Front end Friday.....

Continuing to reach back in time for my entries.  This is from my  2002.Christmas Layout.

- walt

This pair of MTH Railking RS-3s was my first attempt at a DCS controlled lashup.  I ususally ran them short hood in front.

Here are my ends of the front kind for this fine Friday!

The firemen always enjoy educating the younguns about fire safety and showing off their apparatus.  Engine 5 has just returned from a call as Olivia and her little brother Oliver ask Lt. Rakestraw a litany of questions.

Slim Cratchet has just backed in.  He loves his weekend cabin in the woods!  

A Pennsy A5 rounds the bend.

Pennsy U36 taking a Santa Fe B unit to the Maintenace facility for repairs and painting, HAGD All!

A trio of Front Ends on Friday.

3rail - beautiful UP F-3, I have "captured" some Lionel UP Alco's but never the big F'unit.  Great picture.  Robert S.Butler - great photo and great story.  Thanks for posting. RSJB- great picture with the Rutland waiting in the hole.  Is that the famous Lionel 6452 short gondola from 1948-49 in the foreground?

Well today, it being a hot Friday in Texas with temperatures well in excess of 100 deg I have retreated to the train room to see if I could find something new for today.  What I "discovered" high on a storage shelf where it has sat for likely 10 years or more is a Japanese tin toy that I purchased when I was with the Air Force and made several trips to Japan. It may be a track toy, it certainly has flanged wheels but the gauge is 1 3/4" or "G" gauge rather than "O". The box is labeled "Battery Locomotive with Head Light" and the trade mark is "TN" inside a diamond with the words Tokyo, Japan on the sides of the diamond.

First here are some views of the box.  Sometimes, just like with all types of toy trains, the box is the most impressive part! Here is the top and side of the box, note that the artwork on the side of the box depicts a train route that is clearly traversing the United States including the Rocky Mountains and not Japan.

Here is the F.E.F. view of the locomotive.  It is all a metal stamping with little to no plastic on the boiler or cab area.  The rivet detail is good as well as details on the pilot.

Here is the front quarter view.  One disappointing feature is that the slide valve gear, main rod and connecting rods are all plastic.  Almost everything else is either stamped or cast metal.  Great rivet detail though.

Here is the side view, the switch on top of the boiler is the start/stop switch-remember this is battery powered - it uses 2 "D" size batteries.  It has no reverse.  The engine number under the cab window is "123".  You can see the engine is a 2-6-0 with the 1st and 2nd pair of the drivers blind and considerably higher than driver #3 and a traction tire on driver #3.  The loco is 9 1/2 " long, 3 1/4" high from the track, and 2 1/2" wide.

Well there you are, a Japanese Floor (or track?) toy from about the 1980's.

Happy Friday everyone, have a great weekend.

Best Wishes

Don

Hope everyone has a great FEF…🚂😉😺

@Don McErlean posted:

3rail - beautiful UP F-3, I have "captured" some Lionel UP Alco's but never the big F'unit.  Great picture.  Robert S.Butler - great photo and great story.  Thanks for posting. RSJB- great picture with the Rutland waiting in the hole.  Is that the famous Lionel 6452 short gondola from 1948-49 in the foreground?

Happy Friday everyone, have a great weekend.

Best Wishes

Don

It may well be Don. I bought this one and 2 longer NYC's of dabay a while back. Never really looked into the origin of the cars but now that you mentioned it, I will.

Thanks

@Don McErlean, I totally agree, 3Rail Donald has a beautiful layout and the F3 UP diesel and passenger train, and awesome video to. Now, I love that older G Gauge Steamer, beautiful picture on the box top, Wow…. Today, I’ve been putting up more Tin Advertising plates around my layout, to me it’s fronts of interesting kinds, Happy Railroading Everyone

Larry - a different, cheesecakey, take on FEF. 😉

Well, I love Cheescake, and I also love the amusing railroad memorabilia, that I’ve placed around the walls of my train room. Eye Candy can be trains, cars, pictures, and it all adds to the fun of model railroading. Happy Railroading Everyone

@Mark V. Spadaro posted:

Larry - a different, cheesecakey, take on FEF. 😉

Well he did include this front end to stay on topic!

Thank you @Coach Joe, I was just having a little fun with my memorabilia, as I think the signs add a little spice to our hobby, just a fun thing with me. Everyone that comes detox see my layout likes them, most everybody??? Happy Railroading Everyone

I ran some trains today and had several Front End Friday opportunities. An New Haven FA FB are set to pull out of scranton with a mixed freight consist while the F3 A-B-A Ontario and Western units have a coal drag to move.  Second set of pictures and a NEw Haven DL-109 with a heavyweight passenger consist and it has met New Haven Mountain type 3301 on the bend by Maybrook in front of the Locko Beer Company where they brew my brothers favorite beer, Howie Beer.

A throwback for this Friday. Have a great weekend everyone!

Happy FEF and regards from Conway Scenic R.R. Tomorrow Wiscasset Waterville & Farmington R.R.

   Johan

Lionel UP GP7 Early Legacy era and UP Genset Switcher.

@Wood, that’s a beautiful VisionLine Genset, and the diesel 105 is beautiful to, very nice pictures, so let’s see more of your layout. Wow. @Johan, that’s a beautiful real train and a gorgeous picture, really nice. Happy Railroading Everyone

Getting late out here on the west coast so I thought I better post for FeF. Here's Santa Fe F3's and Western Pacific F7 getting ready for their nightly runs. I think the only place SF and WP might have been on parallel tracks would have been Oakland, CA. As far as I know only Southern Pacific had trains leaving San Francisco, all the other carriers picked up freight and passengers from Oakland. So passengers leaving from SF meant a ferry ride across the bay to Oakland to catch east bound and southbound passenger service. It's sort of similar today with Amtrak, the train stops in Emeryville (nearby to Oakland) then a bus ride across the Bay Bridge into San Francisco.

Happy Friday everyone!

@WesternPacific2217, Wow, that’s a beautiful line up of F units… Thanks for posting these nice diesels, awesome. Happy Railroading Everyone

@leapinlarry posted:

@Wood, that’s a beautiful VisionLine Genset, and the diesel 105 is beautiful to, very nice pictures, so let’s see more of your layout. Wow.

Leapin, Thanks for the nice comments and here are some overview pictures of the layout

Front end Friday!

Front in Friday Work Horses

Wood, beautiful layout.  Love the Brew House.  What did you use for the el?

Coach, Thanks for your comment and the answer to your question is BridgeBoss owned by Jim Robinson.  He usually attends York.

You give him the design location and measurements for your El and he makes up a detailed set of instructions for installation.  I like the appearance and profile.   See  the pics. One of the pics is not showing, click on it below.

.

@Wood posted:

Front in Friday Work Horses

Nothing beats the look of a war bonnet F3, except the look of multiple war bonnet F3's!!

Thank you Wood.

FEF time. Union Pacific SD40T-2. #4004 issued back in 2003. Please check out my new video I posted highlighting my Union Pacific Tunnel Motors and also SD40-2 "Desert Victory".

Donald

touch of Aussie FEF ...

1948 Maurlyn 4-6-2 ( this one is missing his front bogie ) made from sheet aluminium as steel tin & brass were at a premium here in Australia after WWII ... Available in clockwork or electric .. this one is naturally clockwork

TGIFEF everyone!  I picked up my dealer exclusive black & gold Monon F-3 from forum sponsor Mr Muffins Trains last weekend to go with my other red & gray version - also a previous dealer exclusive from the same dealer.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Have another great FEF!!! 🚂😉😺

A couple of Marx Front Ends.

Having only Christmas-time layouts, I have to go back in time for my images.  these are from my 2003 Christmas Layout.  These are all MTH Railking engines.

walt

Have a great Front End, Williams Southern Pacific Berk on a night run.

@rjsmithindy posted:

TGIFEF everyone!  I picked up my dealer exclusive black & gold Monon F-3 from forum sponsor Mr Muffins Trains last weekend to go with my other red & gray version - also a previous dealer exclusive from the same dealer.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Very nice!

I'm driving up tomorrow to Atlanta to pick-up mine. I ended up pre-ordering all five units that @MrMuffin'sTrains had produced.

Happy Friday Front end - The Midnight Chief and Santa Fe lineup

A good crowd standing by as the 'Chief" pulls in

Happy Front end Friday to all, beautiful pictures, beautiful layouts, today I’m headed to the LCCA National Convention in Music City, Nashville. Will attend the Lionel Seminar, Wow, hope to learn a lot of new information. Today’s pictures are from my last evening visit with Dr. Jack Fisher…..pictured Larry, Jack,C David Elliott.. Happy Railroading Everyone

Happy Front End Friday Boys and Girls!!!

Happy fef! A little 259e tinplate action for ya