Another report from SW Florida.
Visited a train store called Metro Trains in Ft Myers last week to buy Classic Toy Trains (Check out P. 12) and was very surprised to find an item in the used train section saying "please take me home". It was a beautiful Lionel 1688 Torpedo in its original gunmetal grey color. Most of the time you see the 2-6-2 1668, but the 1688 is a 2-4-2 and I think has better proportions. It was first produced in1936 when I was one year old. My 1688 has latch couplers even though the box couplers had been introduced in 1935. I assume Lionel still had a lot of rolling stock with latch couplers in 1936 so decided not to switch couplers for this low end locomotive. Metro Trains has a wonderful policy. They clean and lubricate their prewar trains before sale. Mine runs and reverses perfectly. It will be interesting to photograph the 1688 next to my Lionel diecast, Hornby and Bing locomotives from the 1930s when I return to the north in April.
Lew Schneider
