Pull out the MPC!

Black and white CP box cars.

9842 Cheerios woodside reefer.

9141 error car.

Thanks for the large pic's - it took me a few moments before I saw the Registered (circle R) at the right most 'toe' of the letter 'H'.  Very cool!

@ogaugetrains23 posted:

9842 Cheerios woodside reefer.

Now we are talking.

JC642: You ask an interesting question about the early colorful sets...I have the Crescent, Blue Comet, and PRR Broadway and all (I think) the "extra cars".  They are still NIB (except for short test runs when first acquired) mainly because from when I got them (1970's) to 2019  I did not have a layout of any sort.

Don

These are all great shots of the MPC era. Does anyone have a 6-8307 Southern Pacific Daylight that they would like to share. This is number one in my bucket list.

Keep those trains running!

Jeff

@Jeffery Boat posted:

These are all great shots of the MPC era. Does anyone have a 6-8307 Southern Pacific Daylight that they would like to share. This is number one in my bucket list.

Keep those trains running!

Jeff

This is from a couple of years ago, after I picked up a Legacy version of the 4449 - the 8307 is on the near track and the Legacy version is on the far track. Since I hadn’t run it in years and don’t run conventional these days, I passed it along to a fellow forumite with the understanding that it wouldn’t be desecrated

@ogaugetrains23 posted:

Black and white CP box cars.

Which car was sold only in the set?

@Apples55 posted:

This is from a couple of years ago, after I picked up a Legacy version of the 4449 - the 8307 is on the near track and the Legacy version is on the far track. Since I hadn’t run it in years and don’t run conventional these days, I passed it along to a fellow forumite with the understanding that it wouldn’t be desecrated

Wow! Lucky friend. Thanks for sharing.

Keep those trains running!

Jeff

Here's a couple of MPC beauties I picked up at local train shows for next to nothing. Both required a little "love" when I brought them home, but fresh lubrication and a good cleaning restored them to like new condition.

These are my favorite MPC era sets.  Santa Fe freight was my first train, given to me on Christmas during the late 70s.  Ran that thing to an inch of its life and then rebuilt it.  I even had the same haircut as the kid on the box.

The other set is my father’s favorite, a Southern Crescent 8702. Like new and in great shape.

@ogaugetrains23 posted:

9842 Cheerios woodside reefer.

@WRW posted:

Now we are talking.

Those are nice cars. They were hard to find, and high dollar.

@ogaugetrains23 posted:

Black and white CP box cars.

@Mark V. Spadaro posted:

Which car was sold only in the set?

These were not part of any set. They were produced in '74 and '75, with the white-lettered version produced first, and later the black-lettered version. The black-lettered one is scarcer.

You may be thinking of the no. 9417 and the no. 9729. These two cars were only available as part of the Great Plains Express set. The 9729 was in the set from '78-'79. and it was replaced by the 9417 in the second version of the set in 1980. I remember buying the set to get the car, not knowing whether the 9729 or 9417 would be inside (it was the 9417). I picked up the 9729 later. I have all or nearly all these Pacman cars, and run them behind a LionChief Plus CP Rail GP38. Makes a very colorful train.

Thanks for clarifying that.

@breezinup posted:

These were not part of any set. They were produced in '74 and '75, with the white-lettered version produced first, and later the black-lettered version. The black-lettered one is scarcer.

You may be thinking of the no. 9417 and the no. 9729. These two cars were only available as part of the Great Plains Express set. The 9729 was in the set from '78-'79. and it was replaced by the 9417 in the second version of the set in 1980. I remember buying the set to get the car, not knowing whether the 9729 or 9417 would be inside (it was the 9417). I picked up the 9729 later. I have all or nearly all these Pacman cars, and run them behind a LionChief Plus CP Rail GP38. Makes a very colorful train.

Fairly certain the 1866 Great Plains Express was only offered in 1978 and 1979, it does not appear in the 1980 catalog.  Here are the photos from the 1978 and 1979 catalog.

At one time, I owned several CP Rail box cars including numbers 9208, 9703, 9713, 9729 from the set and the 9730 black version which I sold at some point.  I still have the 9417, 9730 white, and a few other CP Rail box cars.

I bought the 9417 at some train show a long time ago when I was trying to acquire all of the CP Rail box cars, I gave that idea up sometime after buying the 6464-399 (6-29252) box car in 1999.  Interestingly enough, written on the end of the box for the 9417 (originally a 9730 box) is "GOLD LETTERING SCARCE - from the #1866 'Great Plains Express' FRT set." The 9417 CP Rail box car is stamped "BLT 1-79" to the right of the door.

The recent discussion of the 6565 CP Rail box car has renewed my interest in these cars, but so far, I have resisted.

I remember the CP boxcars were a sore point with a number of collectors ( you can read all about it on page 99 of Volume IV of the McComas and Tuohy Lionel Collector's Guide and History).  If you wanted the complete run you had the choice of either purchasing a number of sets or trying to find a dealer who would break up sets and sell you the individual car.  This was particularly true for the CP cars - in 1978 the Great Plains Express came with a CP in black with white lettering (9729) and in 1979 it came with a CP car in gold lettering (9417).

ogaugetrains23, Back in 1997, I purchased a case of #9832 Cherrios reefers from Allison Cox. Mr. Cox was the largest Lionel distributor on the west coast.

Don Winslow, Your Pennsy diesels were one of the first Lionel trains I purchased.

Jstraw124, The first time I went to York was 1976. It was at the 1977 show I saw the Southern Crescent set. It was the first train that turned my head from American Flyer.

@ed h posted:

Here is Southern Crescent locomotive and passenger cars as shown in the 1977 catalog.

Here's another colorful but nearly forgotten MPC set from 1985 that was not too popular  but still very nice.

joe

Some more of my MPC collection.

@ed h posted:

Fairly certain the 1866 Great Plains Express was only offered in 1978 and 1979, it does not appear in the 1980 catalog.  Here are the photos from the 1978 and 1979 catalog.

You may be right, but the Greenberg's Guide to Lionel Trains 1970-1991 book says, with respect to the 9417 and the Great Plains Express set, that "This car was shown in the 1979 catalogue, but it did not become part of the set until 1980, when it replaced the 9729 car." There might have been some additional production of the set in 1980, although it wasn't shown in the catalog.

These are some shells of the 8854 Geep that came with the Great Plains set, awaiting mounting on some Post War Celebration chassis I have, to give them TMCC, RailSounds, electrocouplers, directional lighting and crew figures. Really sharp paint jobs on these, incidentally.

@JC642 posted:

Here's another colorful but nearly forgotten MPC set from 1985 that was not too popular  but still very nice.

joe

This is really a beautiful set. Still like to get it sometime, and then convert it to TMCC. Not sure that it wasn't too popular; it seemed more like it was just hard to find. It was the only passenger set in the Fallen Flag series.

So many great memories.

This thread is now on pg. 9 with 343 posts (in only 3 weeks!!!). I think the less than stellar ideas that many people have about MPC may not be truly warranted!!! I started in trains in the late PW period. The variety and colorful nature of the early MPC trains was, at the time, a revelation. While I don’t run many of the MPC era cars on my roster, I still appreciate them, realizing that they were the genesis of the trains we have today.

LONG LIVE MPC

I went to a train show today not looking for anything in particular. Then I saw it a like new Chessie Steam Special engine with very little run time, got a excellent deal and was on my way home with a big smile.

First thing I did was open up the tender as recommended here and sure enough the board was loose and the foam deteriorated. Quick clean up and new double stick tape installed.

Got it to run and the sounds work. I tried to post video but had upload problems I'll try later.

This MPC thread has been enjoyable and everyones posts have been great to see.

Here's what sound of steam sounds like. I may install a on/off switch because I believe there is no volume control. The whistle sounds like the Cannonball on Petticoat Junction .

I removed the sound of steam parts in my MPC 779 tender, and made it a 2426RS Railsounds II Tender. Much more enjoyable now.

still NIB...

@breezinup posted:

This is really a beautiful set. Still like to get it sometime, and then convert it to TMCC. Not sure that it wasn't too popular; it seemed more like it was just hard to find. It was the only passenger set in the Fallen Flag series.

Yes it was a beautiful set and yes, it is hard to find.   The Wabash set was the only passenger set of the Fallen flags series but also the last passenger set cataloged by MPC before they transitioned to Kenner Parker.   The set didn't sell well and was blown out because among other things a growing number of fussy collectors didn't care for the engine.  I believe LTI reissued the set a few years later with a more prototypical engine

@Secarider posted:

I removed the sound of steam parts in my MPC 779 tender, and made it a 2426RS Railsounds II Tender. Much more enjoyable now.

Those are the tenders I put behind my 783, 784 and 785 Hudsons.  I also replaced the front tender truck with a pickup truck.

@Apples55 posted:

This thread is now on pg. 9 with 343 posts (in only 3 weeks!!!). I think the less than stellar ideas that many people have about MPC may not be truly warranted!!!

LONG LIVE MPC

Yup. If you hear disparaging remarks about MPC, you're talking to the wrong people! 

In a recent different thread, a question came up regarding a 1975 mpc set.  It was suggested to post the catalog page in this thread, some top of the line sets for 1975.

Also the 1975 75th Anniversary set.

Here's our MPC set - An early 70's Silver Star set that I inherited from a relative, back in the early 80's.

No original box (a brown paper grocery bag if I recall correctly).

We did some cleanup and had the SoS board repaired (which now needs to be repaired again) and we added fuel trailer, coal load, containers, etc.

Yes, the cars are def. starter set quality but they've held up well and the set still runs great.

@Apples55 I agree with you 100%! MPC has made somewhat of a renaissance in the last few years and, in my opinion, is a lot of fun to collect. Thank you all for keeping this thread rolling! Lots of great collections being shared here.

Cannot forget about these MPC beauties.  Simple, timeless and no electronics to speak of to fail.   All one needs is a little love to get them going.

ed h,

I have always been partial to the 75th Anniversary U36B - Thanks for posting the pics

The color scheme is tastefully done - it makes the cars look gimmicked up

Thanks, ed h!  The B&O passenger set was the first passenger set I put together when I got back into Lionel as a young adult.  I bought the engine and cars separately and then found a box for them.  I also picked up some of the add-ons.  When I shifted focus, I sold the set, but i was sorry to see it go.

I had wanted a passenger set for years, and she was my first

@EMD posted:

ed h,

I have always been partial to the 75th Anniversary U36B - Thanks for posting the pics

The color scheme is tastefully done - it makes the cars look gimmicked up

I like the 1975 75th Anniversary set also and I purchased one a few years ago. Was thinking perhaps the cars may have looked better if they were all the same color or red/silver like the engine and caboose.

@JC642 posted:

Cannot forget about these MPC beauties..... 

That turbine was the same engine mechanically as the bulletproof Postwar versions, but the decoration was far superior. First, it was painted the Pennsy dark green, rather than black. Like them or not, the whitewalls also really made it stand out (and easy to paint over if someone felt the need).  Another neat feature is that the tender has red rear marker lights, which the Postwar engines never had.