@whistlebell1 posted:I am not an expert by any means and dont know all of the fine details about #90. That said I have been to Strasburg many years ago and #90 was at the front end of the train my family took during our visit. I did have one other opportunity to be behind #90 and it was a very special and once in a life time experience at that . On January 10th 1981 my wife and I were invited quests of the cars owner to ride on the last trip of the the Lotos Club Heavyweight Pullman Car which was being donated to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. The Lotos Club left New York and was pulled by a GG1 to Leaman Place. At that point #90 came out and picked up the car and brought it to the Museum. A small switcher did the final move into the Museum where it resides today. So I am thinking about buying this engine but looking at the pictures I took I dont see the paint scheme from that January day in 1981. The attached photo shows a white "egg" logo on the tender. (I cant tell if there is a color inside the egg logo) I am also not sure if at that time 90 had the extended smoke box or not but the smoke box looks black not silver. Can anyone elaborate on what this picture suggests to them and in what time frame was this paint scheme used? I realize there might never be an exact replica from that specific paint and detail scheme, however maybe there is something close in the Lionel Catalogue or will be down the road. One way or another I am really would like on one these engines with the associated cars. It is really great that this engine is being produced in O Scale. I would also like to make the suggestion of producing the Lotos Club Heavyweight Pullman. I realize that is a big ask for maybe a very limited audience however this did happen as the picture I took demonstrates. Maybe I could have someone custom paint and detal a heavyweight Pullman as the Lotos Club. Any suggestions?
The paint in the picture is most likely the same as the egg logo that Lionel is currently offering.
That being said, up until the 1990's, #90 had an "extended smokebox" that was added by the Great Western during it's service career there.
Ryan at Lionel stated that they intend to offer an extended smokebox version of 90 in the future. If you email him, he might have a better idea of whats-to-come in terms of Lionel's future for models of 90.
Nonetheless, very cool story about the Lotos Club! Thank you for sharing!
