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Arcadebrothers posted:

I just purchased a Lionel GS 2 Daylight 38079 and I am looking for car recommendations that best match the engine. The Lionel cars are ok but I am not sure like the silhouettes style. I heard the MTH primier cars are really nice and a good match.

 

let me know what you all think. 

The best, and ONLY, scale Daylight passenger cars ever produced in 3-Rail were:

1) The Golden Gate Depot set.

2) The K-Line 21" daylight cars, although NOT having any of the articulated cars.

I agree the GGD cars are the best but its a trade off between Lionel and K-Line for second place. K-Lines are scale length but are based on Budd cars. The original Daylight cars were built by Pullman Standard. Lionel cars made around 2005 are only 18" but are closest to PS and also  have full width diaphragms which were standard on all the period Daylights. They also have nice interiors with figures. Check them both out before jumping in.

 

Early Daylight PS cars.

2005 Lionel Car

Daylight_pass

 

Pete

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  • Daylight_pass
Last edited by Norton
Norton posted:

I agree the GGD cars are the best but its a trade off between Lionel and K-Line for second place. K-Lines are scale length but are based on Budd cars. The original Daylight cars were built by Pullman Standard. Lionel cars made around 2005 are only 18" but are closest to PS and also  have full width diaphragms which were standard on all the period Daylights. They also have nice interiors with figures. Check them both out before jumping in.

2005 Lionel Car

Daylight_pass

 

Pete

Note that the Lionel cars have the typical "Lionel windows stuck on the OUTSIDE of the car".

This car is one of MTH's latest releases. They are nice cars but based on ACF prototype. I was hoping to add cars to my Lionel Daylight train but they differ in size and color from the Lionel cars and don't have the full width diaphrams. The size difference prevented me from adding the Lionel diaphrams.

MTH_Daylight

A big plus of MTH is they made four versions of these cars. Early lettering (SP Lines) in smooth and corregated cars as well as later (sans Lines) in both versions. I believe your GS2 is lettered SP Lines. Lionel made smooth sided cars for their Shasta Daylight with the later lettering. Besides representing a different era the paint doesn't match the earlier cars.

Bottom line, every manufacturers cars are different enough they won't mix well. Take that into account when building your train.

Pete

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  • MTH_Daylight
Last edited by Norton

Well, just my 2 cents but based on trying to put together the best SP cars I could actually find.

And the winner  is - Lionel's 2011 Shasta Daylight set and two car add on.

OK, they are 18" cars and not scale accurate to anything like the extent that the GGD cars are. Also, they and Lionel's earlier Daylight offerings are not easy to find. But they are aluminum with a fine painted finish and have nice interiors. The set is also accurate in that all the cars are smooth sided save for the fluted-side observation car, which is what the prototype had.

The windows, which do protrude from their apertures, are not nearly as troublesome as Jack's picture above seems to illustrate. But again, I am not a purist about these things. 

If I was a purist I'd regard the MTH SP cars as totally unacceptable because they are "generic" and have nasty plastic/rubber diaphragms.  K-Line 21" cars are much better but just try tracking them down.

 

The Shasta Daylight cars would be fine if the OP modeled post 1945 but his GS2 is painted in the as built pre 1945 scheme, complete with as built forward number boards. The 2005 Lionel cars were actually made for this particular engine. The GGD and K-Line cars would compliment the engine as well. All of them with the exception of the MTH cars are not easy to locate though.

 

Pete

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