Your Favorite Modern & Postwar Mix

I like to run my 736 with a full string of Pennsylvania MPC Madison cars. I even bought a Pennsylvania tender shell for the 736 to make it match.

I'm hoping MPC counts as modern. If not, I do sometimes run modern scale freight behind my 681 or 675.

One of my 736 postwar Berks effortlessly pulling a string of 8 MPC weathered woodside reefer boxcars on my Super O Prewar layout. I just picked up a MPC NYC woodside caboose to complete my consist.  

I like to run my 671 Turbine with my Baby Madison pullman cars.

I usually combine a modern locomotive with traction tires, heft and speed control, that runs strong, slow and smooth, with a long consist of Postwar cars, like operating coal dump cars, operating milk cars, operating log dump cars, and oil tanker cars.

However, as mentioned above, another great combination can be a Postwar locomotive with modern cars, especially those with fast angle wheels. An example is this Postwar Lionel B&O center cab diesel, which has a  single motor and is not a great puller, with modern cars that have fast angle wheels, which is easy for it to pull:

I run my post war with relatively modern cars. Baby Madison passenger and 36' Woodside billboard in particular. Also like running complete sets together.

Hey Mack, fill her up:

That's a brand new MTH Proto 3 GE 44 Ton Center Cab NY, Ontario & Western diesel, just purchased from one of our great Forum Sponsors, JR Junction Train & Hobby in Syracuse, NY (what great service they provide) and a Lionel Postwar Operating Diesel Fueling Station.

It doesn't get better than this!

Arnold

@Matt Bollinger posted:

I like to run my 671 Turbine with my Baby Madison pullman cars.

Same here, well 681 😀

Lionel 2333 with some modern Lionel and Atlas freight cars. These old growlers actually sound like real train motors.  you can hear the Lionel Great Northern boxcar with sounds.

Arnold......the 6361 Timber Transport car is a PostWar car I run with modern trains.....

Peter

MTH Premier Proto 3 NY Central F3 (A & B units) hauling Postwar oil tankers on the Hudson Division of the NY Central in 1956:

Arnold

My MTH proto 1 Jersey Central FM with a string of postwar 6464’s.

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

I love to run the LC+ Jersey Central Pacific and Lionel Postwar 2400 series passenger cars. What a great combination. The icing on the Cake is the NJ towns and cities, like Newark, Livingston, Chatham, Elizabeth, Mooseheart, etc. on the passenger cars.

How about you? What combinations of modern and Postwar trains do you like to run?

Arnold

I use the newer re-issues of the green 24xx series cars from the 82726 Lionel Lines Alco set (2017 Signature) behind the Century Club turbine or Berkshire, actually those green 24xx series look great behind just about any steam loco.

All but Mooseheart are NJ towns. Many of the names of town have ties to Lionel's history.  Clifton NJ for example was the home of Beacon Tool and Die, who did some work with postwar Lionel.  Even in more recent years there was a Montclair passenger car (home of previous Lionel CEO Jerry Calabrese) and Bloomfield (Lenny Dean).

@franktrain posted:

My MTH proto 1 Jersey Central FM with a string of postwar 6464’s.

I also run the exact same modern locomotive with similar 6464 Postwar boxcars.

Arnold, you are the man, great thread, one of many of your great threads, and thank you for your philosophical thoughts, these trains have gotten us through some ruff times. Our trains help us cope with real world happenings. The trains above bring back fond memories, of a time when we had few issues, if any. I have to admit, I like the Lionel remake of the 773 hudson, Century Club Offerrings. Also, the new Legacy trains.
Happy Saturday Everyone, let’s play trains.

@leapinlarry posted:

Arnold, you are the man, great thread, one of many of your great threads, and thank you for your philosophical thoughts, these trains have gotten us through some ruff times. Our trains help us cope with real world happenings. The trains above bring back fond memories, of a time when we had few issues, if any. I have to admit, I like the Lionel remake of the 773 hudson, Century Club Offerrings. Also, the new Legacy trains.
Happy Saturday Everyone, let’s play trains.

Larry, none of your images went through on your above post. I got 7 Image Not Found statements on your post. Maybe you can try sending your images again, maybe 2 or 3 at a time, so they go through.

And thank you so much. I enjoy your Forum posting very much. Arnold

Because of the coil couplers I don't run the 2400s. I do enjoy running the MPC ones. Not quite as nice as the PW but overall the look is fine. And because I live near MPC(was) I like seeing our local names.

Hi Arnold, I see them pictured here? Am I mistaken?

Larry, in your last post, I do see one very nice photo (shows an orange Ford Motor Co. diesel on a siding), but no other photos. In your prior post, it indicated that there were 7 images not found. Arnold

I’ll try again, thank you Arnold, great thread, Happy Railroading Everyone

@ed h posted:

I use the newer re-issues of the green 24xx series cars from the 82726 Lionel Lines Alco set (2017 Signature) behind the Century Club turbine or Berkshire, actually those green 24xx series look great behind just about any steam loco.

All but Mooseheart are NJ towns. Many of the names of town have ties to Lionel's history.  Clifton NJ for example was the home of Beacon Tool and Die, who did some work with postwar Lionel.  Even in more recent years there was a Montclair passenger car (home of previous Lionel CEO Jerry Calabrese) and Bloomfield (Lenny Dean).

Mooseheart is named after a home for widows and children of deceased members of Moose fraternal organization.

Prior to the internet, 2436 Mooseheart was hard to find and usually sold at a premium, now it's almost common.  

@Trussman posted:

Mooseheart is named after a home for widows and children of deceased members of Moose fraternal organization.

Prior to the internet, 2436 Mooseheart was hard to find and usually sold at a premium, now it's almost common.  

Mooseheart is actually located on the Fox River in the western suburbs of Chicago. I always found it interesting that Lionel afforded these cars New Jersey names, except for Mooseheart.

http://www.mooseheart.org/

Almost straight out of Lionel’s 1951 catalog two venerable Post -war F3’s, one a Santa Fe 2343 and the other a New York Central 2344 haul modern era passenger car consists on the Shenandoah short line.  The Santa Fe is pulling 15 inch aluminum cars issued by Lionel Trains Inc. while the NYC is hauling 18 inch ABS plastic streamliners from Williams Trains.  I know it may be weird to some but even as a little boy I preferred  the subdued but classy Vanderbilt grey over the flash of the Santa Fe’s war bonnet color scheme.  To each his own.😃

Well its a mix of Modern and MPC for my video and pictures, Lionel 38045 New York Central Lionmaster #5418 J-3A Hudson and MPC weathered woodsided reefers 5700 through 5707 with diecast sprung trucks and NYC caboose

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

MTH Premier Proto 3 NY Central F3 (A & B units) hauling Postwar oil tankers on the Hudson Division of the NY Central in 1956:

Arnold

Arnold, another great topic.  A few years ago, I didn't think I would ever be interested in command control trains - then LC+ came around.  It has opened my eyes to it.  Now I have a LC+ A5 switcher that works perfectly to spot postwar operating cars at their corresponding accessories.  I also picked up a LC Polar Express and have converted an old conventional 0-6-0T docksider to Bluerail Bluetooth control.  I still enjoy running the postwar beauties, but for the switching duties, you can't beat the slow speed operation and electro-couplers.

You have a very nice and diverse fleet of locomotives - where do you store them when not on the layout?

I like to run them all together! Post War on my elevated loops and modern running on the main lines.

@JD2035RR posted:

Arnold, another great topic.  A few years ago, I didn't think I would ever be interested in command control trains - then LC+ came around.  It has opened my eyes to it.  Now I have a LC+ A5 switcher that works perfectly to spot postwar operating cars at their corresponding accessories.  I also picked up a LC Polar Express and have converted an old conventional 0-6-0T docksider to Bluerail Bluetooth control.  I still enjoy running the postwar beauties, but for the switching duties, you can't beat the slow speed operation and electro-couplers.

You have a very nice and diverse fleet of locomotives - where do you store them when not on the layout?

Hi JD, like you, LC+ turned me on the speed control, and the user friendliness of it is wonderful. Now, I am blown away by MTH Proto 3, particularly the Railking steamers using DCS, which I acquired 1 week ago.

IMO, MTH Proto 3 run by DCS is so good that it would bea tragedy for MTH to go out of business.

Come on guys, all we need to do is scrounge up a couple of billionaires who love O Gauge model trains. I bet we have at least a couple of them on this Forum. They can buy the company, make a partnership with Mike Wolf, or otherwise keep MTH in business manufacturing these beautiful models for at least another thousand years. Lol, arnold

Arnold,

Is your LC Jersey Central Pacific really running through those tight 027 curves without hesitation, hitch or other problems?  If so, that is super impressive to me.

Mannyrock

Here a postwar 773 Hudson works side by side with an MPC era GG1 and a modern LionChief Berkshire. All look fine together on my small layout.

@Mannyrock posted:

Arnold,

Is your LC Jersey Central Pacific really running through those tight 027 curves without hesitation, hitch or other problems?  If so, that is super impressive to me.

Mannyrock

Yes, Mannyrock, this LC+ engine navigates 031 curves and 022 switches very well.

I love running this Jersey Central Pacific steamer with the Postwar 2400 series passenger cars with the names of the NJ cities and towns on them.

I have a few other sets of passenger cars but most of the time I run these 2400 series cars. They look and operate the best on my layout, and I think they look good with my other locomotives too, IMO. Arnold

Don, I regard the 773 as the best of the best from the Postwar era, something to always treasure. Your above photo of it, the GG1 and the Berkshire is gorgeous. Arnold

Thanks for your kind words Arnold - your posts are my favorites and my son loves your baseball park!

Don't forget the 736 Berkshire - another one of my post war favorites!

Arnold, I too like to run LC+ engines and post war cars.  This morning I ran a favored consist, the milk run.

Bill

Thanks for the info Arnold.

I have gotten totally soured on Steam Locos during the past year.  All of my diesels run great on my layout.  All of the steamers (early and late post war) run very poorly one way or anther.   They slow down on simple 031 curves, have front and back trucks with two sets of axles that are loud as heck going over switches and crossings, and want to bounce around or derail at the slightest high or low spot in a switch or a crossing.     And, I have a track sequence of a switch, connected to a diagonal crossing, connected to another switch, connected to a 90 degree crossing, that is just **** for any  steamer to get across.   The switchers glide across without a hitch.

I would really like to get a steamer that works well.   Next holiday season, I'm going for one of the Lionchiefs like yours.

Mannyrock

Here is a mix, through and through, of modern loco (LC+ Erie Camelback) postwar gondolas, modern gondolas, topped off with Postwar caboose:

Arnold

While not currently on the layout, I love my PostWar 746 N&W "J" with this string of modern era Lionel "Baby" madison cars.

This is a great thread Arnold. Thanks for starting. My basement layout 2.0 isn't operational yet, but in the past, I mixed a lot of modern TMCC 1.0 traditional-sized engines with PW rolling stock.

For us non/semi-scale operators, sure the new era has given us more variety in rolling stock, but in all reality, one could easily get by with 100% PW and MPC era rolling stock and only pick up new engines for the advantages of remote control, sounds, electro-couplers, and speed control.  Although I grabbed onto TMCC 1.0 back around 2005-06, I can see how LC+ is a great solution for those who want to dip their toes in the water of remote command control without committing to TMCC or Legacy let alone 1:48 scale.