The K-Line Texas Special

That's SOME SERIOUS train. WOW !!!!!!!!

Congratulations on picking up a truly beautiful set,  The Texas Special, as it’s one of my favorites. I sure wish K-Line was still a vendor in our current market, they brought a lot of nice trains to the market and gave Lionel, MTH, and others good competition. Thanks for sharing your set with the OGR Forum. Happy Railroading Everyone

Great set. Enjoy them. I am fortunate enough to have a set of the 18" K-Line Texas Special passenger cars. Like you, I miss K-Line. And Weaver. And the old MTH. The competition was great for us.

Gerry

K-Line 18” Aluminum passenger cars were the best.

Completely agree with the assemment of the K Line 18" aluminum cars.  Have a  12-car UP "City of Los Angeles", 7-car Illinois Central "City of New Orleans", and the Lackawanna 7-car consist (includes duplicate models of coach # 321) of the "Phoebe Snow".  All are prized possessions.

After 6 years of searching almost everywhere except the full compliment of K Line paper catalogs, still have not been able to determine how many 18" Aluminum Lackawanna cars were produced by the company.  A couple of years ago came close to buying the catalogs, but missed out by a couple of hours.  

Looking for a forum member who has the K Line catalogs and could identify what was actually produced.

@Martin Dougherty posted:

Completely agree with the assemment of the K Line 18" aluminum cars.  Have a  12-car UP "City of Los Angeles", 7-car Illinois Central "City of New Orleans", and the Lackawanna 7-car consist (includes duplicate models of coach # 321) of the "Phoebe Snow".  All are prized possessions.

After 6 years of searching almost everywhere except the full compliment of K Line paper catalogs, still have not been able to determine how many 18" Aluminum Lackawanna cars were produced by the company.  A couple of years ago came close to buying the catalogs, but missed out by a couple of hours.  

Looking for a forum member who has the K Line catalogs and could identify what was actually produced.

Here is what I could find on the K-Line 18" Aluminum Lackawanna cars:

2004 2nd Edition K-4643F 4 Pac.  Super Dome #58, River Grove Cafe/Parlor #184, Priest Rapids Observation #189 & Baggage #1317.

K4643G 2 Pac. Super Dome #59 & Rock Valley Parlor. K761-1375 Express Service Box

2005 1st Edition. Same cars as above but added a second 2 Pac.  K-4643H 2 pac. 'Madison' Pullman #19 & Coach #451

Thank you for the response and the information.  My only source for the K Line 18" extruded aluminum smooth side "Phoebe Snow" passenger cars is the Legacy K Line Trains site on the internet.  I think the site is a very good record of the K Line cars produced, but it is not an official K Line site and does not have all the information contained in the company's paper cataloges. For me, the critical things missing in the K Line Legacy Trains site are item specifics such as car names and numbers.

The site's listing appears to report only one production run, which may have been the case.   But another forum member reported a few month ago in another thread that the 18" Lackawanna "Phoebe Snow" aluminum cars may have been the subject of two seperate production runs.   I have not been able to confirm this as the K Line Legacy trains site lists the cars in question only in the 2005 1st edition catalog (K-4638D as a 4-pac and K-4638E as a 2-pac).  As noted above, the car names and numbers are not provided and the few car images accompanying the listings are too small to decipher.

The information you sent for the K Line  Milwaukee Road cars has the car specifics I have been searching for and it matches some of the Milwaukee Road cars that I have in my collection.  My 18" 6-car Lackawanna aluminum "Phoebe Snow" consist has:

1). United States Mail Railway Post Office, 2). Pullman Sleeper Cohocton, 3). Pullman sleeper Tobyhanna, 4). Coach #321, 5). Diner # 469, 6). Tavern Longue # 789.

If it is not too much trouble and you have a copy of the 2005 1st edition, I would greatly appreciate it if you could check to see if the car names and numbers for the "Phoebe Snow" are listed.

Thank you

@Martin Dougherty posted:

Thank you for the response and the information.  My only source for the K Line 18" extruded aluminum smooth side "Phoebe Snow" passenger cars is the Legacy K Line Trains site on the internet.  I think the site is a very good record of the K Line cars produced, but it is not an official K Line site and does not have all the information contained in the company's paper cataloges. For me, the critical things missing in the K Line Legacy Trains site are item specifics such as car names and numbers.

The site's listing appears to report only one production run, which may have been the case.   But another forum member reported a few month ago in another thread that the 18" Lackawanna "Phoebe Snow" aluminum cars may have been the subject of two seperate production runs.   I have not been able to confirm this as the K Line Legacy trains site lists the cars in question only in the 2005 1st edition catalog (K-4638D as a 4-pac and K-4638E as a 2-pac).  As noted above, the car names and numbers are not provided and the few car images accompanying the listings are too small to decipher.

The information you sent for the K Line  Milwaukee Road cars has the car specifics I have been searching for and it matches some of the Milwaukee Road cars that I have in my collection.  My 18" 6-car Lackawanna aluminum "Phoebe Snow" consist has:

1). United States Mail Railway Post Office, 2). Pullman Sleeper Cohocton, 3). Pullman sleeper Tobyhanna, 4). Coach #321, 5). Diner # 469, 6). Tavern Longue # 789.

If it is not too much trouble and you have a copy of the 2005 1st edition, I would greatly appreciate it if you could check to see if the car names and numbers for the "Phoebe Snow" are listed.

Thank you

The cars I listed are the 2005 1st Edition car sets with names and numbers.  They were first listed in 2004 2nd Edition and carried over to 2005.  The K4643H 2 car set first appeared in 2005 1st.

The aluminum cars were first issued in 1999 but they were not 18" cars.  The k4638 number appears to be the 15" series of cars.  The only 18" cars issued from 1999 thru 2005 are the ones I listed in the catalogs and I am pretty sure I have all of them from that time period.

There is also the possibility that the catalog name and number listings are incorrect.  It would not be the first time manufacturing and catalog info was different.

Thank you for checking the catalogs - mystery embarrassingly solved.  Your last message triggered the realization that I have been missing a critical point in the search.  I checked the K Line Legacy site again and found that I correctly located the Lackawanna cars in question under two seperate headings ("Catalogs" and "Railroads"), both of which listed the production number and a date for the catalog.  In previous searches, the accompanying catalog date led to the assumption  that the cars were actually included in the printed catalogs for that year.  Obviously this was wrong, but it was what kept me from checking a  third heading, "Club Exclusives".  Clicking on this category provided another web page with the title "List of KCC Exclusive Items" that includes six 18" Lackawanna "Phoebe Snow" aluminum cars along with eight other Lackawanna items: 3 train master diesels, 2 steam locos, a caboose and two express box cars) for sale to K Line club members.  They all represent uncatalogued Lackawanna items.

A quick check of the same category revealed that my other K Line 18" aluminum consists, Union Pacific and Illinois Central, do not have any of the passenger cars listed for KCC only.

I have yet to come across any references to the K Line Club or any collectors association and though I am now almost convinced that the six cars I have represent all that were produced for the 18" "Phoebe Snow," the search will continue at a slower pace.  

In the past, I have had messages from two other model RR's who mentioned that they have the "Phoebe Snow" cars, but did not provide names or numbers.  I will contact them again and try to confirm that the rumored second production run was just a rumor, and to see if their car identities match mine.

Thanks again

Somewhere I have tucked away a new 4 pack of the 0-27 Texas Special cars, and I believe 3 or 4 of the 18" aluminum cars as well - I need to get those moved on out of the house to start thinning the herd...

Hey Martin, could you list the names of your 7 car Illinois Central set please?  I have 6 and am curious as to which one I'm missing.  Thanks!

PS   Did we swap a Lionel EM1 for a white Fender strat some years ago perchance?

MY train clu has a train show this weekend and I will be spending most of today, Saturday, and Sunday at the show.  I had all my IC E unit engines/passenger cars listed on an inventory sheet ready for transfer to the computer, but some cleaning and rearragning efforts resulted in not being able to find the list.  Sunday evening I will pull the boxes out of the closet and place the cars on the layout - time for an engine workout anyway.  The K Line IC cars fit perfectly with my MTH IC cars and I usually run a 12-car consist with either an MTH IC A-B-B-A or the K Line IC A-B-B-A E-6 engine assembly.

Do you have any leads concerning another person on the planet who may have the names of the K Line 18" aluminum "Phoebe Snow" cars?  Very frustrating that for the past six years I have not been able to establish what seems to be a relatively simple task.  

List coming Sunday night.

Very nice.  I always enjoy K-line passenger cars. They were ahead of their times. Thanks for sharing.  Nick T.

I like the Texas Special cars and have the 9 passenger cars in your picture.   The boxcar in the picture interests me.  Is that a K-line item also?  Any chance you have a part number?  Thank You.

@VHubbard posted:

I like the Texas Special cars and have the 9 passenger cars in your picture.   The boxcar in the picture interests me.  Is that a K-line item also?  Any chance you have a part number?  Thank You.

K-517001 Texas Special Classic Blt: 1/95.  Uncataloged item produced for Classic Trains and Toys in Dallas.  Apparently the first pair of Alcos for the Texas Special set were painted wrong color and these Box Cars were given to those customers along with the repainted Alco cabs.

Very limited production

c.sam,

Sorry, not the guy who traded the guitar.

I checked the K Line IC cars last night and I have only the six IC 15/18" extruded aluminum cars.  When I bought them years ago, four (the 18" cars) were in original boxes and two (the 15" cars) were without boxes.  When I stored the unboxed cars I added an extra MTH IC baggage car and mistakenly counted that as part of the original K Line set.

My K Line Illinios Central consist: 15" Aluminum car RPO #403"United States Railway Post Office", 15" Aluminum Combine car #1902 "Lake Pontchartrain", 18" Aluminum Coach # 2613 "Clairborne", 18" Aluminum Sleeper "Bloomington", 18" Diner "Jackson Square", 18" Aluminum Observation car"MardiGras"

Martin

I have the original set from CTT unused along with the replacement shells (the original red was off) and the free boxcar that was sent for the inconvenience.  The set box took a minor "hit" when the ice maker valve in my refrigerator on the floor above sprung a leak.  I was lucky enough to catch it before any major damage.  Just some water stains on the set box.  I too LOVE Texas Special.  Always wanted one as a kid but never got it.  Since then I've been buying everything Texas Special that I could find (within reason).

@Bill DeBrooke posted:

K-517001 Texas Special Classic Blt: 1/95.  Uncataloged item produced for Classic Trains and Toys in Dallas.  Apparently the first pair of Alcos for the Texas Special set were painted wrong color and these Box Cars were given to those customers along with the repainted Alco cabs.

Very limited production

I found the boxcar and got the package today.  Only took 6 months to find one.  YeeHaa.

One more thing.  I don't see any diaphragms in the picture.   Did the diaphragms come in the set and had to be installed, or were they something an owner would add.   Most of my cars came out of the box with 1 or 2 k-line brand diaphragms installed.  I don't know if that is the way they came or the previous owner added them.  There are 6 missing diaphragms on my set and there aren't any of the K-line available.  I have tried various lionel diaphrams, but nothing seems close.

I have the complete set, plus extras, of the K-Line 18" extruded aluminum Golden State passenger cars.  Although the following are not of the 18" variety I also have all but 2 of the K-Line 21" extruded aluminum 1941 ESE passenger cars including one that I believe may have been made in error.   K4670-40034 K-Line ESE Baggage-Lounge Martin Van Buren.  Although it is labeled a Baggage-Lounge it lacks the baggage door and the window configuration and interior resembles a coach.  It took several years to acquire these beauties.  Well worth the effort though.

@Bill DeBrooke

Hello Bill,

I was just reading your post, and earlier this year (2024) I happened across this K-1603 set, opened but never used or ran...  Everything was still factory sealed, except for some of the track that had lost the factory paper wrapper.  As a bonus, and one of the reasons I just HAD to buy it, was the signature on the box.  As the powers of the universe must have willed it, a few months later I quite unexpectedly met Cheri Neil (and almost walked away without even knowing it was her!).  She was kind enough to tell me some stories about the days she and Patrick Neil operated Collectible Trains and Toys in Dallas, and then on a subsequent visit signed something very "Texas Special" for me... See photos.

Karl, That is a great story. Just goes to show what a small world this is.  Enjoy