Lionel's "new" Southern Crescent Limited

Nice as it gets Jeff!

ps: the "headlight hood" was called a "Fingernail Visor" by Spencer and Pegram Shops.

I thought this a neat comparison of the whistles.  Please forgive that this was shot with an iPhone.  Southern #1408 is a renumbered #1403.

JeffT:

Thanks for posting the video comparing the whistles!

Neal Jeter

To me the Lionel Southern 1403 sounds like it have the correct note for having a 3 Chime Southern longbell whistle. The picth on Southern 1393 is a little on the high side and should be lower but the note sounds correct. 1396 might be the right notes but due to it being an older version of railsounds 5 the sound quailty is off so it's really hard to tell.

S.R. Sean,

Thanks for posting that video showing the comparison of whistles between these engines.  Now the 1393 is the recent Legacy offering.  When were the other 2 models offered and could you please describe the differences, if any, between all of these models?

Steve

Steve

Jeft posted the video but I have Southern 1396 and Southern 1403 in my collection.
The big different between the two is appearance and sounds. Southern 1396 is lettered for the Southern Crescent Limited and the drivers and pilot wheels are painted green the drivers on 1403 are painted black. The pilot on 1396 is painted green while the one 1402 is painted black. 1396 also has 2 chuff per revolution and railsounds 5.0 while 1403 has 4 chuff per revolution railsounds 5.0 and has a bell and whistle cord. 1403 also sports a Walschaert Valve Gear and brakeman stand on the tender. As for 1393 I can only go by the photo's that where posted here on the fourm.

S.R. Sean,

Thanks for this additional information on these models.

This is truly an informative thread on Southern Railway steam; thanks to all who have contributed.

Steve

Jeft,

By the way good job in Spencerfying your Ps4!

Thanks Sean!

Neal, maybe one day I can make it over to run these Ps-4's on your layout.

I will be at the TCA National Convention Friday and Saturday June29th and 30th.  Will any of you "Southern" fans be there?  JeffT give me a call sometime about running those Ps-4s on the layout.

Neal Jeter

Got this in today, it's a recoding of the sounds of 1401. And it proves once and for all that since 1401 has been in the Smithsonian, it has had a white stripe on the pilot. It's not a reflection, it is most definitely a white stripe!

Hard to believe this is still floating around!  The 1401 as delivered and initially displayed in the Smithsonian did not have the white stripe (see photo). That was added sometime later by the museum. The Southern gave the engine a full external restoration, including painting (without the stripe), in Oct.-Nov. 1961 before it left for the Smithsonian. It was moved to the museum in late Nov. 1961 into a yet uncompleted addition, and the building was completed around the engine. This new part of the museum was opened to the public in 1964. The stripe was added at an unknown time subsequent to that.

In any case, it can probably be said that whether it's there, and when it got there, makes little difference to the world.  

One thing that seems indisputable - the white stripe really changes the esthetics of the loco.  It is a brilliant accent concept as to appearance - whoever and whever it was added.  In particular since it matches in color and width the trim on the wheels it works at several levels to add nicely to the overall look.

I "removed" it, crudely I admit, in the photo below. Still a nice looking train, but not nearly as nice, in my opinion.  Whoever decided to add it had a good eye for esthetics.

I'm really suprised that Lionel nor MTH has done a model of the Southern Tennessean.

The Tennessean not only ran on the Southern it also ran over the N&W with the J.

So for me I was both honored and blessed to have acuire a Weaver Ps4 from fellow forum member Dewey Trogdon. I plan to have my Ps-4 returned to Weaver for a TMCC and smoke unit upgrade in the spring.

Sean

I now have two Ps-4 "Tennesseans" [again], one conventional and my original one with T/A's TMCC/RS4.0 installation.

Not too long ago I paid $950 plus packing,shipping and insurance for the conventional unit to a former East Tennessean and N&W fan who is even older than me and was vacating O-gauge and HO.

He is now in the Chicago area but we model railroaded together back in the late 1980s early 1990s when I was living in the Mountains near the Tennessee line and he was at the Ordnance Plant in Kingsport. 

I bet you say that to all the Pacifics.

Ah, Brian, this Pacific is in a class by herself.

Temporary esthetics, anyway. A white stripe in that location probably would be black after a month of road duty.  

Yeah - in fact the whole locomotive would look pretty dirty after what? Just a day of running, probably.  

But it sure looks good in a museum, I'll grant you that . . .

Here are some images of the 1401 being placed into the Smithsonian building. The pilot was removed for the move, but the color view from the 60s/70s definitely shows the white stripe.

Is there any information to prove that 1401 can be return back to service if and I do mean IF NS wanted to run her again? I thought the Southern only did a Cosmetic Restoration but internally she's a wreck.