Pull out the MPC!

Tommy F. you are right. They were special. Also, do you have the 9159 Sunoco tank car, Another nice pop car was the 9831 Pepsi.

Several pages back, I posted pics of the 1972 set my grandfather bought for me at Sears.  In this post, I am going to show the MPC set I put together to honor him and his history.

All of his adult working life, Grandpa worked for Shell Oil.  It is said that some of his ancestors worked for Royal Dutch Shell in the Old World; in any case,he was very loyal to Shell.  Prior to retiring, he engineered significant improvement to the automobile-carrying semi trailers used by Shell Transport.  But, back in the '30s, he was a mechanic assigned to one of the Lubrication Testing Teams.  The team he was assigned to was the one working with Jimmy Doolittle and his barnstorming act.  (I have a pin--a cast set of wings--Doolittle gave him in gratitude for his efforts.)

Since Grandpa worked for Shell, and since the first Lionel he gave me was an MPC 8020 Alco set, I have put together an MPC Shell train pulled by an ABA 8020-8021-8020.  The powered A has the closed pilot, which distinguishes it from the one in the set he gave me.  Pics of the engines:

Next comes the pair of bright yellow, single-dome tankers, 9151 & 9152, distinguished by the yellow ends on the one and black ends on the other.  These have been very popular MPC cars:

Next comes the impressive 6107 Quad Hopper and the somewhat anti-climactic 6310 2-dome tanker, both also in bright yellow:

Finally, tagging along behind the 2-dome tanker is a 9061 ATSF caboose, the only true duplicate of my 1972 Lionel train:

The room lights wash out the brightness of the yellow on the cars.  The dominating yellow, trimmed with red, silver, and black, make for set that fits together very well and attracts attention.

(I also have the later ATSF steam set with the silver Shell tankers and the add-on chrome car, but it isn't MPC and therefore belongs in another thread.)

These pics were taken on my layout across from the farm on the curve near Notch Junction, which is appropriate since I lived for two years with my grandparents less than 20 miles from Notch in Baxter.

The Sinclair tank car out of the Mid Atlantic set was my favorite.

I may have one or two others stashed around the basement, but here are two old Hi-Cubes - plastic trucks, but luckily metal (if a bit rusty) wheels!!!

@jim sutter posted:

Tommy F. you are right. They were special. Also, do you have the 9159 Sunoco tank car, Another nice pop car was the 9831 Pepsi.

Jim,

I have a 9159 but it’s in parts in my workshop (busted truck).

So great to see this thread going strong.  

The 9356 Life Savers Pep-O-Mint tank car appears in the 1980 Advance/Toy Fair catalog, but it was canceled. Its not shown in the regular 1980 catalog. Certainly would have made for a colorful tank car.

For those with the PRR passenger cars, could a coupler centering spring be added and would it help with backing moves (reverse)?

Here’s a tank car from a set. I tried to buy this at a show, but the seller wanted to sell only the entire set. Probably a year later, I found this one for relatively cheap. Nice, Diecast trucks, but the Sunoco logo is an “Electrocal”, which is slightly separating from the tank, so I’m not a fan.

@Artie-DL&W posted:

Here’s a tank car from a set. I tried to buy this at a show, but the seller wanted to sell only the entire set. Probably a year later, I found this one for relatively cheap. Nice, Diecast trucks, but the Sunoco logo is an “Electrocal”, which is slightly separating from the tank, so I’m not a fan.

Tank car from the Lionel 1978 Service Station Set. Was led by a Minneapolis & St. Louis Geep.

...and then there were the don't-quite-work-with-the-ramp operating hoppers - I must admit I do like the choices of railroads.

Thanks, John. Looks like the entire set was nice.

@ed h  :  Ed... I just realized that my "Wabash Cannonball" set may have an odd tender and caboose.  See below.  Both the tender and the caboose say "Nickel Plate Road" not Wabash...I don't know that much about real RR per se but these do not seem to be the same.  Crazy right.  Oh by the way, I have 2 Wabash Cannonball sets that if you look at the box are identical but the tenders are different, one is a slope  back and then this one is a square wedge type.  Both say "Nickel Plate Road".

Yikes!!

Don

@Rich Wiemann posted:

I wasn’t interested in the Broadway Limited engine when the set came out. I bought just the passenger cars from Trainworld as they broke the set up, and I got the set box. I pull mine with the Pennsy Little Joe EP-5. I also have the extra cars, Diner and RPO.

that's exactly what i did with mine,also did that with the milwaukee cars,thanks !

Very nice. I like what you have done,

Since we are back on MPC we should mention the fast food train. It was catalog in the small 1981 catalog. This set was a very good seller for us.

It came with a #8160 GP-20 diesel painted up for Burger King, #7509 Kentucky Fried Chicken reefer, #7510 Red Lobster reefer, #7511 Pizza Hut reefer, #7512

Arthur Treacher's reefer, #7513 Bonanza reefer, #7514 Taco Bell reefer and a #6449 Wendy's caboose.

@ed h posted:

The 9356 Life Savers Pep-O-Mint tank car appears in the 1980 Advance/Toy Fair catalog, but it was canceled. Its not shown in the regular 1980 catalog. Certainly would have made for a colorful tank car.

The TTOS Southwest Division did a series of Life Saver tank cars.  The Life Savers Pep-O-Mint tank car was one of them.  However, it was not the pinkish/reddish paint scheme shown in the 1980 cat.  It was done in a blueish scheme.  I know where one is available & most likely "mint".  However, the person who has it wants to sell the "entire series" as a lot at the February Train Meet.  If that doesn't work, he may be willing to sell the cars individually.  Anyone interested may Email me with their phone number.

@jim sutter posted:

Since we are back on MPC we should mention the fast food train. It was catalog in the small 1981 catalog. This set was a very good seller for us.

It came with a #8160 GP-20 diesel painted up for Burger King, #7509 Kentucky Fried Chicken reefer, #7510 Red Lobster reefer, #7511 Pizza Hut reefer, #7512

Arthur Treacher's reefer, #7513 Bonanza reefer, #7514 Taco Bell reefer and a #6449 Wendy's caboose.

Here is the Fast Food set from the 1981 catalog.  The 1981 Advance/Toy Fair catalog is actually full size, as it contains Lionel Trains, MPC model kits and Craft Master lineup. Never did make sense why for the regular catalog in 1981 they went with the mini size one.

"All items sold separately, not as a complete set"

@ADCX Rob posted:

"All items sold separately, not as a complete set"

Yeah, there was a reason for that.  I read it in one of the McComas books.  Something to do with 'royalties' I believe.

I don’t recall anyone posting one of my favorite series, the “Turn of the Century” Woodside Reefers. These were certainly different for that period in MPC and great looking cars which had the die cast sprung trucks. These are the only weathered looking rolling stock in my collection. They look great behind a post war Berk.

ed h.

Thank you for posting a  picture of the Fast Food Train and the small Lionel Catalog.

I never understood why Lionel made all those operating hoppers but never made the coal ramp.

Rich that is a great series. It was the only factory weathered items produced by Lionel until recently.  After making the trek from Massapequa to to a LHS in Brooklyn to find a much smaller O gauge selection than anticipated. I bought the Oppenheimer and National Dairy Despatch reefers, I believe I paid less than $20 each.  The boxes were dirty so I didn't realize the cars were weathered.  Fast forward to an OGR article by Ed Boyle about the series.  Well those may be the only two collectible items I have.  I better get the rest.  So started the hunt.  The Budweiser reefer commanded a premium whenever I saw it at train shows, $70 - $100 which was way more than I was willing to pay.  I eventually completed the series and even came up with a second Budweiser reefer for a very good price.

@coach joe posted:

Rich that is a great series. It was the only factory weathered items produced by Lionel until recently.  After making the trek from Massapequa to to a LHS in Brooklyn to find a much smaller O gauge selection than anticipated. I bought the Oppenheimer and National Dairy Despatch reefers, I believe I paid less than $20 each.  The boxes were dirty so I didn't realize the cars were weathered.  Fast forward to an OGR article by Ed Boyle about the series.  Well those may be the only two collectible items I have.  I better get the rest.  So started the hunt.  The Budweiser reefer commanded a premium whenever I saw it at train shows, $70 - $100 which was way more than I was willing to pay.  I eventually completed the series and even came up with a second Budweiser reefer for a very good price.

Coach I picked these up these “Turn of the Century” reefers at a train show on the Island when they came out. I checked my notes and I paid $85 for all eight, what a bargain, I didn’t hesitate.

Rich that was a steal even back then.  Was it a local show or one of the big ones.  I used to love going to the big one at the church in Elmont, I can't believe I'm drawing a blank on the name, and some of the big travelling shows used to roll through at Hofstra or Stony Brook.

I had this great looking 8 car set, too, for about a week. Got it off a guy on AOL, for $100, shipped. You’ve heard of buyer’s remorse? This guy had seller’s remorse. Contacted me, and was willing to pay me $150, plus return shipping, to buy it back. My initial thought was he got a much better price from someone else, after he had sold it. I’d already had that happen to me on AOL. Anyway, I sent it back to him for original price and return shipping.

Coach Joe, that was the St. Vincent De Paul show. I lived 10 mins away in Queens Village. Attended that show many times.

One of my favorite sets from the early MPC era is the 1972 Service Station Special Set. Most folks think the SSS sets started in 1973, but there were SSS sets in 1971 and 1972. The 1972 set consist of the following:

8206 NYC Hudson

9111 N & W quad hopper

9151 Shell 1 dome tank car

9707 MKT stock car

9709 B & A State of Maine boxcar

9710 Rutland boxcar

9162 Pennsylvania N5c caboose

While the 1973 and later SSS sets can be found quite easily, the 1971 and 1972 SSS sets are quite tough to find.

@coach joe posted:

Rich that was a steal even back then.  Was it a local show or one of the big ones.  I used to love going to the big one at the church in Elmont, I can't believe I'm drawing a blank on the name, and some of the big travelling shows used to roll through at Hofstra or Stony Brook.

I know it wasn’t one of the big shows. There was a series of shows on Sundays during the winter in the early 1980’s, if I remember correctly, at various American Legion, Elks or Moose lodges.  Some were in Nassau but more were in Suffolk. Unfortunately, I didn’t keep track of the shows or date when I made my purchases, just the model and price. Those shows were good times, I certainly do miss those types of shows and those prices.

Speaking of MPC, Here is a picture of the original Disney Train and the State Set with the thirteen original state box cars.

Richard Cuozzo,  thought it was St. Vincent DePaul but somehow convinced myself that wasn't correct.

Rich those small shows were everywhere.  Like you said the VFW or Legion Hall.  Ever go to the one in the Ronkokoma Bingo hall?

Yes a couple of times, starting in Jan. of 1988.  And Franklin Square, and two different halls in Babylon, and Lindenhurst and so on...........

Was the 5712 Lionel lines reefer considered part of the weathered 5700 reefer series?

What made it so valuable back in the day?

No the 5712 Lionel Lines reefer was not part of the weathered 5700 series reefers. I think what made it so valuable was it was very scares.

@aussteve posted:

Was the 5712 Lionel lines reefer considered part of the weathered 5700 reefer series?

What made it so valuable back in the day?

I bought one for $13 from someplace in Arizona back when they came out, eventually sold it, boy have I made a few dumb decisions.

Speaking of dumb decisions, I remember when Lionel made the I love Pennsylvania box car. I told my wife we better order several.  So I ordered 144. The first 48 went pretty good. The rest of them it took forever to get rid of them.

@Rich Wiemann posted:

I know it wasn’t one of the big shows. There was a series of shows on Sundays during the winter in the early 1980’s, if I remember correctly, at various American Legion, Elks or Moose lodges.  Some were in Nassau but more were in Suffolk. Unfortunately, I didn’t keep track of the shows or date when I made my purchases, just the model and price. Those shows were good times, I certainly do miss those types of shows and those prices.

Here ya go Rich:

It was a great show!

@Richard Cuozzo posted:

Yes a couple of times, starting in Jan. of 1988.  And Franklin Square, and two different halls in Babylon, and Lindenhurst and so on...........

At that time there was at least one show every Sunday from October to April here on LI

Two in Babylon (one was on Post Ave and the other about a half a mile away), one in Lindenhurst, one in Elmont, Greenberg in Hempstead, one in Franklin Square, one in East Islip, one in Bohemia, etc.

I went to every one with a couple friends

@Lionelski thanks John. I’m sure I went to that one. They were a nice way to end a winter weekend.