Ok..I'm really thinking about buying a Super 381 in Milwaukee colors. I think its a beauty. However, finding the state cars to go with is a real challenge. What is a good alternative to put behind this mammoth? Also, should I go traditional or contempoary? Im thinking about buying this weekend!
Sunrise
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try this link for a 4 car set on ebay
Personally I prefer traditional, it's truer to the prewar style. Plus, less to go wrong and it'll have that great smell of ozone.
John
I've noted that a lot of folks on this forum ask the opinions of other members, most, complete strangers, other than forum chatter, on what they should buy. There are a lot of personal reasons for buying any luxury item, such as these trains, and those decisions may be best left to the buyer, because in the end, you are the one that has to be content with your purchase.
After collecting for maybe 5 years or so, my older hobby mentor told me once that I knew just as much, if not more, in some areas, as the respected experts, and I realized he was right. That's when I found I no longer needed help in those decisions.
These are newer items, so the preferences between road names and whether or not it's traditional or contemporary are purely personal preference, and not based on condition or collector value, as a general rule. A guy like me would default to traditional, and Allen would probably default to Contemporary. Both of us would do that every time, so you can find any answer you want to validate your own opinion (you have an opinion on this, you just may not realize it yet), or go against it.
Buy what you like, and remember that your opinion is just as valid as someone else's, and more so when it comes to your own collection.
I've always been indifferent to the difference between traditional and contemporary in Standard Gauge. Generally I buy what I can get the best deal on. My Super 381 is a traditional version that I picked up from an estate on eBay. It had some problems (previous owner abuse and bad packing), took me several hours to get it sorted out, but to get a Super for under 900 bucks it was worth it. That said, if I were buying a new one and the price was the same, I'd get the contemporary. I think the sound and the passenger announcements would be kind of fun, and the can motors run quieter than the Bild-a-Locos on the traditional version.
As for cars, the only alternative I could think of is the cars from a Lionel Hiawatha. Those cars would look good with the Super but I don't know how well the colors match. Occasionally somebody breaks up a Hiawatha set and sells the cars and locomotive separately on eBay. As it happens, there's a set of passenger cars on the Bay right now. The current bid is only 600 bucks and it closes tomorrow. Here's the linK:
Apart from that, the cars that go with the loco are really the only thing that will look right with that monster If you can't find some at a dealer at an acceptable price, I'd just wait and see what turns up on the Bay. I actually got my cars before the locomotive, just because a set turned up on eBay and I got them (relatively) cheap. In the meantime, you can always pull a train of 200 series freight cars. Just think how many cars it would pull.
Have fun, and be very careful handling the Super. Always support the wheels when handling it - the motor mounts are kind of flimsy and the weight of the motors can bend them out of shape. That happened to mine before I got it and I had lots of fun taking it apart and fixing it. Oh, and if you have bridges on your layout, be sure they are strong enough. That thing is heavy.
As a suggestion, 200 series freight rolling stock look just fine behind the Super 381. Not passenger, but...
Own a Traditional Super 381 in green. Cautions about picking up this engine are spot on. Because each of the two motors and added weights (for traction) are mounted on one of the two swinging pilots, before picking this baby up I reinsert the foam pieces that keep the pilots fixed during shipping. Lifting the engine from under the center chassis under the cab works well. The Traditional Super weighs nearly 30 lbs.
Very much worth having, the Super 381 is one of the truly special pieces of modern tinplate.
Bob
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