4 no. 1393 from the MTH Facebook page.  It looks like a great model and should be released to dealers soon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The black one also looks great!  http://www.mthtrains.com/content/20-3464-1

 

The 1393 comes with a four car passenger set:  http://www.mthtrains.com/content/20-3463-1

OK, Graham Claytor was a hero of mine.  Back in the late 60's and early 70's, I chased 4501 and loved every minute.  That said, one of these engines is begging for a repaint to Missouri Pacific livery.  Why, because the wheel arrangement was named for MOPAC.  I've been wanting a manufacturer to do one but that wonderful Southern paint scheme has more of a draw.

 

These engines are close enough to me that I can deal with it.  However, the modified 6613 does have a center disc driver and cast (?) pilot.  Now that would be something for a manufacturer to do that one.

 

MOPAC 6608