Tail End Tuesday

@Pingman posted:

Les' NYC RDC by Williams and a NYC work caboose from the club's loaner inventory:

Nice Carl.         It's always cool to see the variety of equipment forum members have to share with us .

@WesternPacific2217 posted:

Vern, I hear ya, doesn't seem to be a lot of Southern Pacific roads in O scale! Which is strange, it was a huge railroad until Union Pacific gobbled them up. One day I hope to pick up a standard SP work horse Pacific Class, like 2472, that is still in operation with the PLA. And I would love to have a Lionel Legacy SP GS-X (X=2, 3, 4, 5, 6) in just plain old black. And then some Pullman passenger cars like might have been seen on the San Francisco to San Jose commuter trains in the the day.

That would be great, Scott. I guess we can always hope.

I'd even like to see the SP F diesels and passenger cars in the silver with redish-orange stripe livery that was used after the Daylight colors, but I'm not holding my breath. In the summer of 1968, I took an espy San Francisco Peninsula commuter pulled by a GP-9, from Redwood City down to San Jose, then changed to espy's Coast Daylight to Paso Robles. The Daylight at that time had the silver and stripe livery. But I've never seen that espy paint scheme modeled in any scale. Ah, the good ol' days. 😉

Not a very good picture, But are you talking about this paint scheme?

@shasta posted:

Not a very good picture, But are you talking about this paint scheme?

Shasta, I'll let Vern answer about the livery, but those are beautifully detailed passenger cars. If I had to guess, GGD or 3rd rail?!

Well folks, you were complaining about the lack of SP rolling stock and this is after all Tail End Tuesday (although its no longer Tuesday)...so I leave it for Mr. Marx to provide some input to this discussion.  Below, the Marx 7" lithograph SP caboose from 1952-1955 humble input though it may be.

Best Wishes

Don

@shasta posted:

Not a very good picture, But are you talking about this paint scheme?

Thanks Scott, and I’m with him, Shasta. Those ARE beautiful cars and yes, that is the paint scheme! I believe this is the first time I’ve seen these on any model train forum and thank you for sharing. 👍

That’s a unique caboose, Don and very rare, I imagine.

Lionel Sunset Limited. They were the last 18" cars I ordered from Lionel. Before they arrived I bought a GGD 21" Daylight set and 21" for all my new  purchases. I have sold off all my 18" cars  except that 2 car set and a K-line 18" Golden State  Observation. Just last month I took that Sunset Limited  set down to my LHS ,  It's on consignment. They were/are new in the box and I took them out and ran them around my layout one time to be sure everything  functioned  properly.  They are very nice cars , wish they were 21".

Shasta, I remember seeing those SP Sunset Limited cars in a Lionel catalog a few years back. Thanks again for sharing that with us.

My late TET due to upstate NY Storm and getting over a foot of snow! 2 days no power, Glad I have a generator.  Have to keep the local bar and church with some power.

@shasta posted:

Lionel Sunset Limited. They were the last 18" cars I ordered from Lionel. Before they arrived I bought a GGD 21" Daylight set and 21" for all my new  purchases. I have sold off all my 18" cars  except that 2 car set and a K-line 18" Golden State  Observation. Just last month I took that Sunset Limited  set down to my LHS ,  It's on consignment. They were/are new in the box and I took them out and ran them around my layout one time to be sure everything  functioned  properly.  They are very nice cars , wish they were 21".

Shasta, thanks for sharing that. For Lionel those are some nice passenger cars, and nice to see SP in something other than Daylight colors.

Vern thanks for your comment on my humble caboose.  Marx made the 7" cars in direct response to Unique Lines unexpected entry into the toy train field in 1948.  He pressed them into production and had them ready for the Christmas season of '49.  Unique turned out to be more a "flash in the pan" and quit trains soon after introduction. Marx continued with these cars till about 1955 but by then was moving to plastic.  I rarely use the term "rare" with Marx as his business philosophy was "low price / volume sales" but as its nearly 70 years old and in reasonably good shape its certainly unusual.  Thanks again for your comment.

Best Wishes

Don

Your welcome, Don. There was a guy on another forum who frequently posted running his various Marx trains for awhile. My very first electric train in the early 1950s was a Marx and I liked them before moving to Lionel in the mid-1950s.

Maybe you’ll want to keep that caboose as a family heirloom to pass down. It’s pretty and unusual. 👍

Have a great TET all, PW Lionel trolley making a run,

Here's my rears for this fine Tuesday!

Caboose track at the Edgewater Yard of the Baltimore & New York Ry.  Individual photos of them with notes are also included below.  S. Islander.

Well hello T.E.T. fans, and yes I know its Wed.  Sorry I am a day late but couldn't be helped wife has medical  treatments on Tuesday in Ft.Worth over 100 miles away and we didn't get home till late last night.  So I have elected to post on Wednesday rather than miss a week in one of my favorite threads!  

Today I have an interesting "Observation Car" the Lionel # 604 from 1920-25.  This one is from about the middle of that era due to its color scheme and trim, likely around 1922.  It has a matching Pullman #603 and both are illuminated, which was an extra feature in those days.  

In the picture below you can see the product number, 604, its the only place on the car where it is printed.  The earliest of these cars, 1920-21, had "New York Central" over the windows but this was dropped around 1922  although not much else changed.

Yes, it has a few "bumps and bruises" but I like to think of them as "badges of honor" earned while providing some young person from a century ago great joy!

Well here it is T.E.T. again and it looks like I am following myself from last week.  Oh well, lets try to keep this going as I think its fun...Today I am moving nearly 90 years ahead from last week.  This caboose, which I find strangely enough not listed in any of my collector's guides, dates from about 2011.  It was part of a set, called if I recall, the NYC flyer.  Its really a nice car with lots of detail and add on features.  Its illuminated of course.  So here is the Lionel #36670 NYC work caboose/

I especially like the wood sheathing and rivet detail worked into the casting.

Best wishes everyone for Tuesday, even though I am actually a little early since this in Monday night.

Have a great week

Don

Hear's my rears for what will be a fine Tuesday!  

Brakeman Clem Coogle rides the rear step of B&O Docksider number 97.ra

MOW worker Lou Dinkins takes in the scenery while on break.

The slope back rear of a switcher's tender ... or should it be a tender rear end?

It's 12:02 AM EDT, so here's Chief Drew's Williams 18" MR six car train from last Saturday morning at the club:

Rusty

A little Military Tail end -

Have a great TET, Pennsy rear end.

I just got my latest passenger set running on the layout, here's the tail end of it. It's a Lionel Classics Railchief set!

Had to spend some time lubricating all the cars. These Railchiefs are heavier than they look, the roofs and frames are all solid castings. The gentleman I purchased this from claimed that it ran better than his rare original one since the reproductions have nice pickup rollers instead of sliding contacts.

Here's a video of the Railchief running with my MTH American Legacy 700e Hudson!

@trumpettrain posted:

Hear's my rears for what will be a fine Tuesday!  

Brakeman Clem Coogle rides the rear step of B&O Docksider number 97.ra

MOW worker Lou Dinkins takes in the scenery while on break.

The slope back rear of a switcher's tender ... or should it be a tender rear end?

Hello Patrick, great photos and you have the gift when it comes to creative names! Clem Coogle! ;-) You have some serious rust buckets too! I like 'em!

Here's my Tail of another story, and I'm gonna give it a go on interesting names! It's Noob Popper and Duckie Doozer waving by and sayin', "See ya'll next time 'round"! And as short as my oval mainline is it won't be long before they return. :-)

Happy TeT!

@Yellowstone Special

I too, like the Southern Pacific colors on those switchers. They look like they’re right out of the paint shop.

Funny, but to me, the Southern Pacific doesn’t seem to be modeled much by O scalers. I hardly see any espy locomotives and cars, other than the Daylight, on any of the forums.

John

Yes, I’m another guy who likes to see photos of the SP locomotives and cars on layouts on the forums too.
We run mainly SP on our layout, and I sure remember those Harriman cars running down the peninsula from San Francisco when I was a kid.

@WP posted:

Yes, I’m another guy who likes to see photos of the SP locomotives and cars on layouts on the forums too.
We run mainly SP on our layout, and I sure remember those Harriman cars running down the peninsula from San Francisco when I was a kid.

Glad to learn of this, John. Seems like you, WesternPacific Scott, and me, are among the few who liked the old espy for something besides its Daylight trains. 😉

@WP posted:

Yes, I’m another guy who likes to see photos of the SP locomotives and cars on layouts on the forums too.
We run mainly SP on our layout, and I sure remember those Harriman cars running down the peninsula from San Francisco when I was a kid.

Nice scene John

@WesternPacific2217 posted:

Here's my Tail of another story, and I'm gonna give it a go on interesting names! It's Noob Popper and Duckie Doozer waving by and sayin', "See ya'll next time 'round"! And as short as my oval mainline is it won't be long before they return. :-)

Happy

Nice looking tail end Scott. 🤓   If that is Nood Pooper hanging off .....he'd better get tucked in before the next obstacle comes up or he'll have to change clothes

@Dallas Joseph posted:

Nice scene John

Thank you Dallas Joseph!

Don that is a nice work caboose, especially from a set.  Tons of cast in detail as you noted.  Even the floor boards have wood grain.  Placement of the brake wheel is different also.  I'm used to seeing them in the end handrail.

Thanks Coach Joe, I agree I thought the detail and brakewheel placement was unique.

Best Wishes

Don

Have a nice TET,

It's Tuesday!   Here's my rears!  

Association of American Railroads caboose and Canton Railroad caboose by RMT and MTH respectively.

Lionel special run train set made for Schweppes Ginger Ale, celebrating Commander Whitehead of the British Armed Forces during WW2  ... who later became the spokesman for Schweppes.  My friend, and fellow OGR Forum member Randy Harrison, spotted this set at a show we both were attending.  I immediately had to buy it because this set had my last name on it .. Whitehead!  

REA truck rear end.

Patrick great pictures and the “Whitehead’s pass train I had never seen before…cool!!

Sitka great end shots and as well as the trains you captured a ‘56 or ‘57 Vette and a ‘55 Buick.  Neat !!

Best wishes all

Don

Tail end of New York City bound passenger train.

Well I have something you might think unusual today, especially when compared to all the beautiful and scale sized stock that others have pictured.  Think 1928-29 as the Great Depression takes hold.  American Flyer (like other manufacturers) looks to improve their low end products and reduce pricing.  In this case they come up with a rather imaginative mechanism.  They manage to figure out how to make quite a robust little passenger car at about 5" long by lithographing excellent details and beautiful colors on one flat sheet of solid steel.  They then form the car by simply folding that sheet into the car shape, including the ends and the couplers.  In the early years, the Pullman cars of this sort carried the number 515 and sets with these cars were carried at key suppliers until the  middle 30's.  So what about T.E.T.? Well that is the cool thing, in about 1932 and lasting until about 1935 to add renewed interest to these sets, an Observation Car, # 513, joined the consist.  This was made the same way as the Pullman but the observation end was stamped to look like a railing with a canopy above.  Same "flat" manufacture, just a few more folds and some stamped out openings.

So here is the American Flyer #513 Observation car of 1932-1935.  First the side view, showing the quite elaborate amount of detail contained in the lithographed printing and the fact it is done in 3 colors (yellow, black, and red). The car, not including the couplers is about 5" long.

Next, a rear quarter view, showing the aft of car and the observation platform.

Finally here is the classic, T.E.T. view.  Note the retaining tabs on the right hand side, these were fastened after the steel sheet was folded over to create the car shape.  They only have to be on one side as that is the only "free" side after the sheet is folded.

Well, I know I am late today but I hope you enjoyed this little "depression era warrior".  Remember, it was these simple, inexpensive, trains that kept our manufacturers solvent (or at least close) during the enormous upheaval brought on by the Depression which actually did "take" Dorfan and Ives as well as others.

You know, this may be a sacrilege to brand purists, but I just realized that this black, yellow and red color scheme matches my new #54 Marx KCS FM metal lithographed diesels ( Posted on "midwest Monday" for 5/9)...Wow, maybe I can make a set.  If this works I will try to have some video of the resulting "hybrid".

Best Regards

Don

Wow, @@Don McErlean, from the cool Southern Pacific caboose, possibly a Marx Ltd edition caboose, near the top of the page, and vintage 1922 tinplate collectibles, really cool, and then the beautiful 1930’s American Flyer depression era presidential campaign observation car, all unique and always fun to review, all really neat, @Pingman, oh what a beautiful Milwaukee road passenger set on a beautiful layout, a Wow, and there are so many neat cabooses and beautiful scenes pictured on this fun to review thread. Happy Railroading Everyone

Larry, Just wonderful! You have an Amazing collection that just doesn't stop!

Here's a tail from another story! The California Zephyr leaving Paradise for Chicago.

Don McErlean writes:

”This caboose, which I find strangely enough not listed in any of my collector's guides, dates from about 2011.  It was part of a set, called if I recall, the NYC flyer.  Its really a nice car with lots of detail and add on features.  Its illuminated of course.  So here is the Lionel #36670 NYC work caboose.”

From the 6-30200 NYC Flyer Freight Set. There are several other Lionel freight sets with similar names.