154 variation

See here, variation 'C', produced 1940-1941.

Larry

Thanks Larry,

Variation "C" it is! 

Bruce

A few years ago I saw one at York for a lot of money. The seller taught me that the orange based ones were made before the war and were quite rare compared to the postwar variety.

I was hooked and had to have one. Last year I found one on eBay for less than $100. It's still the only one I've seen sell for less than $100 in the past 3 years or so; I've only seen about a 1/2 dozen for sale since I started looking. I'll admit I don't look for them any more. Mine's not as nice as the one you have pictured:

It also didn't work when I first hooked it up. There was corrosion on the screw shells that was causing a bad connection. It was pretty tedious trying to clean up the screw shells with small pieces of scotchbrite

I now have mine hooked up to a flasher circuit made by Circuitron, and it's working fine

J White

Thanks, J White,

That's the type of info one needs to gauge it's rarity and price range, especially if I ever plan on selling.  Although it came in a bundle of PW stuff, it will fit nicely beside my beautiful prewar 45 that usually gets a workout when I set up Standard Gauge at Christmas

I beg to differ on condition...mine is almost totally rust covered on the silver pole...but I know enough to resist the urge to restore.  Yours looks pretty tidy in that photo.

Great looking PW themed layout, BTW

Thanks again,

Bruce

As J white wrote, orange ones are prewar and are somewhat scarce.

I have no idea where the price is.

Variation "F", shown on the web page linked above by Larry, is also difficult to find.

I've actually seen more 154's with orange bases than 154's built with a semaphore base. But the orange based unit is much better known, and more in demand, so they go for a lot more than the semaphore based one.

As far as I am concerned, a restored orange based 154 would be worth no more than a common black based one. (To each their own)