Hot Water posted:breezinup posted:Bobby Cox posted:I want to put together a SP Daylight passenger train. Planning on ordering the GGD newest run of the Passenger cars. What would be the best prototypical Lionel Legacy steam engine to head up this consist? It is my understanding that Lionel’s recent AC9 Daylight model is a “What If” model that was never built for actual rr use. Must be Lionel Legacy. Thanks for your help!
As indicated by others, if you're going to get the GGD passenger cars, you're going to have to get a GGD engine, or the paint won't match. If you want a Legacy engine, you're going to need Lionel cars for the colors to match. Some of the MTH cars may be an acceptible match as well, I'm not sure. I don't know what the newest run of GGD cars will look like, but the previous run had the faded out colors of cars that had been in use for awhile, as Hot Water mentioned. The Lionel paint is much richer, like the current 4449 and its cars, and like the older ones might have been when they were recently placed in service.
Note that faded colors and types of finishes are two different things. A paint job can have richer tone colors and yet have a satin finish or even a flat one, which won't be as shiney as a gloss finish, but will still have the same shade of paint. With faded colors, the colors have changed shades. Those faded color shades could have been painted with a gloss paint, theoretically, in which case the colors would be that of the faded paint, but with a shiney finish.
Except,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,No manufacturer of 3-Rail passenger cars as offered CORRECT Southern Pacific Daylight cars, except for Sunset/3rd Rail/Golden Gate Depot. Not Lionel, nor MTH, nor K-Line, nor Weaver ever produced the proper/correct SP articulated chair cars or the 3 section articulated diner.
Yes, and it would be nice if they did, but GGD is a different type of company from the others; very small runs that are expensive, which allows more customization. (GGD articulated cars are $300 each; Lionel 21" cars are $100-$120 each street price, for example.) However, since the OP said he wanted a Legacy engine, he'll have to forgo something, and get what's available. If he wants a Legacy engine, a Legacy GS-4 with Lionel 21" cars (or the older 18" cars which have painted interiors and passenger figures) will still be a nice train.
If his personal preference is articulated cars over richer unfaded paint, then he'll need to look at finding a GGD engine with TMCC in order to get a paint match. This is assuming the colors of the new GGD set are the same as the previous set.
