So now, I need power. I have an old Lionel Alco PA much like the one Erik has heading his train, but certainly not the exquisite Key model he owns.
Now the reason for the post. I've had the engine packed away for at least 12 years. I thought it would be a good candidate for the CZ. It originally came with upgraded Lionel 16" PW styled cars that were a joke with a scale sized PA. Anyway, I always liked this paint scheme the best of the D&RGW PA schemes.
The engine was pre-TMCC with ancient railsounds of I don't know what. There is a EMD sounding diesel that was put in all Lionel pre-TMCC engines. The engine was also of MTH-Lionel heritage. When MTH and Lionel dissolved their early partnership, MTH ended up coming out with a PA that had some similarities but many differences. One similarity was that the pilot would fit the front truck of either engine.
So after taking the picture above, I decided to start surgery to bring the engine up to command control standards. Years ago I converted the MTH Alco PA to TMCC, it had been conventional. The picture of the engine immediately bothered me because of the glare coming from the cab.
I guess the point without going into what will happen to this engine is that what I can live with has changed greatly. If you look at the picture, you can see that I couldn't photograph it with a Lionel coupler. The rear ladders are attached to the rear truck. The pilot needs to be fixed, couplers changed, command control and Alco sounds (one of the better RS4 sound sets) installed. I already mounted an Evan designs mini LED for the cab lighting and the interior will need some improvement. The engine came with an Korean dressed train engineer in each A unit with no fireman.
The engine is a dinosaur by today's standards.
I just had to comment.
