The LONG-AWAITED Lionel Milwaukee Road Passenger Cars are Shipping!!!

Finally got to lay my eyes on them tonight.  Colors looked better to me than the photos above.  Not sure if that has to do with them being matte compared to the gloss finish on the set intended for the 4-4-2.  Paint job looked clean and crisp.  The metallic frame around the window resolves any issue I might have had with how Lionel mounts their windows.  On these cars the external mounts just don't jump out like they do on others.  Looking forward to the 4 pack with Skytop.

 

Question, is the finish supposed to be flat paint rather than satin? Mine are flat. I don't ever recall Lionel making a flat finish.

Often true, but from what I've read and looking a photographs, on the named, crack streamliner trains, the railroads were careful to keep things matched and looking clean. It was a point of pride and image, and you can read stories of statements by various railroad presidents about the spic 'n span attitude toward these trains. They were even proudly advertised on the sides of their freight cars, as we know. The Santa Fe didn't have a problem with passenger car colors matching, of course, but they had a worker spray the engine and car trucks with fresh silver paint as the trains departed, which gives an idea of how appearances mattered to them.

 

Of course, this changed after the heyday. But big name trains like the Hiawatha, North Coast Limited, Empire Builder, Cities of Miami and New Orleans, ACL Champion, 20th Century, MOPAC's Eagles, SP Daylights and Golden States, UP's City trains, CNW's 400 and many others kept things pretty spiffy and matched, it seems. Matched sets certainly look better, whether in real or on a layout - just my opinion, of course.

 

The Hiawathas were this kind of train, at least for a time.(Even the Hiawatha crew dressed up! Actually just for the inaugural ride, but it gives an idea of the pride the railroad had in its train.) Here's a few shots of the Olympian Hiawatha. No mismatched cars here!

Engineer R. V. Hanicker, fireman J. A. Johnson, and conductor R. A. Craig dress up in “monkey suits” for the inaugural run of the Olympian Hiawatha on June 29, 1947.

Not perfect models either,but I like my K-Line passenger cars that I run behind my 261 steam engine.

Dan

That's good to hear.

I have a set of these on the FOR SALE forum. 

 

I have just received an extra set of this 2 pack. I ordered from 2 different sources and both of these came in. I don't need 2 sets of these.

 

 

Attached below is a photo of one of my basement "shrines" to the Milwaukee Road's trains at my old Virginia home.  I thought it might help provide some perspective on the color variations of the Milwaukee Road's passenger train paint schemes produced by the various major and minor toy train manufacturers.  The photo shows the "steam" end of the wall with the diesel and electric end being further down the wall beyond the stairway.  

 

Mounted on this wall are locomotives and/or passenger cars produced by RichArt, Lionel, MTH, K-Line, Weaver, Pride Lines, American Flyer, Atlas, JAD, CMT, McCoy, Phoenix, and Liberty Lines among others.  IMHO, when viewed from this perspective what slight differences you can detect in the various hues of the Milwaukee Road's orange, maroon, black and gray colors, are not all that significant.  They're all great!  I look forward to the arrival of my new Lionel Olympian Hiawatha passenger set and adding it to the new and bigger Milwaukee Road "orange wall" shrine I will be installing at my new home in Arkansas.

 

Bob

 

 

I don't need to worry about the windows, since Lionel's 18 inch passenger cars need 054 curves unlike MTH's which run on 042 curves. Since I have some 042 curves on the mainline the passenger trains run on, Lionel 18 inch cars are a non-player here, windows right or not.

 

such a complaint about some windows. Well look at the people inside. Now they look dorky or maybe they are just like what the Chinese think Americans look like!!

Navt Seal:

Holy Smokes, Bob!  You've got more Hiawathas than the Milwaukee Road ever did!  Makes my all Milwaukee Road layout look like that of a real piker's.

 

Paul Fischer

"In fact on real railroads unless the entire train was brand new cars and engines seldom matched. Even cars on the same train seldom matched. Don"

 

ergo, my consist is prototypical!!  

No candles?

 

You can't see them in the picture as they are at the other end next to the holy water font.

Hey Gang,

I was cleaning up browser links tonight, and came across this little gem I had saved for viewing. It's a film produced by Milwaukee Road in 1952 entitled "Pacific Northwest Holiday on the Super Dome Olympian Hiawatha". It runs 41 minutes. Enjoy!

Hi all
Well I get home today and these arrived earlier than I thought. Wow what fast shipping by Nicholas Smith train shop. Boy I am excited. However barely opened the outer box and pull one of the cars out to take a closer look. While still in the box I noticed that the end car has a scratch right into the paint. Man what a bummer. Obvisously I read about some issues with this set no fault to the train shop. I email Nicholas to see if they can exchange it. I still have to look over the other cars to see if there are any other paint issues. Kind of bummed out now. But I will say what a beautiful set of cars.

Update, just spoke with Nicholas and they have no problem exchanging the car with the scratch. I did check the other cars and found another car with an issue where the square cap on the wheels one of them fell out. I guess some bad quality control here. So no worries. I will be sending these two cars to have them exchanged for new ones with no issues.