Lionel Sets from 1970-2000

A Lionel set, c.1983 or so, set me back twenty four years.

My sons were little and I wanted to get a Christmas toy train tradition started. My Lionel experience was from the fifties, so I bought the kids a set at the local true value hardware store, based on it said "Lionel" on the box. No train stores in the boonies.

Also, no pc's back then, no internet, I bought the Lionel name, based on my splendid childhood experiences. Set turned out to be a piece of crap! Indefensible DC powered plastic garbage. After Christmas it ended up in the dumpster, no regrets except I could use the O-27 track today. If it wasn't for the quality of the Polar Express set I bought in '07 I wouldn't be here.

Pete

NYC fan: Yes that was and is a great set. I did some extra enhancements of putting wire hand rails on the boiler/steamchest and changed out the drive from a D&H loco to get whitewalls on the loco. I further added trainsounds to the tender by changing out the old chassis for one that was already outfitted with the system. It is a tight fit, requiring one to trim the corners off the whistle motor retainer so it would fit inside. The chasis sits a 1/4 inch lower in the plastic tender shell, so a new mounting screw hole on the metal frame needs to be drilled to keep it all level. This is at the drawerbar end of the shell, while the other end has the two metal tabs that slide into the tender shell. A small amount of rebending of the tabs are needed to again level off the shell on the metal frame. Not really a lot of work but a great end result! No extra cars were ever added top this set, so I became inventive. I got an extra coach andadded the older O27 vista dome window strips that have the blinds in the center area. I also added two roof vents that are used on the diner cars to have this car simulate a tavern/lounge car. I makes a nice addition to the set of a car (diner) that was never made for it. Dennis M.

My MPC Amtrak 8466 will pull the 2 dummy units ams about 6-7 mpc 2400 type MPC passenger cars.

The Great Northern and Pennsylvania sets from the Famous American Railroad series. My 2 most favorite engines/sets of all time. Even with all of the technology today, I still love running, and hearing them.

Bill

Here is another sharp looking set from the 1970s, 1977 to be exact, the 1765 Rocky Mountain Special.

wtblake,
My opinion the Great Northern set was the nicest of all five sets. The extra stock car that came later really made this set a home run.

ed h,
You are right. A very attractive train set. Back in the eighties and early nineties this was a great set to break up and sell the pieces individually. Back then, the flat with trailers brought the most money. Living here in western PA. we could sell the B.& L.E. hopper and chrome Gulf tank car all day and night. I never could get enough of those two cars. I'm sure this train set put a smile on a lot of young enginers faces on Christmas morning.

quote:

My opinion the Great Northern set was the nicest of all five sets. The extra stock car that came later really made this set a home run.

I agree with you. Of all the MPC freight sets I once owned, its the only one I kept. I did hang on to the grey UP Berkshire with smoke lifters from the previous set.
Here she is in a photo taken a some time ago..
Now how could anyone not love this guy?
An MPC classic if there ever was one..
Joe

Lionel made gradual additions as production went on (the more recent versions added diecast fuel tanks and pilots, cab interiors with crew figures, electrocouplers, RailSounds improvements and additions [like crew talk] as those became available, etc.

These engines are about as bulletproof as you can get, and from even a short distance away it's pretty hard to tell a "scale" version Geep from these so- called traditional Geeps (which are scale sized as well, of course).

as awesome as these engines sound I think I'm going to start to be on the look out for one of these. They look very nice.

JC642,
Thank you for sharing with us your U.P. steam engine. It looks great. You are fortunate to have a nice looking one. The gray paint on a lot of the boilers have begun to turn yellow.

quote:

Originally posted by jim sutter:
wtblake,
My opinion the Great Northern set was the nicest of all five sets. The extra stock car that came later really made this set a home run.

Jim, you're right, the stock car was great. It really did make the set.

Bill

wtblake,
Not only that but I always felt the Great Northern stock car was the nicest of all the extra cars made for the other four sets.

The 1989 Lionel LTI Canadian Pacific Freight Set. Led by a Red SD 40 this is one nice looking Lionel Freight Set.

Many thanks,

Billy C

William Cunningham,
Orange is my favorite color. Therefore, the Sclair hopper car in this set was a instant hit with me.

Jim Sutter, you are right. When I purchased the set back in 1990 my wife told me how great looking the Sclair hopper car was. When I put this set on the layout, it just looks good and powerful.

Many thanks,

Billy C

Does anyone have references from 1970-1976...especially for Sears sets? I am trying to research my first set from 1970, and then maybe buy one?

I have acquired the B&M GP that I got after that... but I wanted to set too...

Another nice set from the early 1980s, 1981 to be exact. The Maple Leaf Limited. Up to a few years ago I had this set, I now regret selling it, it was a very sharp looking set.

Never could figure out why this set does not have a flat car or work caboose for the crane car!

quote:

Never could figure out why this set does not have a flat car or work caboose for the crane car!

Agreed - Shortly after Lionel came out with the 6205 CP gondola which looks good next to the crane car.

quote:

Originally posted by Geoff:
Never could figure out why this set does not have a flat car or work caboose for the crane car!

Simple - so you could then buy another Lionel produced item to complete the set. A favorite marketing technique.

quote:

JC642,
Thank you for sharing with us your U.P. steam engine. It looks great. You are fortunate to have a nice looking one. The gray paint on a lot of the boilers have begun to turn yellow.

Yea Jim, I guess I'm lucky. This engine has been on a display shelf most of its life with no discoloring yet. Love these Iconic old & colorful MPC Berks.
Amazing, Back in the 70's-80's folks wanted all the PW classics redecorated & modernized.
Unlike today these MPC guys are unique, all American and scream character.
Why everyone wants their chinese clones dull coated, lifeless, boring and close to the old originals I'll never know...My opinion, If you want it to look like the original, buy an original. There's plenty of it out there & it's probably cheaper then the new imported clones.
Here's another MPC favorite.

ed h,
The Maple Leaf Limited set was another set that was great for breaking up and selling the pieces individually. The British Columbia tank car was one of the nicest "O" gauge tank car Lionel built. We kept one on our layout for years. The diesel in this set was very attractive and it came with a electronic horn. Even with out a flat car or gondola the crane car was in high demand. The Chessie crane car from the Royal Limited set and this Canadian Pacific crane car our two of the nicest crane cars Lionel has produced.

JC642,
Your Chessie Berkshire is the prettiest Berkshire Lionel built. That yellow, orange and blue paint just jumps out at you. With a long string of those matching yellow passenger cars behind this engine just spells the word WINNER.

quote:

Originally posted by jim sutter:
JC642,
Your Chessie Berkshire is the prettiest Berkshire Lionel built. That yellow, orange and blue paint just jumps out at you. With a long string of those matching yellow passenger cars behind this engine just spells the word WINNER.

Thanks Jim. Hard to imagine some of these guys are already 30+ years old..
With so many beautifully decorated engines to pick from its a tough call...
If I can find a few shots of some others, I'll poist them here Let others decide..
Joe

quote:

Originally posted by ed h:
Another nice set from the early 1980s, 1981 to be exact. The Maple Leaf Limited. Up to a few years ago I had this set, I now regret selling it, it was a very sharp looking set.

I always thought those different Limited sets Lionel did in those years, one each year for 6 or 7 years or so, were really gorgeous sets. Even the packaging was absolutely first-rate, with the colorful and decorated outside boxes and separately packaged cars inside. If I'd been a kid and gotten one of those sets under the tree, I would have been thrilled. They still look beautiful.

They certainly would rank as one of the prime Exhibits in the argument of how far MPC raised the bar in bringing beautiful color decoration to O Gauge trains.

quote:

Originally posted by SantaFe158:

quote:

Originally posted by JC642:
LOl, In case you haven't noticed, you;ll find very few PW, MPC or early LTI O gauge trains still operating on layouts today.
I'd imagine most of whatever survived now retired is displayed somewhere on a wall of fame. Living a static life in infamy.
Joe

I think you're wrong about that. I know a lot of people run Postwar, there are quite a few running MPC too. Postwar is probably more common that MPC when it comes to running though. They were built to last (same goes for prewar trains)

Yes, I think JC is wrong, too. Not only have the MPC trains survived, but in attending train shows, I see quite a few MPC era trains being run. One large club here always runs some, using TPCs to run them with TMCC. Also, some operators have added ERR conversion kits to MPC-era engines to give them full TMCC capabilities.

breezinup,
Your comment about the Lionel packaging on these limited sets is right on target. They made these sets stand out from all their other products. breezinup, you mentioned how if you were a youngster and received one of these sets you would be glad. Thiry years ago I was 35. Twenty years later I was still thrilled everytime I would find one of these sets at a show still new in their box that I could take back to the store to resale. I have always loved these sets.

quote:

Originally posted by jim sutter:
NYC Fan,
That N.Y.C. steam freight set was a great train set to break up and sell the pieces individually back in the 1980's.

Yup. That set was always sought after. The set was unusual in that it was full of great cars, and every single car in the set became a "hot" car. The stock car was somewhat less desirable than the others, but every one of them became high-dollar car.

quote:

Originally posted by jim sutter:
wtblake,
Not only that but I always felt the Great Northern stock car was the nicest of all the extra cars made for the other four sets.

Speaking of stock cars, although it wasn't one of the add-ons, I've always thought the stock car for the Southern FARR set was really a standout, with its dark green body and contrasting dark red roof and doors.

quote:

Originally posted by jim sutter:
.......Thirty years ago I was 35.....

Wow, Jim, you're old!

Thirty years ago I was only 33.



(Scarey. )

Although it did not come with a set box, here is my favorite including the add-on stock car from 1989.

FARR #5 from 1984 / 1985.

Donald

quote:

Originally posted by jim sutter:
wtblake,
Not only that but I always felt the Great Northern stock car was the nicest of all the extra cars made for the other four sets.

Yup, and and as breezinup mentioned the Southern one is quite nice as well.
Donald very nice pictures.

Bill

quote:

My opinion the Great Northern set was the nicest of all five sets. The extra stock car that came later really made this set a home run.

I have all 5 FARR sets and I agree, the Great Northern is my favorite. My first Lionel engine was a 736 Berkshire, so when FARR 2,3 and 4 were announced with the Berkshire shell, I had to have them.

quote:

Originally posted by breezinup:

quote:

Originally posted by jim sutter:
.......Thirty years ago I was 35.....

Wow, Jim, you're old!

Thirty years ago I was only 33.



(Scarey. )

Thirty years ago I was only 2.

Bill

The "Great Lakes Express"--pictured by Skip on the previous page--has long been one of my favorites. I have that set, given to me by someone very special in my life and still in pristine condition, and it ranks high on the short list of trains I will never part with. I think I was most attracted by the green passenger cars that closely resembled what I remembered seeing years earlier in postwar catalogs, but I also, for whatever reason, also like that light gray small steamer.

Alan

I just picked up that set and it is all original, but oddly came packaged with two Lansing coaches, instead of a Lansing coach and a Detroit coach.

I was curious if anyone had run across this. Also, how often do these appear in a set breakup so that I could add the missing Detriot coach?

quote:

Originally posted by breezinup:

quote:

Originally posted by ed h:
Another nice set from the early 1980s, 1981 to be exact. The Maple Leaf Limited. Up to a few years ago I had this set, I now regret selling it, it was a very sharp looking set.

I always thought those different Limited sets Lionel did in those years, one each year for 6 or 7 years or so, were really gorgeous sets. Even the packaging was absolutely first-rate, with the colorful and decorated outside boxes and separately packaged cars inside. If I'd been a kid and gotten one of those sets under the tree, I would have been thrilled. They still look beautiful.

They certainly would rank as one of the prime Exhibits in the argument of how far MPC raised the bar in bringing beautiful color decoration to O Gauge trains.

I have most of the cars (missing the gondola)for a Seaboard Limited set. Was the engine for this the green and yellow GP9 or the black and red NW2?

Silver Lake,
I believe the diesel you are referring to was the #8063 Seaboard SD-9. It was made in 1980. My favorite tank car was in that set #9369 Sinclair.

breezinup,
You are correct. The Southern stock car from the #4 FARR set was a great looking car. Also, happy to hear your birthday cake has just about as many candles on it as mind does.

3rail,
When the Penna #5 FARR set was shipped, our shipment came by freight carrier. It was the first time we ever received a shipment of electric trains by tractor and trailer. I wasn't at the store that day. However, my wife and her mother were so excited they took pictures of the truck being unloaded.

My plan this weekend is to take pics of my other sets of this era:

NYC Mixed passenget/freight
Conrail sale set

and 3 more surprises (sets) that haven't been mentioned.

Thank you to all who have contributed to this threads. I have learned a great deal about the MPC era and love the set pics!


Peter