Buy anything cool lately?

@John's Trains posted:

They look good together. I like that shiny aluminum finish.

John

Thank you, John.

@John's Trains posted:

A box from Trainz arrived on the doorstep yesterday. It's a K-Line K4580 Fleet of Modernism 13.5" 8-car set I've been looking at for some time. These shorter cars are good for my small layout and they look beautiful, although I can't run more than 4 or 5 cars or it will be chasing its tail. I like the window blind inserts they have. The proportions look very good even though they're the same length as the LionChief Super Chief cars, which look short. Then I realized that these ones are shorter in height, so they don't measure up to the Williams PRR F unit I coupled them to. Eventually I'll have to get something they look ok next to. Maybe the curved ends of a smaller GG-1 might make the height difference less noticeable. I don't know if I would get the matching K-line alco A-A set because the FOM scheme would limit it to pulling this train.

John

I like your train and the Greyhound Scenicruiser bus. I have the same kind of bus, only with the gold striping.

I'm a fan of NASA so when Lionel announced the "Union Pacific Rocket Booster Train", I said I gotta get that - until I looked at the price! Wow! $1699.99.

After pondering it for a while I decided to get it.

So here we go:

The shipping (outer box) weighing 40 pounds:

Opened and here's what I see:

I'm guessing this is probably the biggest box Lionel has ever made.

Take the cover off and here's two - yes two - layers of boxes!

Top layer:

Okay; remove the top lay and here's the bottom layer:

Wow! Thirteen pieces in total!

Here they all are stacked by type (left to right: one 21" passenger car; six boxcars; five flat cars with rocket section loads & covers; and finally the ES44AC locomotive):

First item unpacked:

Flat car with rocket section load & cover.

Cover removed:

The rocket sections can be removed to assemble into a rocket approx 30" tall. You have to unscrew the sections. Not wanting to loose the screws I decided to leave them attached.

Box car. This is the first boxcar. It has the clearance bars to ensure the flat cars with rocket sections can clear any obstacles along the route (I didn't tightly place the clearance bars because with a closer look it might be very difficult to remove for temporary storage):

The other five boxcars:

The 21" passenger car (disappointed there are no people figures inside - hmmmmm.......):

ES44AC locomotive:

So now the question: Will all of these fit on my "carpet" (temporary) layout. Time to measure:

Had to add the straight sections to lengthen the loop to ensure it would fit. Video of the just over 17 foot train running:

@paulp575 posted:

I'm a fan of NASA so when Lionel announced the "Union Pacific Rocket Booster Train", I said I gotta get that - until I looked at the price! Wow! $1699.99.

After pondering it for a while I decided to get it.

That is NICE! Thanks for showing us all the photos. Your post makes it look better than anything else I've seen..

John

@John's Trains posted:

A box from Trainz arrived on the doorstep yesterday. It's a K-Line K4580 Fleet of Modernism 13.5" 8-car set I've been looking at for some time. These shorter cars are good for my small layout and they look beautiful, although I can't run more than 4 or 5 cars or it will be chasing its tail. I like the window blind inserts they have. The proportions look very good even though they're the same length as the LionChief Super Chief cars, which look short. Then I realized that these ones are shorter in height, so they don't measure up to the Williams PRR F unit I coupled them to. Eventually I'll have to get something they look ok next to. Maybe the curved ends of a smaller GG-1 might make the height difference less noticeable. I don't know if I would get the matching K-line alco A-A set because the FOM scheme would limit it to pulling this train.

John

John- Great looking cars. I have several sets of the K-line 13" cars. Full interiors and they look good on small layouts. I like the blinds on the windows too.

@paulp575- What an amazing set. I bet you aren't regretting the investment now

Bob

WOW looks like everyone has been finding some screaming deals! Everything looks so nice!

Just added to the roster is this gorgeous Lionel 4-6-2 engine. It came with the caboose.

Jay

@Tranquil Hollow RR posted:

Just added to the roster is this gorgeous Lionel 4-6-2 engine. It came with the caboose.

Jay

Jay,
It appears that the "Eccentric crank" is 180° off.
Note how it should be positioned as such:

@Big Jim posted:

Jay,
It appears that the "Eccentric crank" is 180° off.
Note how it should be positioned as such:

I never would have noticed that as it ran perfectly around the layout. What’s the remedy?

Thank you Jim

Jay

I picked this up at an antique store this weekend.   I like the colors!

It's about 3 ft long.

@Tranquil Hollow RR posted:

I never would have noticed that as it ran perfectly around the layout. What’s the remedy?

Thank you Jim

Jay

It is simple. Just loosen the phillips head screw in the eccentric until you can pull it out enough to spin it around and tighten the screw again.

Bought a #56 bronze lamp post, very rare.

@Tranquil Hollow RR posted:

I never would have noticed that as it ran perfectly around the layout. What’s the remedy?

Thank you Jim

Jay

Jay,

iguanaman3's reply above should put you on the right track!

Been looking for this for a while, now I need to find the B and another A

@bt430 posted:

Been looking for this for a while, now I need to find the B and another A

Very good looking with super detail! Who made this unit??

It's MTH.

Worked on more wiring last night. I quickly got distracted by the blue comet sitting on the layout wanting to take a trip around the outer loop!  

That was the maiden voyage on the layout for the blue comet!  In the first pass (not in the video) I ran into a support for the ramp to the upper platform. Fortunately I was going very slow!  This blue comet looks great!

Donnie I've get a set of STD O coil covers around here somewhere.  Contact me if you'd like them for your gondola.  E-mail is in my profile.

Vern those are some sweet looking passenger cars.  I bet from 4 feet away running at passenger train speed it would be hard to pick out the silhouettes from the full interior.

John maybe some PRR FAs would be a better fit.  They wouldn't have to be FOM varnish.

PaulP, the price tag alone scared me away from that set, now knowing the train is 17' long I'd only be able to put about half on my layout.  Thanks for posting.

@coach joe, thank you for the offer but.. What's funny is when I rechecked the box, the coal load fell out! Trainz had pictured it without. Miracles do happen!

Does attempting to buy count?
I went into a large family owned True Value hardware to get some keys made. While I was waiting I noticed some MTH boxes on a cart; but they were empty. Then sitting on a table adjacent to the counter I see these two items, unboxed and looking used. I asked if the tree farm was a Christmas leftover and was it forsale. It looked like it might be home made. The lady said she wasn’t sure because her son might take it. She told me to call tomorrow. The tree farm is really nice; but I really don’t have the room. I’m thinking how we could squeeze it in on the club Christmas layout. If we can’t and someone was interested I could purchase it for you. There wouldn’t be any up charge. I just think this item needs a home. The building with two carriages running around is by Me Christmas.

@pennsyfan posted:

Does attempting to buy count?
I went into a large family owned True Value hardware to get some keys made. While I was waiting I noticed some MTH boxes on a cart; but they were empty. Then sitting on a table adjacent to the counter I see these two items, unboxed and looking used. I asked if the tree farm was a Christmas leftover and was it forsale. It looked like it might be home made. The lady said she wasn’t sure because her son might take it. She told me to call tomorrow. The tree farm is really nice; but I really don’t have the room. I’m thinking how we could squeeze it in on the club Christmas layout. If we can’t and someone was interested I could purchase it for you. There wouldn’t be any up charge. I just think this item needs a home. The building with two carriages running around is by Me Christmas.

I never saw this house and I can't find it on Mr. Christmas web site or on E Bay.  What is the name on the tag?

@FrankRazz posted:

I never saw this house and I can't find it on Mr. Christmas web site or on E Bay.  What is the name on the tag?

I don’t know Frank. I’ll try to find out tomorrow.

@John's Trains - Great Kline set! the PRR livery really looks great.  I have another Kline set but its Santa Fe but I got it for about the same reason you did, the 13.5" long cars look much better than the short 0-27 streamlined cars by Lionel but my layout can't take the 18 and 21" versions, too long.

@paulup575 - Great set and very realistic.  I worked for NASA for about 13 years (2nd career) all on manned space flight systems including Shuttle and Artemis.  Now all you have to do is model "Pegasus" the barge we delivered the stages and Shuttle tanks to Kennedy on after a 900 mile trip across the Gulf.  It was 212 ft long and 27 ft in diameter.

best wishes to all, great pictures everyone

Don

Inspired by the forum railfanning community I bought a handheld scanner (Uniden BC125AT) to up my game in train spotting. Poking around on railfanning and scanning websites, plus after watching lots of YouTube videos on train locations, I can see how this could become an obsession.

1947/48 Lionel 675.  It was the result of a train store adventure with my 3 year old son.   He was absolutely thrilled we bought it.

@pennsyfan posted:

Does attempting to buy count?

@FrankRazz posted:

I never saw this house and I can't find it on Mr. Christmas web site or on E Bay.  What is the name on the tag?

. I’m thinking how we could squeeze it in on the club Christmas layout. If we can’t and someone was interested I could purchase it for you. There wouldn’t be any up charge. I just think this item needs a home. The building with two carriages running around is by Me Christmas.

Listed as '  Mr. Christmas Holiday In Motion Hotel  '   on eBay right now.

Unable to locate an MTH/RK Crane Tender in Chessie, I asked Ron045 if he’d consider painting and decaling an MTHRRC Crane Tender for me. I was more than impressed by his custom repaint of a 44 tonner into Chessie colors, and MTHRRC cars are plentiful at bargain prices on eBay. He amicably agreed, and here is the finished product. The paint match is spot on, as you can see, and the wood deck is pretty cool. Between Ron045 and krieglok (Tom) we’ve got a pretty darn good pair of “in house” custom painters!

@Mark V. Spadaro posted:

Unable to locate an MTH/RK Crane Tender in Chessie, I asked Ron045 if he’d consider painting and decaling an MTHRRC Crane Tender for me. I was more than impressed by his custom repaint of a 44 tonner into Chessie colors, and MTHRRC cars are plentiful at bargain prices on eBay. He amicably agreed, and here is the finished product. The paint match is spot on, as you can see, and the wood deck is pretty cool. Between Ron045 and krieglok (Tom) we’ve got a pretty darn good pair of “in house” custom painters!

Thanks @Mark V. Spadaro.  I wish I documented my broken roof repair a little better.  But that link is here if anyone is interested.
https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...d-baking-soda-repair

Also, here is a short video of the process for repaint.  The volume may be a little low.  Now sure what I did wrong this time.

Ron

Ron, great job, great tutorial.

@Ron045- great job on the work caboose. Painting over the tape is a great idea and the results speak for themselves.

@Mark V. Spadaro- you have a great looking work train now.

Bob

Just wanted to showcase some of the items krieglok (Tom) has done for me.

@FrankRazz

I haven’t bought it yet.   I was waiting to hear if the tree farm was available. I’m thinking that it would be a good donor piece to install the animation in the 1st floor of the boring YORK hotel.

I bought the following 2 cars on a Stout Auction a few weeks ago.  I finally got them ready to join my collection.  The first is a Lionel 3535 Security Car with Rotating Searchlight.  I posted a question on this a little while ago, you can find that thread here.  The problem was that one of the window struts was broken and I asked for ideas on how to fix it.  There were several good suggestions.  I hadn't decided on one before I started to install a small LED light strip on the roof, put some soldiers in it, and add glass to the windows (I left the gun ports open).  While I was adding glass to all the windows except the broken one I had the idea to put in glass to cover half the opening, and have a soldier positioned in the open half having his arm outside.  I think it worked out well.

I also got a Lionel 6822 Night Crew Searchlight Car.  I just cleaned it up a bit.

I replaced the incandescent bulb with a bayonet style warm white LED bulb in the security car, but left the incandescent bulb in the Night Crew car,  Quite the difference isn't it?

These cars were listed as C7, but I can see absolutely no indication that they were ever run.  All the wheels were perfectly clean.

Tractors for a flatbed project I’m about to start and some WS figures.

Got the way cool parts for my next OGTrains Shop project.

@texgeekboy posted:

I replaced the incandescent bulb with a bayonet style warm white LED bulb in the security car, but left the incandescent bulb in the Night Crew car,  Quite the difference isn't it?

Great demonstration on the bulb comparison.

It’s been a long time since I’ve added to the fleet, but this was worth the wait.

This is a custom run from Berwyn’s Toys and Trains.

Picked up a

Northern Pacific U36B and the dummy for it along with a primered 50's Chevy PU at the train show in Rochester NY today.

Picked the latest Atlas "Natty Boh" reefer at Mainline Hobby in Blue Summit, PA today.

Charlie

@cpowell posted:

Picked the latest Atlas "Natty Boh" reefer at Mainline Hobby in Blue Summit, PA today.

Charlie

That thing is awesome!