Tail End Tuesday

@MELGAR posted:

First photo shows MTH Railking New York Central caboose #19654. Since I bought it in 1998, it has been the only NYC wood-sided caboose that I have which I run behind steam era NYC freight trains, so it has a lot of run time. In June 2022, MTH announced new Premier models of wood-sided cabooses, and I ordered a New York Central version in addition to those of two other railroads. The new models arrived during August 2023 and I have been running NYC #19877 since then.

MELGAR

As you may have seen in my previous posts, I've got the #17965 RK die-cast version of your #19654 shown above. She's nicely detailed with separately-applied grab-bars and handrails, but she came with the same roller-bearing trucks and clear yellow marker lamps your 19654 has. I was able to swap out the roller bearing trucks with a pair of MTH arch bar trucks I was lucky to find on one of the four RK die-cast woodside reefers I purchased along with the caboose. Therefore, I really appreciate the details of your new Premier version, especially the marker lamps and period-and-purpose-correct trucks. I'm baffled by MTH's decision to put roller-bearing trucks on nearly all of their earlier RK woodside rolling stock offerings when they had die-cast arch bar trucks available. Now, I wish I could find a source for the MTH arch bar trucks to retrofit my four woodside reefers.

@Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

Some wheel slip getting it going but it does pull them. I’ll do a short video before they get packed back up.

steve

Nice consist Steve! Are both "A" units powered, or just one?

@Bill Swatos posted:

Nice consist Steve! Are both "A" units powered, or just one?

Only the lead A is powered

Steve

Have a good Tail End Tuesday

A.T.&S.F. rider coach 2606

Well T.E.T. fans, I did post this on the PRR site but I had really saved it for the Tuesday thread, so I am using it again.

These two are a part of my modest weekend Train Show haul and admittedly they are more for fun than for any real collector's value.  Their cost was very modest ($5 each) and , my favorite part of train show vs E-bay, NO Shipping cost.

The #6257 on the left does not appear in any of the Greenberg collectors pricing guides and iaw the data included in the livery on the car it was offered in the year 2000.  It is plastic construction and a little unusual because the roof is not black but a deep brown, perhaps close to PRR Tuscan color. It does have two automatic couplers which is normally a premium feature.  It does not have any illumination and based on its construction was never offered with lights.  Most likely it was part of a set and not sold as a separate item.

The #2472 on the left is an old warrior.  Made by Lionel just at the beginning post war period, 1946 it is all tinplate with die cast trucks and automatic couplers.  The frame and floor indicate that it might have been offered with a light, however the trucks at least on this one, do not exhibit any power pick up so its likely that this one never had lights.

To me the "old guy" is much more realistic including the lettering and data which is of a much smaller size.  So two antiques, one 23 years old and one 77 (almost my age!).

Well T.E.T. fans that is my offering for today.  Best wishes and hope your week is going well.

Don

Here's my rears for this fine Tuesday!    Brakeman Gus Bevan rides the rear platform of a B&O SW9 as it pushes a works train through Butler Junction.

The rear end of a MOW pick up truck and some MOW workers doing their thing.  The caboose of a way freight sits on a siding waiting for the return of its' engine and freight cars.  The way freight crew usually sets out the caboose on this siding as the engine and a few covered hoppers and a boxcar backs up a half mile spur to a concrete plant, drops off the boxcar at a cabinet manufacturer, and makes a pickup at a propane gas dealer.  The rear brakeman, Gus Stiller seen leaning against the caboose, stays with the caboose as the rest of the crew rides the engine to do the assigned switching tasks.  

MTH Rugged Rails with scotch tape for window frosting. Don’t believe PRR had this style of caboose.

This Boston & Maine "bluebird" caboose #433 (model by MTH) is not quite prototypical but it's pretty close...

MELGAR

@Don McErlean posted:

The #2472 on the left is an old warrior.  Made by Lionel just at the beginning post war period, 1946 it is all tinplate with die cast trucks and automatic couplers.  The frame and floor indicate that it might have been offered with a light, however the trucks at least on this one, do not exhibit any power pick up so its likely that this one never had lights.

To me the "old guy" is much more realistic including the lettering and data which is of a much smaller size.  So two antiques, one 23 years old and one 77 (almost my age!).

Well T.E.T. fans that is my offering for today.  Best wishes and hope your week is going well.

Don

Don,

As a child, I had a caboose like 477618 at the right in the photo, probably around 1949. It may be 74 years ago but I have not forgotten it or the train set of which it was a part. And I still like cabooses even now. Thanks for posting.

MELGAR

@Mark V. Spadaro posted:

MTH Rugged Rails with scotch tape for window frosting. Don’t believe PRR had this style of caboose.

Looks more like a NE stye!

Ron

@Mark V. Spadaro posted:

MTH Rugged Rails with scotch tape for window frosting. Don’t believe PRR had this style of caboose.

Mark nice looking caboose

@MELGAR- Thanks for your comment.  I agree, I think the tinplate early pw cabooses far outshines the plastic, single mold SP style that dominated the MPC era, especially in the low end train sets.  Thanks again for your comment and your recounting of your memory.

Don

I haven't posted anything here in a while but a new addition, if not a totally prototypical one, for my 1977 Broadway Limited.  Also added two baggage cars and two coaches to the consist to go with my various GGD and K-Line cars to get close to finishing this train out.

Speaking of vintage PRR Cabin Cars, here is a 1940's or 1950's Walthers N5b.

... and in the department of tail end or not?

NC&StL Caboose #41, class NE-3.  Built 1924 Mt. Vernon Car for FEC; Acquired by NC&StL and rebuilt West Nashville Shops 1935-36.  Modified at some point to add extra seats for branchline passenger service. Steel frame, drovers style, wood sheathed, offset cupola.

Since my secondary railroad (primary L&N) was NC&StL, I wanted a special NC&StL caboose. #41 became the perfect choice. I contacted Malcolm and he said he would build me one.

Here’s an RK NYC Work Caboose w/ a mechanical whistle, from the 30-4057-0 NYC Docksider Set. Whistle works with conv. transformer control only.

I bought the docksider from a set break-up. The instructions mentioned a whistle, which I couldn't get to work no way no how.  I went back to the LHS I had purchased it from, told them the whistle wasn't working and learned the whistle was in the caboose.  Which they no longer had by the way.  I have recently been thinking about that caboose and have scanned ebay for one several times but haven't found one yet.

I took the photo and didn't have time to post it, so here is my Tail End Tuesday a day late. Obviously this passenger car is not prototypical as the SP Daylight did not have a platform observation car in its consist. But that's okay, it still looks good!

@@coach Joe- had almost same experience but mine worked out ok. 2 Christmas Eve’s ago my expensive Lionel engine refused to run. I went and got a Marx 400 plastic engine that I had at our place where we were spending Christmas and it ran fine but I thought I was losing all the sound effects (bell, whistle , chuff etc) .  I then discovered that all that capability was in the TENDER!!  Worked fine the tender didn’t care what was pulling it.
Don

I have many sets of Lionel’s 4 car 18” aluminum passenger cars, with the add on two packs and the sound diner cars made to go with the.  I also am a passenger car junkie lol. Over the years I have also collected Lionel’s new 21 inch cars, MTH, K-line, and Golden Gate Depot on the scale end. I also love my tinplate sets, and semi scale Lionel postwar type sets. I still think Lionel’s aluminum cars are so nicely detailed, for me nothing can compare to metal cars. This is one of my favorite observation tail cars. Maybe because I was a passenger as a child on this train and the Santa Fe Super chief. Everyone in this hobby has there addictions. Best of luck with your train addictions, and finding what you love.

@GG1 4877 posted:

I haven't posted anything here in a while but a new addition, if not a totally prototypical one, for my 1977 Broadway Limited.  Also added two baggage cars and two coaches to the consist to go with my various GGD and K-Line cars to get close to finishing this train out.

Johnathan, this isn't the one from the Lionel set you've been talking about getting, right? It looks too nice to be from them plus it has scale couplers (at least on the tail end).

@bigboy25 posted:

Johnathan, this isn't the one from the Lionel set you've been talking about getting, right? It looks too nice to be from them plus it has scale couplers (at least on the tail end).

This is the Lionel set.  I am very impressed with the overall quality of the Lionel scale streamlined cars.  Are they Atlas or GGD level?  No, however they are still very good.   On the plus side the tooling is crisp and the detail good even if the window patterns are generic.  My complaint is lack of figures on the interior and one-color interior inserts.  However, that is fixable.  I have a total of 18 of these cars now in Amtrak Phase I, Phase III, and ATSF.  For my Amtrak trains especially, the generic layouts are very "Amtrak" to me and speak to the concept of a passenger national system.

There are only a few key cars that I find need to be more fully accurate for a 1970's Broadway Limited like the Slumbercoach and the Pullman Standard 1948 vintage PRR two car diner and kitchen / dorm.  However, considering the closest dorm/kitchen/diner combo I can find would be the GGD 1948 NYC cars, I don't think I'm willing to go through the expense of find just those cars only to repaint them.  I can probably make the diner out of a coach and fake it until I make it for a dorm/kitchen. 

The Broadway Limited never ran with a round end observation outside of the PRR 1938 version in the Fleet of Modernism scheme until upgraded with a blunt end obs in 1948.  However, the Lionel observation / lounge is close to the cars run on the NYC and one some of the Burlington routes so in my little world it is conceivable that the Broadway could have on occasion drew an additional lounge from the Chicago pool during peak season for the sleeping car passengers exclusive use.  Even then I'm stretching it as round end observations didn't last long on Amtrak in general.

Whole point is, I think it will be a really fun train to run.  That's my story and I'm sticking with it even if it is a tall "tail". 

Railking caboose:

Another Boston & Maine caboose in the bluebird McGinnis paint scheme for me today. C-124 is an MTH model.

MELGAR

Here's my rear for this fine Tuesday!   A tender rear as seen from several angles.

Have a good Tail End Tuesday All!

Here's a steam era Union Pacific CA-1.

Well T.E.T. fans, I thought I might post a small collection today.

First, and you have to be a real Marx fan to appreciate this, is the ATSF #1977 Marx lightweight plastic caboose. Pretty common all in all but this one has some "late mfg" features that might be of interest.  It has plastic knuckle couplers (vice T/S) and black truck facades, which date it to 1974 -1975 only.  In reality the original Marx company was sold to Quaker Oats in 1972 and they only made trains until 1976.

Switching over to Lionel, postwar, we have a train of 6464 boxcars, followed up with the Tuscan Lionel Lines #2357 caboose of 1947-48.

Finally the Alaska RR #6027 caboose from 1959

Happy Tuesday everyone

Don

Tracks off the turntable on The SOUTH FORK RAILROAD.

Oh my, @Don McErlean,  Don, you got up early today, and your knowledge of Marx history is refreshing as well as your knowledge of Lionel history. Your cabooses are beautiful as is you train with 6464 box cars. @W&W, Craig, I like your whisker tracks showing beautiful motorized units, especially the CSX Trackmobile, really nice. @MELGAR, wow, your  Boston and Maine caboose is very colorful and unique. @Yellowstone Special, Vern, that’s a gorgeous UP caboose, cool, @Mark V Spadaro, your realistic outdoor picture of the Sante Fe engine and caboose is very nice, @Sitka, what can I say, your pictures are so much fun to review, your cabooses are nice, also your layout is very nice, @WesternPacific, Scott, wow, that’s a beautiful night scene and a beautiful heavyweight observation car, very nice. Ok, I have a few cabooses for your review, one a different color on each side, I wonder how that ever happened…Happy Railroading Everyone

@Don McErlean posted:

Well T.E.T. fans, I thought I might post a small collection today.

Finally the Alaska RR #6027 caboose from 1959

Happy Tuesday everyone

Don

Don - Lionel didn’t waste any time getting an Alaska RR caboose issued! Eisenhower granted statehood to Alaska on 01/03/59.

I have a bunch of tail end Tuesdays to make up for.  So, I’ll get a bunch in one pic.

@leapinlarry - Thanks for the compliment friend, best to you.  Hope everything is going well with you as well.

@Mark V. Spadaro -  Hey you are right, I must admit that I didn't think of the connection in dates with Alaska statehood.  I do know however that my 1957 Lionel American Flag Pole has a 48 star flag, just ahead of the inclusion of Alaska and Hawaii.

Best Wishes everyone...

Don

Its Tail End Tuesday again, Have a good week all.

Amtrak at Grand Central Terminal on THE SOUTH FORK RAILROAD

@Sitka, beautiful pictures, cool layout, thank you for starting this topic for this fine Tuesday… Happy Railroading Everyone

The latest tail end on my layout was Pennsylvania Railroad observation car Quaker City by MTH - a PS1 model from around 2000. The drumhead says Broadway Limited.

MELGAR

Well I am sort of reaching back into some of my archives today, I may have posted this picture in some prior threads but not T.E.T. and not within the last year so I guess its ok.  This little train set is from Heinrich Wimmer of Nuremberg (Ge) or HWN as his trains are usually marked.  The time period is in the early post war when HWN became a supplier of many low end toys to the United States, usually for sale in toy stores, 5 & 10 stores and the like.  Most likely late 1940's or early 1950's .

Here is the complete train showing loco, tender, and coach

Here is the T.E.T. view   Note that the writing over the door reads..."made in U.S. zone Germany"  which would indicate it was made prior to 1949 but I am sure that lithography markings, especially on inexpensive toys were not changed instantly upon the close of the "zone" system.   Another cool thing about the HWN coaches of this vintage is that there is a metal lever on the one side, which if moved releases the coach body from the underlying frame.  This it converts this car from a coach into a flat car for use in a freight train.  Hey 2 trains for 1 ... what a toy!

Best Wishes

Don

Tail End Tuesday, Midwest Monday or Buy Anything Cool  - those all fit for this post

Day and night photos of an MTH Illinois Central City of Miami observation car.  Now all I need to do is find the front end.