@coach joe posted:Larry, the Santa Fe blue and yellow war bonnet is always striking.
I don't know why but I always liked this scheme for the BNSF. Maybe because the cream isn't a traditional railroad color and the red pinstripes set it off wonderfully.
I felt the same way about the BNSF since it came out, I even commented to Larry when he first bought it. An ES44AC just doesn’t work with my steam to diesel transition era.
Gene
@RailRide posted:Amazing how much stuff was squirreled away in MTH's warehouse
. Yet another auction from their archives surfaced May 8 and I was there with a keen interest in prototypes and samples...
....possibly an engineering sample... Will said gaggle of cabeese become part of a larger train of unpainted samples from these warehouse auctions? Sure looks that way
Very cool acquisitions! They would make a unique consist.
Over the years been looking for the Pre-war semi-scale cars in my budget. Got 2 together at an auction, well within budget.
This is the 2957 before clean up. This may have been why there weren't many bidders.
The only real problem besides dirt and oiling was a new wire for the light. No warpage. The light bulb was still good, looked original. After cleanup.
The 2954, needed a uncoupler rod and a brake wheel. Little more paint missing on this one.
Overall they look great to me.
Very nice...I have the boxcar and 2 of the cabooses, also. Unfortunately, the cabooses have the walkway warpage.
Tom
Wow @VHubbard. That caboose cleaned up nice. The box car looks good considering her age. Will you perhaps be pulling those with your trusty ol 226e? Kinda miss the old gal.
3 Mikes here - Top down: American Flyer #4501 Mikado, middle MTH 4501 Mikado and lower HO gauge 'Maggie Valley Southern' Mikado
The American Flyer is the recent acquisition arriving yesterday from CA. I've not seen any of the Lionel Flyer up close before and this is a very nicely detailed model of the 4501.
From Cabin Fever's MTH warehouse auction, 5/8/24, more undecorated samples. Descriptions reference the images above them:
First up is this 50' double plug-door boxcar. I think it's the first of its kind in my collection, painted or not. The plug doors do recess into the body when closed, so there's that. No tags were present in this lot other than CFA's tag for the lot sitting inside the car, setting up the possibility this carbody and the others in this lot (waffle-side boxcar and coke hopper) were fitted with trucks in anticipation of a sell-off.
Next is this 50' waffle-sided boxcar. Like the plug-door variant, this is the first of its kind in my collection, resplendent in bare blue plastic , Both of these rather large cars will be looking for some kind of packaging, as they're too tall for the usual trading-card boxes that will house the smaller cars in this group.
Another rather chonky specimen is this coke hopper. Not a stranger to my collection type-wise as I have a bunch of these in Norfolk Southern (and another ten-pack of 2024 reissues on pre-order 
). Coke is lighter than coal and as such you can stuff significantly more into a hopper before the whole kit-and-caboodle reaches the 286,000 pound limit. For this reason coke hoppers are...significantly taller than typical three and four-bay coal hoppers (NS nicknamed theirs "High Top"), although standard coal hoppers can be found in coke trains, which the pair of NS four-bay hoppers from the Tony Lash collection that I won in the 5/1 auction will represent. Curiously, this one has what appears to be a standard coal load sitting in the car. Unsurprisingly it doesn't fit, but I have yet to determine what other hopper it might be for. Like the boxcars above, this one is too big (tall) for a BCW card-box so I'll have to figure out what I can put this one in.
Next up is this Premier bathtub gondola (Coalporter?). This is another first-timer in my collection, as surprisingly enough, I never pursued a dedicated coal train (other commodities were more interesting). This example appears to be a test shot (speculation) of an upgraded version as it has the holes for separately-fitted fine-wire rungs, but no such parts installed. It does however have the brakewheel+chain detail assembly installed, and trucks with sliding-bar couplers. Unlike the first three cars in this post, a BCW-800 box will fit this one,
Premier three-bay cylindrical hoppers. This pair and their bigger four-bay siblings below were part of the same lot. These appear to be engineering samples of upgraded-detail Premier cars as they have the fine-wire railings and rungs, not to mention the upgraded trucks with the sliding-bar uncoupling mechanism and brake-hose detail. No clue what the colored bands signify -- they don't look painted, and the cylindrical carbody is a single-piece molding near as I can tell.
Four-bay cylindrical hoppers. Same deal with the three-bay versions, these look like samples of the upgraded tooling, though the significance of the colored bands (and different-colored hopper gates) escapes me. At first glance, the bands made me think of modular tooling, as the black colored ends look identical to the three-bay versions, and the body appears to be a single-piece (although it could be three pieces with some awesomely precise fitting). Storage-wise, while the three-bay cars will fit (barely) in a BCW-800 box, these four-bay cars will require the extra-long BCW-930 card box (oddly enough, so do Lionel's Hogwarts' coaches)
[Previous:] CFA MTH warehouse auction wins from 5/8/24 [1 of 2]-- [Next] some assorted freight cars from Cabin Fever 5/18 (upcoming)
---PCJ
@c.sam posted:3 Mikes here - Top down: American Flyer #4501 Mikado, middle MTH 4501 Mikado and lower HO gauge 'Maggie Valley Southern' Mikado
The American Flyer is the recent acquisition arriving yesterday from CA. I've not seen any of the Lionel Flyer up close before and this is a very nicely detailed model of the 4501.
Love the southern color scheme, but You gotta add the Eliso Feedwater heaters
@RailRide posted:From Cabin Fever's MTH warehouse auction, 5/8/24, more undecorated samples. Descriptions reference the images above them:
First up is this 50' double plug-door boxcar. I think it's the first of its kind in my collection, painted or not. The plug doors do recess into the body when closed, so there's that. No tags were present in this lot other than CFA's tag for the lot sitting inside the car, setting up the possibility this carbody and the others in this lot (waffle-side boxcar and coke hopper) were fitted with trucks in anticipation of a sell-off.
Next is this 50' waffle-sided boxcar. Like the plug-door variant, this is the first of its kind in my collection, resplendent in bare blue plastic
Another rather chonky specimen is this coke hopper. Not a stranger to my collection type-wise as I have a bunch of these in Norfolk Southern (and another ten-pack of 2024 reissues on pre-order
Next up is this Premier bathtub gondola (Coalporter?). This is another first-timer in my collection, as surprisingly enough, I never pursued a dedicated coal train (other commodities were more interesting). This example appears to be a test shot (speculation) of an upgraded version as it has the holes for separately-fitted fine-wire rungs, but no such parts installed. It does however have the brakewheel+chain detail assembly installed, and trucks with sliding-bar couplers. Unlike the first three cars in this post, a BCW-800 box will fit this one,
Premier three-bay cylindrical hoppers. This pair and their bigger four-bay siblings below were part of the same lot. These appear to be engineering samples of upgraded-detail Premier cars as they have the fine-wire railings and rungs, not to mention the upgraded trucks with the sliding-bar uncoupling mechanism and brake-hose detail. No clue what the colored bands signify -- they don't look painted, and the cylindrical carbody is a single-piece molding near as I can tell.
Four-bay cylindrical hoppers. Same deal with the three-bay versions, these look like samples of the upgraded tooling, though the significance of the colored bands (and different-colored hopper gates) escapes me. At first glance, the bands made me think of modular tooling, as the black colored ends look identical to the three-bay versions, and the body appears to be a single-piece (although it could be three pieces with some awesomely precise fitting). Storage-wise, while the three-bay cars will fit (barely) in a BCW-800 box, these four-bay cars will require the extra-long BCW-930 card box (oddly enough, so do Lionel's Hogwarts' coaches)
[Previous:] CFA MTH warehouse auction wins from 5/8/24 [1 of 2]-- [Next] some assorted freight cars from Cabin Fever 5/18 (upcoming)
---PCJ
Can't wait to see them with your Roadname on them
Patrick, BCW makes a two piece box, cover slides over the box, and it is taller. I put some pretty big loads on some Menard's 14-1/2" flat car, Jordan spreader, patrol boat, Siku 1:55 power shovel and used the two piece boxes for those cars. They're in storage right now but looking at the BCW web site they look like the vault storage boxes.
I've been on a bit of a buying spree lately and with the exception of previously posted "recent" purchases I've got no one to blame except my own little voices. No Brooklyn "accent", pure Bronx with a bit of a drawl thanks to my Dad who hailed from NC. So here goes.
Just prior to my trip back to Great Big Sand Bar of New York City our friends at Trainz were happy to sell me this Plasticville Turnpike Interchange toll booth, some side wall J vents, electric meters and battery boxes to add detail to the layout, a Tomar Alaska Railroad drum head and some CN intermodal decals that I was certain I needed but really didn't. Now there's no room for a turnpike on my 4x8 but I figure the toll booth can serve as the gated entry to any industrial facility, intermodal yard or military installation.
I found this Patton Tank model kit at Ollie's, a local discount chain. I really need to start assembling some models and put that military train together.
Then there was the previously documented trip to Nassau Hobby and some of their custom runs and that wonderful Weaver aluminum 20th Century Limited Pullman.
Upon returning home I started searching for some more LIRR items. Once again our friends at Trainz were happy to oblige. I found several items, two of which were still in the private car. When the first, a LIRR flat with a Northrup Grumman trailer, cleared I pounced, had it my cart but while continuing to shop I either took too long or did something wrong and that item was gone from my cart. But hey it was free shipping day so onward, here's that purchase. I really needed that little fire man figure for one of my projects, boy I've got too many of them, so he's what started this all.
A K-Line K671-3741 LIRR Classic Scale Ore Car
A K-Line KO-5008A Husky Upgrade Kit, hey 3 sets of die cast trucks for $45, I couldn't say no.
Seeing as how I drive a Dodge Charger Daytona and a Dodge Ram this set, at the price it was offered for was almost a no-brainer. Did I mention the free shipping? If I didn't buy it then I never would. Below is a comparison of the K-Line and Lionel ore cars. Seems like Lionel hasn't change it's tooling since the current crop is still smaller than the K-Line cars Looking at the load in the Lionel cars when I bought them I figured a quick spray with Rustoleum Stone finish Pebble color would liven them up. But now after seeing the K-line load, the ore in the Lionel cars will never pass for ballast. I thinkg some real stone needs to bee added.
That brings me to today. On the way out the door taking my wife to an appointment there was a package.
A K-Line K671-3743 LIRR Ballast Car in the same scheme as one of the Lionel ore cars from Nassau Hobby. After the appointment and some lunch a walk through another Ollie's revealed an even better selection of Atlantis model kits so the Howitzer followed mehome. I really need to start building, gotta finish the tack wiring first.
Another package awaited our return on the front porch. Some of that LIRR nostalgia brought on by Nassau Hobby's custom runs and considering Palisades Park was only like a 20 minute car ride away while growing up in the Bronx I just had to have this car that I didn't buy when they first came out. I was but still remember it well.
Wow Joe. Looks like I'm off the hook now.....🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Nice finds across the board.
Bob
Well you did escort me to Nassau Hobby but it would be too much of a stretch to lace any blame for this on you. And some how Paul never came too mind as I was hitting the BUY button on the computer.
Some more CFA auction wins, unrelated to the MTH warehouse for once Everything in this post came from a single lot. and for once, I got out to the driveway with the sun angle just right to light up the cars without undue shadows or late-afternoon yellow-ish light. (like what happened when I re-shot the first batch of European passenger cars last week along with the MTH warehouse cars...I replaced the original photos in that post as they were too dark for my taste)
Captions reference the photos above them. [Previous]-[Next] links at the bottom navigate to other photo posts I've made in this thread.
Lionel 6-17905 ADM tanker. This one sat in what I believe to be a store window for a long time going by the condition of the box. No placards found though...although being a corn-syrup (non-hazmat) tanker I wonder if they were ever included. There's a price sticker on the box indicating $76.50. A quick looksee shows this car currently going for $23-40 used. The auction win+premium+shipping came to $62.94, so I think buying all these separate via dealers/Ebay would come out a bit more if you consider shipping from individual vendors. These weren't the reason I went after this lot though.
Lionel 6-9856 Old Milwaukee reefer from 1975 according to the BLT. This is my first MPC reefer. I've never sought these out as a category, but it was part of the lot. The red/white Lionel box was in pretty decent condition, not shopworn-looking at all. The $39 price sticker indicates it probably passed through a few retailers since manufacture 
A close-up of the reefer door showing how the plug-door effect is accomplished on these cars. The spring inside the track pushes the door into the pocket as it is slid shut.
6-9116 Domino/Amstar quad hopper from 1974. Believe it or not, it's only the third Lionel quad hopper in my collection (I do have two or three Menards versions). Also with a red/white Lionel box in very good condition considering it's right around 50-years old, it carried a price sticker of the same style as the reefer above for $27, so it's almost certain to have come from the same retailer.
K-Line K-6850 boom tender. I have a CSX version and a crane to go with it. No crane to accompany this one. Maybe the postwar one I acquired in the estate sale a few years ago...but then again there's the postwar work caboose for that one. Ah well, part and parcel of auction lots. This car for some reason is as dirty as the photo suggests. The box window is detached along the bottom, but that alone wouldn't really account for all that dust. This car's box carries a price sticker indicating it was put on sale (wherever that was) on 5/31/2016, for $15
K-Line K-90004. KCC Christmas boxcar from 1993. I think I might have one of these already, being that I was in the KCC from Day One, and have a decent chunk of the released KCC cars all the way to the end. One day I'm going to put them all in one train for giggles. This car came from the same retailer as the boom tender above, carrying a price sticker for $19.50 when it was put on sale 4/11/2014. Oh, and there's two reasons why I left the trucks turned in -- One, they're so tight to the body I didn't want to risk chewing up the bottom of the car (or breaking something) to get the couplers facing out and two, the styrofoam insert for the car is shaped to require that the trucks face inward. That's just plain dumb
Like I mentioned, at least some of these cars looked to have come from a storefront, going by the severely sun-bleached boxes shown here, both the front and left-end of the box.
Now by this point, given my other entries in BACL, you might be wondering what was it that made me go after this lot? It seems to consist entirely of generic freight cars that have nothing in common with the rest of my collection. So far, you'd be right. The actual reason this lot caught my attention is the cars below:
Oh no...more European cars . Two of them were inexplicably in this lot. They were probably tossed in as there weren't any other lots they fit in with. Even the lot desciption was mis-categorized as "HO scale". So I get to add Rivarossi to the list of manufacturers represented in my collection. This is another UIC 2-axle gondola, or "Belgian Open Goods Wagon"of the state-owned railway SNCB/NMBS, catalog number 7561. I did say awhile back that I was looking for at least one more of these, thinking I was going to equip them with an AHM knuckle-coupler conversion on one end and let them serve as "adapter wagons" for whenever I stick some of this oddball rolling stock on the end of a regular train. You know, for giggles
Same car, pictured with its box. The end flaps open downward, and this example insisted on demonstrating that by flopping open at every opportunity. Not so fun given that box insert (a polystyrene tray) is missing, allowing the car to roll about inside. I'll have to make up something out of styrofoam with my hot-wire scroll table.
Second of the two, also a UIC 2-axle "goods wagon", described as a "Type E" as is its catalog mate. This one is number 7560 of one of the Italian railway operators (the markings don't make it clear which one). A previous owner cut off the buffers on this one. I can't imagine these cars negotiating curves sharp enough to induce "buffer lock" (owing to their wheelbase), so the purpose of their removal remains a mystery.
Showing both cars with their respective boxes
I hadn't talked about this one before, but I got it from Ebay just before York. Currently it's holding the Mini-Commander and pickup rollers I hope to one day install within the British class 33 diesel I showed along with my MTH Challenger a few pages back. This is a Lima two-axle UIC 'open goods wagon' lettered for the French national railway SNCF, catalog number 6724 (yes, it'll get a clean-up).
The three wagons together. Now I have a total of four. That should be enough XD.
Being that one of these cars was missing its box insert, I wondered briefly if I was putting the proper car in the insert. I say "briefly" because the car didn't fit. Whaaaa? It wasn't till I took a closer look and compared the three that I found that one of the Rivarossi cars (the one that actually did fit) was actually a different model. I used to think Rivarossi had acquired some Lima tooling at some point (hearkening back to the Ebay lot I passed on thanks to its pair of "duplicate" Spatenbrau 2-axle reefers), but this car makes it clear Rivarossi went their own way with similar (but better detailed / proportioned) cars to its competitor Lima (they also had their own O scale UIC passenger cars, longer than the Lima ones). These comparison photos show Rivarossi on the bottom, a Lima on top. Note the discrepancy in carbody length...
Looking at the underside makes the difference even starker. Both cars came in Rivarossi boxes, so a head-scratcher there, until...
Then looking closely at the underframe, you can see the top car has "LIMA ITALY" molded into its underside, while the more detailed one has "Rivarossi Italy" molded in. This changes the identity of the top wagon to Lima, making the Rivarossi box into a substitute that happened to sort-of fit -- possibly explaining why the interior tray was MIA as the car didn't fit it. Consulting my 1976 Lima catalogue (I found a hard copy on Ebay) identifies this car as Lima #6722, marked for the Societa Veneta Ferrovie although some inscriptions don't exactly match. So that's how I'll identify it in my electronic records once I get around to adding these cars to the database. But I still have that one actual Rivarossi, regardless.
---PCJ
[Previous] CFA MTH warehouse unpainted samples (2 of 2) -- [Next] MTH BNSF AC4400 and gondola
Had one of those "forgot a pre-order" moments. Got a call from JR Junction that the MTH Matt's Premium Utica Club cars were in last week. I ordered them a year ago almost to the day.
I bought both cars offered, with sequential numbers. I have a growing collection of Merchant's Despatch refers and a nice MTH PC SW 9 to pull them.
Bob
@RSJB18 Just did the the same thing with an RK Detroit Mackinaw RS3. The nice thing about an order a year old, the explanation to the CEO is 'yes I promised not to buy any new engines, but this was ordered over a year ago'. I do have another due in the 3rd quarter from Mr Muffin's an Atlas PS3 SD45. That might be it.... maybe .... ; )
Not holding my breath about you not buying any more engines. Besides you always need three SD-45's to make it look right
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