Pull out the MPC!

@WRW posted:

I’m looking forward to running this next to one of my Vision Line GG1s. I feel like this will look like the new GG1’s little buddy.

Great purchase, WRW. That was my first GG1 (received it as a Christmas present in ‘77 or ‘78)… it was a great puller. It easily managed my set of 8 MPC Pennsy 15” aluminum passenger cars. No bells and whistles… literally… but beautiful none the less!!!

Apple55,

My collection of trains is filled with memories. I don't own a piece of track but I have a ton of memories. I'm 75 and I sure hope I never get dementia.

Like father, like son.

The smaller one is both my Dad's old 1776 as well as the first model train I ever played with "properly" (I distinctly remember playing with a Tyco UP GP-20 like one of my old Thomas wooden trains), and the bigger one is my equally as old MPC era 1776 U36b, which somehow shorted its E-unit and then self corrected the short, I'm just as confused as you are on that one. Just like the original, this one will always have a UP caboose as that's what both myself and my dad ran with this engine.

WRW and Apples55 - My MPC GG1 and associated passenger cars is tucked away in the background in this particular picture of the December 1980 living room floor assembly of the Ophir and Oblivion, however, background or not, it was a big favorite with visitors when I ran it.

@Robert S. Butler posted:

WRW and Apples55 - My MPC GG1 and associated passenger cars is tucked away in the background in this particular picture of the December 1980 living room floor assembly of the Ophir and Oblivion, however, background or not, it was a big favorite with visitors when I ran it.

Thank you Robert. Love it!

@Robert S. Butler posted:

That is one amazing carpet central, Robert. Have to ask… do you still gave the GG1 and aluminum cars??? And have you ever built a permanent layout???

Apples55 - Thanks, when I put together a Carpet Central I take advantage of every temporarily granted square foot of running space.  As for the trains, yes, I still have the GG1 and the aluminum cars as well as everything else in the picture.  I've never had enough space to dedicate to a permanent layout so, as I've mentioned in other threads, I'm a member in good standing of the Broadloom Conspiracy faction of train running. What I do when I can't run trains is put together dioramas, photograph them, and send the pictures in to various publications.

Robert - your GG-1 is one of my favorite MPC models. Mine runs great despite it's age and will pull any train I can put together.

New batch of MPC arrived the other day.

@Tom M posted:

New batch of MPC arrived the other day.

Sweet! Pun intended! How many Cracker Jack versions are there?

Where is the line drawn between MPC and Fundimensions?

@Mark V. Spadaro posted:

Where is the line drawn between MPC and Fundimensions?

Same same

MPC was a division of Fundimensions

Thanks, John.

@jim sutter :  Hey I just saw your comment on this post for 2/27 about being 75...and not having a "piece of track" but lots of memories.  Well, I'm 77 and if you are ever near central Texas you are invited to come over and share my "track", trains, and memories along with a beer or two!  I bet you remember how to swing up a ZW!!

Best Wishes

Don

Don, Thank you for the invite. I do remember on how to operate a ZW.

@Mark V. Spadaro posted:

Where is the line drawn between MPC and Fundimensions?

The name MPC are the initials for Model Plastic Corp. the initial General Mills division located in Mt Clemens Mi.  Lionel moved to Chesterfield Mi.  and was renamed Fundimensionsi in1975.   General Mills  Kenner Parker division took charge of Lionel just before it was sold to Richard Kughn.in 1987

@Mark V. Spadaro posted:

Sweet! Pun intended! How many Cracker Jack versions are there?

I think just the two.

@JC642 posted:

The name MPC are the initials for Model Plastic Corp. the initial General Mills division located in Mt Clemens Mi.  Lionel moved to Chesterfield Mi.  and was renamed Fundimensionsi in1975.   General Mills  Kenner Parker division took charge of Lionel just before it was sold to Richard Kughn.in 1987

MPC = Model Products Corporation.

Lionel was never renamed "Fundimensions", Lionel was a part of the Fundimensions Division in 1973  which was part of General Mills. Lionel then became a part of the Kenner Parker Division just before they were spun off from General Mills in 1985. In 1986 Lionel was then sold to Richard Kughn.

@ConrailFan posted:

Lionel was never renamed "Fundimensions", Lionel was a part of the Fundimensions Division in 1973  which was part of General Mills. Lionel then became a part of the Kenner Parker Division just before they were spun off from General Mills in 1985. In 1986 Lionel was then sold to Richard Kughn.

Interesting, so what was Lionel called after the company split from Model Products Corp in Mt  Clemens and moved to Chesterfield?   I recall Fundimensions,  a division of General Mills.

Been on a MPC kick recently. Not sure what it is about these sets but there are so many from this era. Maybe it's the colors, maybe it's the controversy, who knows! I always have a great time running these trains.

@JC642 posted:

Interesting, so what was Lionel called after the company split from Model Products Corp in Mt  Clemens and moved to Chesterfield?   I recall Fundimensions,  a division of General Mills.

When it split and moved under the Fundimensions Division it was still called Lionel  it was never called Fundimensions. Lionel was a division of Fundimensions  which was a part of General Mills. Fundimensions was comprised of Lionel, Craftmaster, MPC and for a short time Kenner Parker. The move to Chesterfield MI had no bearing on the name. As a matter of fact the name Fundimensions was not printed anywhere in their catalog as was the case previously.

A few 1970s and early 1980s item in this photograph of an old layout I had almost 30 years ago.

8351 Santa Fe Alco A unit, CN Maple Leaf Limited set (1981), 8004 Rock Island and Peoria 4-4-0 w/ passenger cars (1980) and the 8750 Rock Island GP-7 (1977).

@Patrick B posted:

Like father, like son.

The smaller one is both my Dad's old 1776 as well as the first model train I ever played with "properly" (I distinctly remember playing with a Tyco UP GP-20 like one of my old Thomas wooden trains), and the bigger one is my equally as old MPC era 1776 U36b, which somehow shorted its E-unit and then self corrected the short, I'm just as confused as you are on that one. Just like the original, this one will always have a UP caboose as that's what both myself and my dad ran with this engine.

I like that '76 locomotive and wish I had bought one in 1976. I'm still thinking about it!

@Chris1985 posted:

Been on a MPC kick recently. Not sure what it is about these sets but there are so many from this era. Maybe it's the colors, maybe it's the controversy, who knows! I always have a great time running these trains.

I like your MPC videos. You got me excited to pull out my old trains and start running them again. 👍👍

I took a detour after looking at an upcoming project this morning and ran over to Grzyboski's Train Store in Moosic, PA. I hadn’t visited this store since before the pandemic lock down. I wanted to pick up the pristine Fallen Flags “set” that I had purchased online a couple of weeks ago from Joe. (More on this over the weekend)  I also just wanted to visit. i forgot just what a nice store that they have. It is really a very nice building with a sharp showroom. I saw all sorts of cool MPC items and picked up a few cars. Here are two that I did not purchase. He still had them this afternoon if you are interested.

Here is one the gems that I picked up at Grzyboski's yesterday. This is quite an impressive little tanker. Lots of metal here for the era. I feel like this was an unopened box. It sure didn’t want to open. Or maybe it’s just been camped out in an attic for last 30 plus years waiting for me.

WRW Does Grzyboski's have a lot of MPC?

WRW: What a great tank car...I personally tried to collect every multi dome tank car Lionel produced and was successful up to about '93 then it just became too much plus they put a number of them into sets and after we moved from Pa, I no longer had a source in the business who broke up sets.  So today, I just target random ones that catch my eye, but they remain my favorites and I have always liked the way they fill out a train.  Yours was offered in 1989 (according to my reference material) so you are right it is 33 years old.

Great Find

Don

@jim sutter posted:

WRW Does Grzyboski's have a lot of MPC?

They seem to have a fair amount. I probably saw more than 30 cars on display.

WRW, Thank you for that information. It's nice to know.

@Don McErlean posted:

WRW: What a great tank car...I personally tried to collect every multi dome tank car Lionel produced and was successful up to about '93 then it just became too much plus they put a number of them into sets and after we moved from Pa, I no longer had a source in the business who broke up sets.  So today, I just target random ones that catch my eye, but they remain my favorites and I have always liked the way they fill out a train.  Yours was offered in 1989 (according to my reference material) so you are right it is 33 years old.

Great Find

Don

I just realized that this tanker isn’t an MPC car at all. My mistake and I apologize. It has one too many digits in its number code.

So...what defines MPC era?   I think I have a bunch of really neat stuff that could be MPC.  I know I love the engines especially Steam

@Chuck242 posted:

So...what defines MPC era?   I think I have a bunch of really neat stuff that could be MPC.  I know I love the engines especially Steam

High level quick summary: General Mills et al subsidiary from roughly 1970-1986. Mostly made in the USA and in MI. 6-xxxx code numbers for cars. There are lots are exceptions and footnotes to that which I just typed. But let’s not let perfect get in the way of good enough.

WRW - hey shipmate, I knew that it was a little late to be MPC but why should we care when you got yourself a GREAT 2-dome.

Here is a piece of MPC that I used on SwSat today.  Its from 1970-72 so its "early" MPC. Its hard to see, but if you look at the small rectangle near the boiler front it shows the word "Lionel" and the MPC logo together.  Later in the MPC era, they didn't show the MPC logo as much I suppose because they were trying to take advantage of the Lionel name, which after all is what they paid a license fee for.

Best wishes

Don

@WRW posted:

They seem to have a fair amount. I probably saw more than 30 cars on display.

Probably a lot more… if you were to browse Grzyboski’s website, I’m sure they probably have sections for all types Lionel rolling stock… and if you were to peruse the individual sections looking for items with 4-digit numbers, there’s a pretty good chance that those items would be MPC… or so I’ve been told Don’t ask how I know this - I’m a recovering addict!!!

@Don McErlean posted:

WRW - hey shipmate, I knew that it was a little late to be MPC but why should we care when you got yourself a GREAT 2-dome.

Here is a piece of MPC that I used on SwSat today.  Its from 1970-72 so its "early" MPC. Its hard to see, but if you look at the small rectangle near the boiler front it shows the word "Lionel" and the MPC logo together.  Later in the MPC era, they didn't show the MPC logo as much I suppose because they were trying to take advantage of the Lionel name, which after all is what they paid a license fee for.

Best wishes

Don

Don, Thank you for not highlighting or criticizing my obvious error. Some of that behavior is sadly in evidence on this forum. Thank you for being a gentleman and sharing your wisdom as you do. Be well friend.

Best, Willard

PS: That is beautiful locomotive. Thank you sharing.

@Apples55 posted:

Probably a lot more… if you were to browse Grzyboski’s website, I’m sure they probably have sections for all types Lionel rolling stock… and if you were to peruse the individual sections looking for items with 4-digit numbers, there’s a pretty good chance that those items would be MPC… or so I’ve been told Don’t ask how I know this - I’m a recovering addict!!!

Hi Paul, It’s such a great store and they do have many MPC items online. My enthusiasm and a rather long drive clouded my identification but not my purchase. I was there to pick up my new Fallen Flag set #1 Wabash. Cool set! Thank you, just like Don, for being a gentleman about my obvious mistake. But it is a soft and somewhat line between MPC and Kughn isn’t it. Smiles….

Be well and best,

Willard

Here's a veteran MPC B&O F3 keeping company with a newer TMCC/can motor equipped Pennsy set.

I must say, this old single motor model is a smooth runner and will pull a good load of cars.

I don't think I've ever been to Grzyboski’s store, but I make it a point to see them at York.  One of my higher points of every York.  Joseph has always been super nice to me and they always have a huge selection of new, old, Lionel, Kline etc..   I can't imagine what their store is like.