Pictures: Sunset 3rd Rail D&RGW L-131 Green Late 2-8-8-2

That engine is stunning!!!  

What a beautiful model!!!  Fantastic job Sunset!!!

Fantastic! Thanks for sharing such great pics! 

Now THAT's what I call a finely detailed model.  

David

Boy what a model, I could get lost in all of the details.  Thanks for sharing the photos! 

beautiful locomotive. I've never seen a stack like that.

Side-by-side photo with Great Northern 07, a favorite: 2-8-2 versus 2-8-8-2. 

Also, interesting to compare greens of D&RGW with GN.

The best ever! Stunning

@EBN posted:

Hello everyone,

I wanted to share a few photos of the newly released L-131 from 3rd Rail. Very impressive model.

More photos to come.

2-8-8-2 L-131 Green boiler with late Rio Grande lettering.  

Late response, but I also have this engine .Excellent detail.

Good picture taking

The correct lettering:

@breezinup posted:

Unfortunately, the lettering on the left side of the tender was put on backwards.

The correct lettering:

Curious, given that the lettering is reversed from your picture on the right side of the tender. I've also seen other pictures of the L-131 where the lettering on the left side is the opposite of the Sunset model. (can't show due to copyright).  I agree, though, it's a gorgeous model.

Some people are so hellbent on criticizing 3rd Rail, they'll come up with their own errors!

The Rio Grande had LH/RH stencil sets for their tenders. The logo was always supposed to lean forward regardless of what side of the tender it was on.
Occasionally you’ll see photos of tenders that got relettered using only one of the stencils so the logo leans backward on one side. A couple of the narrow gauge K-36’s were lettered like this in the late 50s. Story I heard was that Alamosa lost one of the stencils in the set.

Looks like Lionel decided to follow this lettering error that the Grande made at one point in time.

OTOH, could be their way of saving $$$ on the pad printing?...same printing head both sides.  Less factory confucius confusion. 

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There's another theory I heard re the lettering slant...  After 'speed lettering' became the standard throughout the system, it's application to railroad cars rendered moot the issue of slant-right vs. slant-left.  After all, railroad cars (freight and passenger) were bi-directional.  It was deemed more aesthetically appropriate to standardize on slant-right.  Eventually this became a de facto standard throughout the locomotive paint shops, too.  Whether the slant-left stencils were 'lost' or merely set aside forever is unknown...the stuff of Grande lore, perhaps.

Regardless, I just paged through 3 publications with copious images of Rio Grande steam.  LOTS of photos showing both slants on the left side of tenders.  OTOH, I can assuredly say that I've never seen a slant-left version of "Rio Grande" on a freight car or silver/gold passenger car paint job.  Anyone?

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Besides, one would question Jonathan's due diligence on this sort of issue????  Surely you jest!  Sacré Bleu!!

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Meanwhile...back to the discussions du jour around the pot-bellied stove..

KD

@dkdkrd posted:

OTOH, could be their way of saving $$$ on the pad printing?...same printing head both sides.  Less factory confucius confusion.

That’s probably the real reason. My comment was tongue in cheek humor

I can't resist sharing .... the end of this thread made me laugh. ..

I heard the same story Ryan from Don Elliot, he was a Grande employee for 4 decades retiring 1987.

The joys of the misinformation super highway, otherwise known as social media.

Some data worth looking at regarding K59 1200 class 2-8-2

Here in post late 1940 Speed Lettering, Train #20, The Mountaineer; 4 cars, 30 MPH. Photographed: Denver, Colo., May 25, 1941. https://digital.denverlibrary....l22/id/50185/rec/107