The NYC Cardinal Train

Good question. The illustration shows an Observation and the prototype had one, business car actually named Pope Pius XI. But the text says 3 coaches and a combine.

Good question for Ryan Kunkel.

Pete

Hey Skip, hey Pete, one of the things I have noticed with this catalog is plenty of omissions on what they usually say. Observations are only listed with some of the passenger sets throughout the catalog. They have cars broken down into A, B, & C's in some cases which clearly show an observation car. What is also missing is description of drumheads & lights on the end as well as passengers in mainly the diesel sets.

One another note, the Lehigh Valley set, it does not appear to picture an observation, so I imagine it may not have had one. It lists 1 combine, 2 coaches, & station sounds diner. It seems that they have left things to the imagination with leaving out descriptions. So good question.

I know in the past, they would give a lot more detail in on the observation cars as depending on the railroad, different things applied. Whether it was lights, modeled in coupler, drumhead, figures, all the like. I really wish they would have proofed the catalog a bit more before sending it along. We have no idea if weathered engines are ones we are considering, if they potentially could cost more than what they are already listed for, or what. Just lots of questions and not enough straight forward answers. We need to guess and hope for the best.

Some info on the real train's consist - though not guaranteed accurate:

https://www.themetrains.com/ca...als-train-roster.htm

David

Ryan from Lionel confirmed that the set comes with an observation car, a combine and 2 coaches.

Good to know. Now if Lionel would offer all the cars for separate sale for those of us that already have a boatload of USRA Pacifics.

Pete

Yeah, that was something I was sort of let down by. Liked that there was a NYC Pacific, but didn't want to be running around church folk exclusively. Since that was the only NYC Pacific I was interested in since it was NYC, but didn't want the set, I declined. Mr. Muffin is trying to get one made along with a host of others, so I ordered two from him, NYC & B&O.

@Norton posted:

Good to know. Now if Lionel would offer all the cars for separate sale for those of us that already have a boatload of USRA Pacifics.

Pete

@Dave NYC Hudson PRR K4 posted:

Yeah, that was something I was sort of let down by. Liked that there was a NYC Pacific, but didn't want to be running around church folk exclusively. Since that was the only NYC Pacific I was interested in since it was NYC, but didn't want the set, I declined. Mr. Muffin is trying to get one made along with a host of others, so I ordered two from him, NYC & B&O.

Pete & Dave, ...the solution for you two is right in both of y’all’s replies,.....Dave wants the Pacific, and Pete wants the cars,.....simple, buy the set & split it up,.😉

Pat

@harmonyards posted:

Pete & Dave, ...the solution for you two is right in both of y’all’s replies,.....Dave wants the Pacific, and Pete wants the cars,.....simple, buy the set & split it up,.😉

Pat

Haha, as George Carlin said, "see how often the simple solution eludes us." Well, I'm still trying to figure out what all I'm going to order. I do know that I'm not looking for any rolling stock. That's because not anything is interesting me as well as truck/coupler issues. That's a first. Usually a coupler of cars here or there gets my interest. See what my brain likes by the end of the week, that's when I'll contact my local dealer. That is if I'm not snowed in, could always call if stuck.

That will be a beautiful consist.  I have  almost all of the earlier MTH version of this train (missing one car but have two of another), and it is quite attractive. I never bought the matching Pacific, but I run it with an SP Pacific, and it looks fine ,if unprototypical. The observation car is cool.

@Dave NYC Hudson PRR K4 posted:

Haha, as George Carlin said, "see how often the simple solution eludes us." Well, I'm still trying to figure out what all I'm going to order. I do know that I'm not looking for any rolling stock. That's because not anything is interesting me as well as truck/coupler issues. That's a first. Usually a coupler of cars here or there gets my interest. See what my brain likes by the end of the week, that's when I'll contact my local dealer. That is if I'm not snowed in, could always call if stuck.

Well, not to get off the subject of the Cardinal train, and I feel y’all’s hesitation on ordering anything new, ....I myself took the plunge on the J3 Pacemaker set,.....I got a great deal from our forum sponsor Joe @ Mario’s,....looks like I’ll be voiding the warranty as others have already done before my UPS driver gets back in his truck,....I’ll be dumping the Cannon motor, the 5 chuff RCMC, the class lights, and whatever other surprises await when that gets opened up,.....the cars will be getting some treatments too, first to go will be that god awful green glass,.....

Pat

@Dave NYC Hudson PRR K4 posted:

One another note, the Lehigh Valley set, it does not appear to picture an observation, so I imagine it may not have had one. It lists 1 combine, 2 coaches, & station sounds diner. It seems that they have left things to the imagination with leaving out descriptions. So good question.

The Asa Packer was only a 4 car train and didn't prototypically have an observation car (at least in that early scheme). As neat as an observation car would be on this set, it seems Lionel did their homework on it.

@jay jay posted:

That will be a beautiful consist.  I have  almost all of the earlier MTH version of this train (missing one car but have two of another), and it is quite attractive. I never bought the matching Pacific, but I run it with an SP Pacific, and it looks fine ,if unprototypical. The observation car is cool.

MTH did a great job on that observation, it looks cool. Maybe a video of the train? 🙂