Your Favorite Postwar Engine and Why

By the way, something I do not have, which is regarded as one of the best PW locomotives from around 1950, is the Lionel Hudson 773. The 773 is substantially bigger than the 646 and was also made to run on classic 0 Gauge tubular track and switches like mine. The 773 is also substantially more expensive and valuable than the 646.

I would love to see photos of the 773, and especially a video of the 773 in action.

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

By the way, something I do not have, which is regarded as one of the best PW locomotives from around 1950, is the Lionel Hudson 773. The 773 is substantially bigger than the 646 and was also made to run on classic 0 Gauge tubular track and switches like mine. The 773 is also substantially more expensive and valuable than the 646.

I would love to see photos of the 773, and especially a video of the 773 in action.

Here you go, Arnold: the 1950 773 Hudson with the Irvington, Madison and Manhattan cars--plus an extra Irvington car. The 773 is definitely one of my favorite postwar locos, but if I could only pick one, it would be the 2343 Santa Fe F3. When I was little, Dad would get his Santa Fe F3 ABA and the "Super Speedliner" cars out to run around the Christmas tree. That's the only time of year that train came out of the box. So for that reason, the Santa Fe F3 always brings back memories of my childhood at Christmas. He sold that set probably 30 years ago, but I now have my own Super Speedliner that I bought at York a few years ago. To me, nothing says "Postwar Lionel" like the growl of an F3. 

John

The postwar 736 is easily my favorite, especially the early models. Next on my list is the 2056 for it's sewing machine-like performance, followed by the nicely appointed '47 2025.

Good question. I remember reading an older issue of "Railroad Model Craftman". There was an article about Chuck Brasher, who had an extensive Standard Gauge collection. He was asked basically the same thing (without the PW factor, of course). He said something to the effect that his favorite piece was whatever he was holding at that moment. I always thought that was a great answer.

Personally, mine would be either my 1666 or my American Flyer 310. 

Mark in Oregon 

I have two 

2359 B&M GP7/9 as it was my first engine

736 I have 3 of these two are in original sets with boxes and set box. 2163WS and 2265WS I happened to be sold all to the 2265WS except the engine including set box, So I was on a hunt for the engine which I got. Then I came across the 2163WS as someone didn't know what they had and had it listed as train set I forget how much but I do remember it was a bargain. These two sets turned me into a steam enjoy-er, I used to just like diesels but these convince me differently.

Nice question...  as i sit here in a caboose in Strasburg at about 3:30am on the eve of another York, i am contemplating my favorites...

Steamers it would be a 1957 #736...  the perfect engine...

F3s it would be #2379 as the 1957 catalog said... 'Rio Grande thundering out of the West on Super O Track'...

Geeps it would be Wabash GP-7... followed closely by a M&Stl GP-9...

Switchers it would be Alaska NW2...

And many favorite 'units' such as the #53 rio grande plow, GN snow blower, and USAF minuteman switcher...

MY favorite is the 1952 2055, because it was my first Lionel train ever, purchased at the Lakeland Community College show in 2017-  I was 68 years old.

Always the first.  671RR

2020!  

Well, the Santa Fe F3 will always be my favorite diesel, but I only own the single motor version (2243?) , so I'll say my 2046 is at the top now.  My first postwar loco was the early version 2026 with all the extra details.  Always like the extra valve rods on the driving wheels.  A few years back I got a 2046 and 2056 in a lot off ebay.  The 2046 had magnitraction, but they're both heavy enough that it doesn't come into play much.  I consider the 2046/2056 the "big brother" of the early version 2026, they've got the added details.  Pair that with the streamlined tender.  It can pull passenger or freight, and boy can it pull.

Ah yes, our "Favorite PW engine" question! We always enjoy that one.

As for me, still the same answer: The 736 Berk with the die cast metal trailing truck. To me, Lionel really knocked it out of the park for a toy train: Handsome proportions. Wonderful "bulk", a good looking wheel arrangement, and more. What's NOT to like?

Lionel's Berk is the continual Siren Song to me in regards to me dabbling with PW again.

I also like other PW engines... but you asked which was our favorite "ENGINE" (singular), so I'm sticking to a singular answer.

Andre

BlueComet400 posted:

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

By the way, something I do not have, which is regarded as one of the best PW locomotives from around 1950, is the Lionel Hudson 773. The 773 is substantially bigger than the 646 and was also made to run on classic 0 Gauge tubular track and switches like mine. The 773 is also substantially more expensive and valuable than the 646.

I would love to see photos of the 773, and especially a video of the 773 in action.

 

Here you go, Arnold: the 1950 773 Hudson with the Irvington, Madison and Manhattan cars--plus an extra Irvington car. The 773 is definitely one of my favorite postwar locos, but if I could only pick one, it would be the 2343 Santa Fe F3. When I was little, Dad would get his Santa Fe F3 ABA and the "Super Speedliner" cars out to run around the Christmas tree. That's the only time of year that train came out of the box. So for that reason, the Santa Fe F3 always brings back memories of my childhood at Christmas. He sold that set probably 30 years ago, but I now have my own Super Speedliner that I bought at York a few years ago. To me, nothing says "Postwar Lionel" like the growl of an F3. 

John

John, I totally agree with everything you say. I have 3 of those growling Lionel F3s from the early 1950s, and they are all awesome.

I am not very Internet savvy, and I sometimes I forget to check YouTube to see a desirable model train in action. No question about it, the 773 is one of the best PW locomotives, and clearly superior to my beloved 646. I now regard my 646 as a poor man's 773. 

Lionel's PW trains from the early 1950s have such charm.

Arnold 

AXP889 posted:

Well, the Santa Fe F3 will always be my favorite diesel, but I only own the single motor version (2243?) , so I'll say my 2046 is at the top now.  My first postwar loco was the early version 2026 with all the extra details.  Always like the extra valve rods on the driving wheels.  A few years back I got a 2046 and 2056 in a lot off ebay.  The 2046 had magnitraction, but they're both heavy enough that it doesn't come into play much.  I consider the 2046/2056 the "big brother" of the early version 2026, they've got the added details.  Pair that with the streamlined tender.  It can pull passenger or freight, and boy can it pull.

I think the 2046 is identical to the 646, except for the number. One of the best things about them is that when they are in good, but not mint, condition, in good working order, and without the boxes and paperwork, they are very affordable, with the engine and tender costing $200 or less.

I also agree with Rich and Bill that the 736 is another great PW engine. It's a must have. When priced reasonably at a train show, I find it to be irresistible. 

So is the 773 with the beautiful tender that goes with it and the gorgeous maroon Irvington PW passenger cars. I'm sure they can be found at York today, but will likely cost a pretty penny (my guess is about $1,500 in very good condition without boxes or paperwork). John's above video of them has me dreaming about them!

Arnold

To me, they are all good.  It's just that some are better than others.  My all time favorite loco, both Lionel and PRR is the GG1. My brother and I would lay in our beds and read the catalogs from the '50s.  We'd talk about owning a GG1, but knew it was never to be.  

Now I own several.  Three 2332s and the rest MPC and beyond.  They are my best running locos.  

laming posted:

Ah yes, our "Favorite PW engine" question! We always enjoy that one.

As for me, still the same answer: The 736 Berk with the die cast metal trailing truck. To me, Lionel really knocked it out of the park for a toy train: Handsome proportions. Wonderful "bulk", a good looking wheel arrangement, and more. What's NOT to like?

Lionel's Berk is the continual Siren Song to me in regards to me dabbling with PW again.

I also like other PW engines... but you asked which was our favorite "ENGINE" (singular), so I'm sticking to a singular answer.

Andre

What a great line, Andre, "Lionel's Berk is the continual Siren Song to me . . ."

The Sirens in Homer's Odyssey always fascinated me since I studied that book in High School and College. I have written and recorded a song entitled: Your Siren Song. Would love to play the recording of it for you if and when we ever meet. Arnold 

I have to go with my childhood gifts the 2025 w/Maplewood cars and a couple years later a NYC F3 freight set. Next, a birthday gift from my wife 2346 B&M. That was my entire engine fleet till MPC came along.

Jim

I have always preferred steam engines but my favorite Post War is my 623. Smooth runner, decent puller and great play value with couplers fore and aft. The 622 bell ringer is also cool but early magnetraction made for poor pulling.

Pete

I was a young teenager back in the 80's and would travel with my dad to the TCA shows.  He always had a couple of tables of postwar to sell.  I would man the tables at the beginning of the show while he did an early circuit through the hall looking for good buys.  In the car on the way to the show, we would go through the inventory list and agree on the lowest price I was allowed to accept without tracking him down to intervene.  One show, dad came back to the table after his trip through the hall and was a bit nervous when he realized I had sold his 773.  He asked how much I got for it, and I told him "list price" by refusing an initial offer from the buyer who then quickly bought it at list when I told him "the guy right over there" was interested in it and I wanted to get an offer from him before agreeing to a reduced price (in truth, I had no clue about the other guy).  I smiled and pulled out a wad of cash ($1,500 I believe) and handed it to dad.  He peeled off a $50 and taught me the concept of "commission".  Again, keep in mind I'm 13 or 14 years old at the time.  We have talked about that story for years.

Fast forward 30 years later and my son and I have been building a scale Legacy layout since about 2012.  Dad drops in to help often and always leaves a bankers box of miscellaneous stuff he comes across in deals (he still buys and sells postwar - in fact, he's at York now doing so).  The boxes have stuff like bridges, buildings, towers, accessories, building materials, etc - some of it useful, some of it junk.  He always tells me to use what I want and kick the rest of it back to him to sell off.  Three years ago, he left me one of these boxes and I got around to going through it a few days later.  I dug through a bunch of random stuff until I got to the bottom of the box where there was a LN 1950 773.  Wow.  It is the only postwar train I own - all my stuff is modern scale - but it is the one train I will never part with.   

Have always had a soft spot for the FA Alco AA locos. Something about them just screams Lionel PW for me.

The UP Anniversary AAs are a classic and I also love the Eries with the attractive black paint job set off by the yellow/gold striping. Stick these locos in front of O-27 passenger cars or a nice freight consist and you are back in the 1950s.

Edit: Found a few Erie pics on my phone.

The 681 turbine!  I wanted that one so bad for Christmas I could taste it.  I wore out the pages of the 1955 Lionel catalog looking at it and probably nagged my dad a million times about it, thinking he might forget that I really wanted it.   We did not have much money in those days and it was considered a fairly "premium" item. My only other locomotives at the time were a "Scout" 2-4-2 I saved up all summer to buy with my lawn mowing money and a 2037 2-6-4 my grandparent bought me as a birthday gift.  I honestly thought I had no chance of getting it as my pop kept saying he liked the "cute" gang car and that I needed accessories, not more locomotives, pretty much sealing my fate.

I was the happiest kid on the block that year when I unwrapped that 681 turbine.  I ran it so much I wore out the worm gear and had to take it to the hobby shop to have it repaired. I kept it in my collection until I got married and gave it to a neighbor kid when my wife and I moved from our first house. She surprised me about 5 years ago and bought me another 681 for Christmas.  While I have moved on to Proto 48 and am beginning to plan for my permanent layout, I will never part with that beloved little turbine again. 

For me it has to be the 2343 pulling the Sliver series passenger cars and with the B unit.

Hands down, my favorite is my humble Korean-War-Era 2026.  It was the first locomotive I ever owned, Christmas, 1951.

Although my main interest these days is 3RS, I have a postwar collection that includes a 736, 2046, 675, 2037, Erie 2023 AA set, 623, 6220, 681 and 1615.  Along with assorted Motorized Units and Accessories that are on my 3RS layout right now.  Also a number of MPC locomotives, prewar tinplate items, and Marx equipment.  I enjoy them all.

Nevertheless, that 2026 is far and away my favorite.  Most of the year it lives on my coffee table, but it will soon be time to lube it up for its Christmas excursions.

"Like the 'growl' of an F-3."  Love that, John.

Here are three F-3 in my "Santa Fe" room.   You can barely see the nose of a 2243 (center) and the end of a 2343 (far right).  The oldest PW conventional is in the foreground.  It is the only one that growls, and you gotta love that!

These conventionals are all replacements.  We had three PW AA's on the first layout my father built, plus several loco's and a UP Alco.  We moved when I was 13 to this house, and the trains were all packed away in huge TV boxes beneath the family TV store.  Thieves broke in looking for TV's, and stole all the engines and many 022 switches.  Fortunately, they left a lot of the original Lionel operating accessories and all of the track, plus the whole rocket/missile set, including the train.  After 50 years of use, that US Army 44 engine is pretty beat up, but, still runs like a champ and also has a growl.

Old attic layout....

Current table layout....

Twenty years later, dad and I built a huge layout in the attic of our first house.  Here is that same growling engine.

Another great idea for a post, Arnold!

Jerry

JerryG great layout and story.   Fendermain

Cadillac Mike posted:

The 681 turbine!  I wanted that one so bad for Christmas I could taste it.  I wore out the pages of the 1955 Lionel catalog looking at it and probably nagged my dad a million times about it, thinking he might forget that I really wanted it.   We did not have much money in those days and it was considered a fairly "premium" item. My only other locomotives at the time were a "Scout" 2-4-2 I saved up all summer to buy with my lawn mowing money and a 2037 2-6-4 my grandparent bought me as a birthday gift.  I honestly thought I had no chance of getting it as my pop kept saying he liked the "cute" gang car and that I needed accessories, not more locomotives, pretty much sealing my fate.

I was the happiest kid on the block that year when I unwrapped that 681 turbine.  I ran it so much I wore out the worm gear and had to take it to the hobby shop to have it repaired. I kept it in my collection until I got married and gave it to a neighbor kid when my wife and I moved from our first house. She surprised me about 5 years ago and bought me another 681 for Christmas.  While I have moved on to Proto 48 and am beginning to plan for my permanent layout, I will never part with that beloved little turbine again. 

A huge part of the appeal of PW for me are the stories you get about the sets and catalogs...

Thanks for sharing!

As I'm reading all of the above replies with a smile on my face, it occurs to me that picking out one favorite PW locomotive is like saying there is one most beautiful woman in the World.

There are many favorite PW engines just like there are many beautiful songs and many beautiful women in the World. To pick one out is totally subjective, and what catches one's fancy at any given moment. It's great fun ruminating on such topics.

Arnold

JerryG posted:

"Like the 'growl' of an F-3."  Love that, John.

Here are three F-3 in my "Santa Fe" room.   You can barely see the nose of a 2243 (center) and the end of a 2343 (far right).  The oldest PW conventional is in the foreground.  It is the only one that growls, and you gotta love that!

These conventionals are all replacements.  We had three PW AA's on the first layout my father built, plus several loco's and a UP Alco.  We moved when I was 13 to this house, and the trains were all packed away in huge TV boxes beneath the family TV store.  Thieves broke in looking for TV's, and stole all the engines and many 022 switches.  Fortunately, they left a lot of the original Lionel operating accessories and all of the track, plus the whole rocket/missile set, including the train.  After 50 years of use, that US Army 44 engine is pretty beat up, but, still runs like a champ and also has a growl.

Old attic layout....

Current table layout....

 

Twenty years later, dad and I built a huge layout in the attic of our first house.  Here is that same growling engine.

 

Another great idea for a post, Arnold!

Jerry

 

Jerry, it looks like Postwar Paradise in your home.

I'm not a postwar collector or any period of Lionel for that matter, but I still have a few favorites from the postwar era.

1964 773.  Desert Division TCA raffles one off every year and has for at least the last 20-30 years.  I was lucky to win last year.  I love this locomotive because it is scale.  Next to it is a Williams Brass one and the detail is very close.  I'd love to have a 700E someday too, but that's prewar. 

1947 2332.  While most know that I have a large collection of scale GG1s, this really completes any GG1 collection.  The first version offered by Lionel.  Mine doesn't have stripes as you can see, but it is a special piece that I picked up several years back at a Desert Division TCA auction.

I have learned a lost about postwar through my TCA friends.  Just because it's not my thing doesn't mean I can't appreciate it for what it is and its important place in toy train history.

GG1 4877 posted:

  Just because it's not my thing doesn't mean I can't appreciate it for what it is and its important place in toy train history.

This may be one of the most astute things ever said on this forum... 

Mark in Oregon

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

I also agree with Rich and Bill that the 736 is another great PW engine. It's a must have. When priced reasonably at a train show, I find it to be irresistible. 

So is the 773 with the beautiful tender that goes with it and the gorgeous maroon Irvington PW passenger cars. I'm sure they can be found at York today, but will likely cost a pretty penny (my guess is about $1,500 in very good condition without boxes or paperwork). John's above video of them has me dreaming about them!

Arnold

Finding the PW Irvington cars intact (no broken steps) is getting harder and harder, it seems.  As delicate as they are, I still like to run them when I feel like running postwar. I recently learned that my set is not the correct set for the 1950 773; according to a postwar-expert friend of mine, the cars released in 1950 had silhouettes in the windows. Mine do not, indicating they are older. Someday I'd like to find these cars, but I'm in no rush. 

That is a hard choice to make.  I have a 773, but it is not my favorite.  I love and hold the 671 Turbine near and dear to my heart.  It is a magnificent engine.  The 671 embodies all that is Post War Lionel.   The weight and heft says quality and the darned thing runs non stop on my Christmas layout.  The other engine I love is the 2330 GG1.   Dual motors and weight make it an awesome puller.

I love them all but 2023 is special among the specials because it's yellow. Yellow is such an optimistic color.

Bogie

I just love the fact that, except for the 773, most, if not all, of the great Postwar engines in good working order mentioned above are relatively affordable at train shows. I'm mainly an operator who runs everything so I like affordability, and can care less if their value is low because I have never sold anything and do not plan to do so.

I guess we can thank the modern engines, with all of their detail, sounds and smoke, for keeping the Postwar classics economical. By the way, I have quite a few modern engines that I also cherish.

Arnold

The 1958 N&W 746 "J" set (the one with the culverts) Santa brought at Christmas, together with the VGN Rectifier set with the Timken box car, a ZW, a 4x12 platform and Super "O" track. Whoooo!

Mark

I have a fondness for steam engines, but after careful consideration, I have to say my favorite Postwar engine has to be any of the FM Train Master diesels starting with the maroon roof Lackawanna in 1954(?). It was way quieter than my 2343 "growlers" and would pull anything I could hook up to it even around 0-31 curves. Grades didn't seem to phase them either; they were also easy to work on and maintain.

The fact they were pretty much "scale' in dimensions didn't hurt the equation either.

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

I just love the fact that, except for the 773, most, if not all, of the great Postwar engines in good working order mentioned above are relatively affordable at train shows. I'm mainly an operator who runs everything so I like affordability, and can care less if their value is low because I have never sold anything and do not plan to do so.

I guess we can thank the modern engines, with all of their detail, sounds and smoke, for keeping the Postwar classics economical. By the way, I have quite a few modern engines that I also cherish.

Arnold

Arnold, the 773 is definitely a dinosaur by today's standards, but beautiful just the same. Keep an eye out for one and you will find one for relatively short $$. I need to repair the smoke unit and whistle on mine, maybe this winter. If you're looking for a runner and don't care about value, I'm sure you could find a beater and restore it without tying up too much cash. 

John 

Uncle Jim's 2020 Turbine. I grew up laying on my Grandparents floor watching this engine going around Jim's platform at Christmas time. That Keystone started my interest in the PRR. 

It and Uncle Jim's platform became mine way too early.

The NW-2 623 is my favorite diesel, so much so that I just bought a C&O Celebration series repro.

My Prairie steamer is the other.