What's your favorite looking SG Tinplate Engine

Well for me it's the Blue Comet but that Piper sure is sharp.

Joe,

 

Will you be getting the red 400e when it's released?

 

Sunrise

 

There are sooo many great looking colors on standard gauge locos. That being said, I've decided to not do the same thing I did with o gauge stuff and I'm limiting my purchases to no more than one of each model. I have a 400E in Lionel Celebration orange and blue, a 392 in MTHRRC purple and silver, a 408 in two toned brown, and an Ives 3236 in black and yellow.

By a strict definition of tinplate, it would be a 392E in black, with nickel trim. Mine has copper trim, but one of these days I'll sell it and get one with nickel. (I do have a repro 385E with nickel trim.) The 392E is the most realistic looking of the Lionel tinplate locomotives, much better proportioned than a 400E. The original AF Brass Piper in black with blue trim is also a very attractive locomotive.

 

If you stretch the definition of tinplate to include a Standard Gauge locomotive that is die-cast rather than plain tin, then #1 is the Lionel Hiawatha 4-6-4. As far as I am concerned the Hiawatha is the best, best looking, and coolest locomotive ever commercially produced in Standard Gauge, and that includes the Brute and the Super 381. And there ain't no second place. 

You know, for me I like variety. Even though I love the 400E, having just the one is good enough for me. I prefer to get something I don't have. Red is my favorite color though.............

I'm strictly prewar, however, the classic styles still apply. I must say that the 318 still makes my heart go pitter-patter. It's a shame that MTH/Lionel has yet to re-invent the plain and simple 38.

 I really like the Blue Comet blue in a tinplate engine. I have the brass piper.

 

 

 Another favorite is my National Limited set.

Scott Smith

Of those I own, the JAD Lines Hiawatha wins, next would be the CMC Strasberg ten wheeler.

 

Steve

 

 

Easy question.  My vote goes for Lionel's Milwaukee Road Hiawatha Baltic locomotive and tender.  In fact, the entire Hiawatha passenger set is the most spectacular SG tinplate set ever made.

 

Bob

Hi Steve. I haven't seen this one? Is it a McCoy?  I would love to find one!

 

 

one of my top 3 is this beauty/beast 408 crackle black,,its a trad,,wish i would have been able to find a ps-2  but it still a stunner

Terry,

 

What a monster you got there.. 

 

Sunrise

I would also love a Strasburg Standard Gauge Engine.

I did a quick Google search and this is the best I could find

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TCA-CL...rksid=p2047675.l2557

 

Scroll down after you click on it

The Red Comet will be spectacular but hold on because I think the new Goliath will knock you off your feet.

 

indydanny

Im sure the new goliath will be spectacular.  However, due to the size....its just not practical.  I would really like to see some more interesting colors done with the Ives olympian.  I have a suspicion that we may see some Ives in the near future.  Wasn't there an article a while back in one of the magazines that mentioned Mike may do some uncataloged Ives stuff? HMMMMMM

The CMC/CMT Ten-Wheelers show up from time to time on eBay. I'd like to have one; I bid on one a couple months ago but didn't win. They came in a couple of other color schemes - I seem to remember Southern green and I don't remember what else. 

Another favorite of mine is the RichArt Standard Gauge BiPolar Cascade locomotive in either the original Brooke Steven's designed livery for the Milwaukee Road's first Olympian Hiawatha train or in it's later simplified tri-color Milwaukee Road paint scheme.  You can watch the former Olympian Hiawatha version running on Youtube at time 1:30 into the SGMA at Trainfest 2012 Part 1 video.  See the latter running this year in Milwaukee at Trainfest 2013:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnlwaBid7kQ

 

Bob

 

Was the top one actually designed by Stevens? It would have gone with the original "broken-line" version of the Olympian Hiawatha, which was never applied to a complete train. By the time Pullman-Standard finished building the train, the Milwaukee Road had adopted the simplified paint scheme. E1 and some of the cars were painted in the more complex design, but the Skytop observation cars weren't finished before the change. Here are a couple of artist's renderings of the designs. 

 

 

Neither the early E-1 nor the original Stevens passenger car designs has ever been done in 0 gauge 3-rail. I'd love to see a complete train as-designed.

 

Thanks for posting the shots of the two Rich-Art locomotives. I had seen the version with the black top before, but not the one based on E1. Do you have both version s in your collection?

I agree, the Lionel Hiawatha is an awesome engine.

 

I'm not 100% sure but to the best of my knowledge Brooks Stevens designed the one-off experimental paint scheme for the entire Hiawatha train including the "broken-line" paint scheme used on Olympian Hiawatha bipolar E1.   All of the "original" streamlined Hiawatha cars were built in the Milwaukee Shops.  I believe Pullman-Standard didn't get involved in construction of Hiawatha cars until the second set of Skytop observation cars were built as sleepers.  I believe these Pullman Skytops were built in conjunction with Super Dome cars, which Milwaukee ordered from Pullman for their 1952 Hiawatha and Olympian Hiawatha trains.  

 

As you know the Milwaukee Road deemed the original broken-line livery too complex and expensive a paint scheme for their shops to repaint every few years so it was not repeated on any other Olympian Hiawatha train cars, which adopted the much simplified 1948 paint scheme.  In this livery the bipolars received a stainless steel wrap-around "wing" on each end of the locomotive.  This was intended to repeat the design theme Brooks used on the rear of his design for the Skytop observation cars.  This "wing" was also part of Brooks' original design for the nose of the Olympian Hiawatha's Erie-built locomotives.  Unfortunately, the wing was also deemed to expensive to maintain and was later removed from Milwaukee's Erie-builts.

 

Yes, I have both the 1948 broken-line paint scheme version as well as the 1952 simplified tri-color paint scheme version of the RichArt Standard Gauge Cascade Bipolar in my collection.  I also have broken-line and tri-color versions of RichArt's O gauge tinplate bipolars in my collection as well as a one-off O gauge Cascade bipolar Dick Mayer custom painted for me in the Milwaukee Road's version of the Union Pacific's paint scheme.  But the "crown jewel" of my O gauge collection is Dick's original tinplate prototype for all his O gauge bipolars. 

 

I have also seen and was offered for sale a fully assembled Walthers O-scale Hiawatha passenger car kit, which an old German craftsman from Chicago had custom painted in the broken-line paint scheme.  The car was absolutely spectacular but unfortunately the old craftsman died after he had completed only one car not the entire Olympian Hiawatha consist so I passed on the offer.  I did, however, buy the complete set of Walthers O scale kits he had assembled and custom painted in Milwaukee Road's Union Pacific livery.  It's spectacular!

 

Bob

 

CMC also made passenger cars to accompany the Strasburg 10-wheeler. I have this one and two others (kits still in the box).  Should make a nice looking set when I get them put together and clean up my loco.

Would love to find a set of CMC Strasberg coaches for it. Was thinking about repainting some Mc Coys in black with red roofs for now.

 

Steve

Steve,

 

Your locomotive is most likely CMC as the Strasburg RR did not cross over to the CMT era. Of course, it's not that easy. The CMC loco should be a Mogul 2-6-0 and numbered #89 on the cab. My guess is this is a Southern Pacific loco (also black) #1108 that was put with the Strasburg tender. But that doesn't answer the lack of screen printing on the cab. Could have been a repainted 10-wheeler also. The #89 Strasburg RR loco & tender are one of the hardest of the CMC era trains to find. I also might be able to find a set of cars for you.

 

For all those interested, the CMC/CMT #1108 10-wheeler came in Southern Railroad (green), Southern Pacific (black), PRR (black), Chessie (yellow/blue)

 

ARNO

My "plain Jane" Lionel Classics dark gray 400E with motor-driven tender whistle.

I'm not into tin, but I would say my favorite standard gauge locomotive would be the gunmetal 9E.

 

Rusty

Arno

Thanks for the info. Let me know about the coaches, otherwise I will get another set of Mc Coys and paint them black with red roofs.

 

Steve

The question is kind of like asking which of your children do you love more.   There are way too many that I really love that I couldn't choose.  So I'll say whatever is my most recent purchase or if I haven't bought one in a while then it's my next purchase.

 

 

John.

This is still my top pick.