Engine for Vision Reefers

Trainlover9943 posted:

I have both of the newest vision reefer sets. I am currently running the UP set with a CNW and SP heritage SD70ACe MU consist from Lionel and I run the santa fe set with a Lionel Dash-8. I would like a era appropriate engine to pull the cars. What should I get?

I would suggest that you first check the build dates on the cars in question (NOT the 'blt by Lionel' date), then you can select an appropriate locomotive, steam or diesel, of that era. If these models are of ice reefer cars, then any model diesel units would not be prototypical, since there haven't been any ice reefers in service since the late 1960s.

Thinking on getting a MTH 20-2272-1 DRGW FT ABA I really like that set. Would that work for those cars?  I'd also like this but I can't find it.

Yes, those SP "Black Widow" F Units are surely great looking ( I have an A-B-B-A set of F3 units for my early 1950s PFE reefer train), and UP A-B-B-A F Units would also look great. For the Santa Fe cars, the Santa Fe blue & yellow freight F Units would be good too.

No blt by lionel on the cars. Yes, they are ice reefers. If I wanted to run both the SF and UP cars together in a train would you still suggest the Black widow F3 set?

To pull the VL PFE Reefers, you would need  the Vision Line Big Boy of course!

gunrunnerjohn posted:

To pull the VL PFE Reefers, you would need  the Vision Line Big Boy of course!

And THAT is a FAR BETTER recommendation!!!!!

Just my opinion but, the Santa Fe reefers would probably NOT be found on either the SP nor the UP, since the Pacific Fruit Express Co. (PFE) was owned jointly by the SP and the UP. Thus the SFRD (Santa Fe Refrigerator Lines) was a competitor, and those reefers were normally found in long train sets only on the Santa Fe. Now, once all those various reefers got to Kansas City, Saint Louis, and/or Chicago, the eastern railroads would most likely have mixes of different reefers throughout the train. The CB&Q, for example carried PFE, WFE, and their own reefers eastward, for delivery to the NKP and Erie, while PFE and Santa Fe reefers would be found on the NYC, PRR, B&O, and C&O railroads, for example.

I wish I had the room for a VL big boy. 

Trainlover9943 posted:

I wish I had the room for a VL big boy. 

Well then, how about the Legacy UP FEF-3 #844? That specific steam locomotive was handling reefer trains on the UP between Council Bluffs, IA and Cheyenne, WY well into the late 1950s. 

Don't have room for that either. Max radius due to space is 0-36. Would a 2-8-0 work with those cars? 

Almost anything will "work" to pull them, the question seems to be will it be prototypically correct.

If you run MTH, I have a very nice RailKing Imperial FEF to pull them.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Almost anything will "work" to pull them, the question seems to be will it be prototypically correct.

If you run MTH, I have a very nice RailKing Imperial FEF to pull them.

I'd rather have a lionel piece of motive power. 

Trainlover9943 posted:

Don't have room for that either. Max radius due to space is 0-36. Would a 2-8-0 work with those cars? 

Nope. However, since you provided a key piece of information relative to your original question, i.e. 036 diameter curves, then you are pretty much limited to using only early diesel units. The UP or AT&SF freight F Units word be ideal. The scale big steam steam locomotive models that would have handled those trains from the mid 1940s thru the mid 1950s, apparently will not not fit your layout.

F units will be it then. Thanks for the help.