Weaver Royal Blue Mystery

Looks to me like extra SF flyers repainted and decalled to B&O. Very interesting.

It came out in 2000 and yes, it was a reworked SF Valley Flyer.  Weaver had done a few models using previous tooling and painted them up in non-prototypical road names.  

Sounds plausible.  I forwarded this information to Weaver's customer service, and the reply is that this information is "false" - that no Valley Flyers were repainted.

Any more info about this engine available?

Thank you,

David

There were two years that Weaver had about 10 choices for a buyer to paint this model in  They weren't repainted they were custom painted at the factory  I have the same model painted in Lackawanna with The Pocono Mountain route on the side   I think it was 2002-2003 if I remember right   It is mentioned in a catalog

Weaver did this on at least one other occasion, offering their Great Northern 4-8-2 lettered for Southern Pacific. It did resemble an SP Mt-1, but it was definitely a skin job, presumably to move unsold inventory. Later they stopped doing that and just blew out models that didn't sell well. 

I can understand why the Valley Flyer didn't sell - it's UGLY. Looks like a Lionel Christmas item, although it is prototypical. 

Plus, they only ran during 1939-1940 between Bakersfield and Oakland for the Golden Gate International Exhibition on the Valley Flyer.  That's not cause for a lot of exposure outside of Santa Fe circles.  Only the 1369 and 1376 were so semi-streamlined.

Rusty

Ugly is in the eye of the beholder...now, I don't think that the ATSF "Flyer" is the

world's most gorgeous streamstyled steamer, but I do like the ATSF class of 4-6-2

of which it was a part (1300-something class; I forget the precise number). I also bought

one of the black other ones from Weaver and de-streamstyled it (removing skirting,

reconfiguring pilot, add air tanks, etc) and painted it in weathered black. So I have one "Flyer" and one "de-Flyered" version, both with TMCC/older-RS. The Flyer is #1369 and the other represents #1376 after it was returned to plain-Jane appearance.

The Weaver models run well, and are geared for adults, so a lack of cruise is no issue. Great models of a rare (as a model) prototype.

Now, the "ugly" part: speaking of the "Hiawatha" and its family, the CMStP&P had some

of what were arguably the ugliest streamlined steam locos ever built. The shape of the F7

Kuhler-streamlined Hudsons was great, but the paint/decoration just never quit. And that

4-4-2? Yow. Homely. They even did that to some 4-6-0's. Ouch. 

Valley Flyer? Not a looker, but when compared to the MILW locos...sharp.

Neither effort threatened Henry Dreyfuss or Raymond Loewy.

They looked like a older lady with way to much makeup. I do have some color 16mm footage of the train in Oakland. Don

I agree with forum member d500