Hi OGR folks,
I thought I would share a photo and some comments on a couple of recent purchases of an O Scale Western Pacific Locomotive that I bought on eBay, and freight set with Caboose that I purchased from Western Depot, Yuba City, CA. Obviously, by my WesternPacific2217 name I'm a bit of a WP fan. It was the little railroad that tried it's best between two goliaths, SP and UP, the later purchasing the struggling WP in 1983. Also, WP famous for the Feather River Canyon, Keddie Wye, Williams loop, and some spectacular over/under bridges in the Feather River Canyon (North Fork by the way)!
I'm also a big fan of the Northern type GS series locomotives, designed by SP and built by LIMA. WP piggy backed an SP order for GS-6 during WWII as locomotives were hard to come by at the time. WP named their version of GS, GS-64-77, and ordered 6 loco's #481-486. Neither SP or WP locomotives ordered would have the Daylight streamlined skirts and such, as they were deemed unnecessary by the US Government during the War.
I purchased a Lionel GS-64-77 #485 from the 2004 catalog, it was used, but looked and runs brand new. It's a beautiful model, almost as detailed as a Legacy or Vision Line. It runs good for a TMCC and the older original version of Odyssey. It doesn't maintain a constant speed as well as a Legacy or Vision Line, but totally acceptable. The price was right, so I took the chance. I was pleased.
Then I needed some WP freight cars, and found a really nice set at Western Depot. Made by K-Line for Western Depot, that included a Caboose with lights, smoke, and chairs and figures. The 3 freight cars are WP Pacific Fruit Express, Tidewater Southern, and Sacramento Southern. The logo on the Tidewater car is awesome (see photo)! Whenever I buy K-Line, when I can find them, their scale stuff is really nice and affordable. To bad they got swallowed up!
