Buy anything cool lately?

@MichaelB posted:

MTH parts has then in stock, I got like 6 of them some time last year. They only have the chrome ones, part #IE0000033 (25 cents each)

Thanks for the heads-up...I would've never thought truck springs were stocked as parts

Got my order in before the pause in operations while they move to a bigger facility. Just waiting to install them.

---PCJ

@coach joe posted:

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 finally got to look up your suggestion, and while looking them over on Amazon, I ran across BCW's "Quick Fold" box. About a half-inch taller than the standard boxes and equipped with a magnetic flap-lid. Peel off and expose four adhesive triangles on the flattened pack, then pull the ends to form the main body of the box. While this setup requires you to store the cars vertically wheels-down, the extra vertical clearance might still be worthwhile for cars that are just a tad too tall for the regular BCW boxes, like most scale cabooses or modern tankers.

I didn't see how to navigate to them from BCW's Amazon storefront so you'll have to search the name directly.

---PCJ

I wasn’t planning on purchasing one of the new Lionel SD50’s, buuut… back in April, I received two beautiful Reading & Northern boxcars from the TCA. Lately, I have been purchasing items from lines that run/ran in my neck of the woods in NE Pennsylvania, hence the box cars and a Lionel GP30 special run Reading & Northern which I had recently picked up from Grzyboski’s. Unfortunately, when I posted pictures of the box cars, one of the METCA mob suggested they’d look really nice behind one of their special run SD50’s called a “red head”. In a rare moment of weakness, I checked out the METCA website… WOW!!! Now, what the instigator does not know is that, when I was young, I was a red head. I really had no choice at that point

The box cars

And the red head. This is a very striking piece with very crisp graphics. It is a good runner and has great sound. METCA and Lionel did a great job with these!!!

Here is a short video of the engine under way…

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...9#184720406098224349

@Apples55 posted:

I wasn’t planning on purchasing one of the new Lionel SD50’s, buuut… back in April, I received two beautiful Reading & Northern boxcars from the TCA. Lately, I have been purchasing items from lines that run/ran in my neck of the woods in NE Pennsylvania, hence the box cars and a Lionel GP30 special run Reading & Northern which I had recently picked up from Grzyboski’s. Unfortunately, when I posted pictures of the box cars, one of the METCA mob suggested they’d look really nice behind one of their special run SD50’s called a “red head”. In a rare moment of weakness, I checked out the METCA website… WOW!!! Now, what the instigator does not know is that, when I was young, I was a red head. I really had no choice at that point

And the red head. This is a very striking piece with very crisp graphics. It is a good runner and has great sound. METCA and Lionel did a great job with these!!!

Rare moment?????? Really????????

That's a sharp looking diesel Paul. Nice to see you've cleared the showroom floor and are running trains again.

Bob

Glad I looked at this thread.  Paul had showed us the nose on Front End Friday and I was gonna ask for this shot.

METCA mob?  Was the instigator Don Vito?  Being a former redhead myself I can definitely see you as a red head.  Bet you got a lot of sunburn when you went to Coney Island.

@Apples55 posted:

I wasn’t planning on purchasing one of the new Lionel SD50’s, buuut… back in April, I received two beautiful Reading & Northern boxcars from the TCA. Lately, I have been purchasing items from lines that run/ran in my neck of the woods in NE Pennsylvania, hence the box cars and a Lionel GP30 special run Reading & Northern which I had recently picked up from Grzyboski’s. Unfortunately, when I posted pictures of the box cars, one of the METCA mob suggested they’d look really nice behind one of their special run SD50’s called a “red head”. In a rare moment of weakness, I checked out the METCA website… WOW!!! Now, what the instigator does not know is that, when I was young, I was a red head. I really had no choice at that point

The box cars

And the red head. This is a very striking piece with very crisp graphics. It is a good runner and has great sound. METCA and Lionel did a great job with these!!!

Here is a short video of the engine under way…

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...9#184720406098224349

Great looking consist and engine Paul. Is there a matching caboose for Tail End Tuesday?

For being a NYC/Conrail fan I sure have a lot of NKP. I do have a soft spot in my heart for the Mad River Museum in Bellevue which is where the real life version is preserved.

Last week, I received a couple of pieces from Mr Muffins. One a preorder, the other a kinda-sorta impulse buy : Look below the photos for their descriptions

First we have this 30-72234 BNSF gondola released the end of May 2024. This one is the kinda-sorta impulse buy, as I placed the order a day after the pre-order below came in. What did I get it for?

Coupled to it in this shot is the BNSF boxcar (30-74983) modded by MNP (Many New Products) to contain a track-cleaning mechanism. It comes with a pair of detachable rubberized discs that in turn carry stick-on pads that rotate against the railheads independent of the car's motion. I first talked about this one in the Fall York 2023 entry. One thing about this car is that there's no provision to store the pads when not in use as a track-cleaning car.

I had been thinking about getting an unmodified 30-74983 boxcar to perform this function, but I couldn't find any during a casual lookaround. I was considering a brown BNSF gondola on Ebay (or Trainz, now that I think of it) when an email newsletter from MrMuffins' on 5/30 alerted me to some 2024 releases, this car among them. It stayed in mind till right after I paid the invoice for the pre-ordered locomotive below, then after some thought, placed the order the following day.

After a two years in pre-order status, here we have MTH's sole remaining modern 6-axle freight loco. Why AtlasO didn't purchase this tooling is a mystery to me and some higher ups at the company (lil' conversation at York), but it's here, the 20-21742-1 BNSF AC4400. I pretty much got it to represent 'run-through' power appearing in my mostly Eastern fleet (aside from some UP locos), most notably NS, just like prototype.

A high-angle view. This time I actually remembered to install the snowplow...and turn the loco to face the sunlight so it can actually be seen. Aside from the 25th anniversary Dash 8 (which came with a broken plow, prompting me to seek a replacement from MTH parts & service), this is the only brand-new unit I've installed the plow on.

A low-angle shot

A closeup of the front insignia. I wonder about that AC44C4M designation, but I don't know the spotting features of the real one yet.

And a closeup of the rear of the long hood.

_{For some reason, all these photos will break if this post is quoted. (Also when I edit it, but I edit it a second time to restore the images)}

[Previous]: Some assorted freights from Cabin Fever 5/18/24 -- [Next]: ???

---PCJ

Handsome catch, but the gon, needs a load of Pumpkins

@RSJB18 posted:

Rare moment?????? Really????????

That's a sharp looking diesel Paul. Nice to see you've cleared the showroom floor and are running trains again.

Bob

Oh, Bob… you so misunderstand me… I have never, I say NEVER before fallen prey to a weakness from my youth. If I had, I’d be still running engines conventionally

@coach joe posted:

...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...

Your two visits to Ollie's, @coach joe, spurred me to visit my local store. I already have the Atlantis Sherman tank sitting half assembled but picked up the 1:48 Howitzer and the super cool Nike Hercules. The Hercules is 1:40 scale, but it might fit on a longer Menard's flatcar, and the missile by itself doesn't have any visual cues that would give away its incorrect scale. Or I could make it part of a Nike launch site if I can find a place for it. I grew up very close to a site in the Philadelphia defense area that was never upgraded from the Nike Ajax to Hercules, and I've been fascinated by the history of that system for some time.

But like you, I've got to finish building some of the kits that are sitting in the basement.

@John's Trains posted:

The Hercules is 1:40 scale, but it might fit on a longer Menard's flatcar, and the missile by itself doesn't have any visual cues that would give away its incorrect scale.

Here you go John.

@Apples55 posted:

Oh, Bob… you so misunderstand me… I have never, I say NEVER before fallen prey to a weakness from my youth. If I had, I’d be still running engines conventionally

Paul,

Conventionally, meaning pure and wholesome as Joshua Lionel Cowen envisioned them?

Tom (living in my prewar house, running my prewar trains)

@Big Jim posted:

Here you go John.

Nice job Big Jim!

Beautiful!

@Big Jim posted:

Here you go John.

Nice, @Big Jim! I like the Road Runner touch. Even with the humorous take, it's still one bad-looking piece of hardware. (Bad meaning good, in the 1970s sense.)

Right on--------cool head

@Dave Ripp. posted:

Great looking consist and engine Paul. Is there a matching caboose for Tail End Tuesday?

Sorry, Dave… missed your question. Unfortunately, no caboose for any Tuesday in the foreseeable future

For the last couple of years, Gryzboski’s has been doing a number of Reading & Northern special runs (needless to say, I have a couple ). They have announced a few Lionel cabeese due in the fall and I’ve ordered two. Until then, I’ll just have to imagine an appropriate tail end!!!

@Big Jim posted:

Here you go John.

For every action there is an EQUAL And opposite reaction!

Ron