TCA "Orient Express" Tinplate Set Offer

I saw the picture. As most of you know, I’m not much of a purist, I enjoy the odd stuff. I think it would have been a much more intelligent offering with a 392 tender. The oil tender is just ...........pick your own word. Removing the US type pilot and adding buffers would be a simple project.

Steve

Tinplate Art posted:

That having been said, the 400E Limited Edition "Orient Express" with the Blue Comet car consist is a quite illogical and silly, and a little beyond my fantasy tolerance level! THANK YOU for reading my thread, and Feliz Navidad and Froliche Weinhnachten to all!

Tinplate Art

Merry Christmas to you and I agree completely with you; that Orient Express is a horror!

Regards

Fred

Since they are only making 8 of them, it really doesn't matter, right?

I'm sure they can find more than 8 people to enter the raffle for a chance for the opportunity to purchase one.

-Dave

The less of them the better!  LOL!  

Not being into tinplate, it is attractive. The paint job is nice. 

If I were into std gauge I would buy it.

Dave

I was surprised that this TCA set was not even one cent cheaper than the other similiar 400e fantasy sets for sale at Sidetrack Hobbies.

So much for the benefits of membership.

I like the idea of changing out the pilot (and the tender). The 400E doesn't really look like anything real anyway. Lionel must have paid that NYC engineer a lot of dough when he told the kid on the catalog cover 'just like mine' (engineer on a J1 NYC Hudson).  Frankly, I'm not sure why MTH didn't offer a 400E with a straight coal tender (ever seen the prototype set at John DeSantis collection?). But I'm nowhere near buying something like this.

Jim

I like the cars. A 390E has a coal tender and a couple of mods for a European look would be a better choice.

Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

I saw the picture. As most of you know, I’m not much of a purist, I enjoy the odd stuff. I think it would have been a much more intelligent offering with a 392 tender. The oil tender is just ...........pick your own word. Removing the US type pilot and adding buffers would be a simple project.

Steve

The text on the tender is  not very legible, but I think it says K.BAY.STS.B. 

The resemblance is striking 

Regards

Fred

Based on what I've read in other posts on the forum, MTH has a fair number of unpainted 400E engines laying around.  After painting them in so many different schemes and flooding the market, why not do the Orient Express?  At least it's something different, and perhaps TCA can raise a few dollars with it.

Virtually every item in standard gauge is a fantasy piece, so I see no reason to be concerned about the finer points of prototypical design or color.  If a person likes it and has $2500 to spare, let them enjoy it.

Don't look for me to be among the 8 who are selected in the drawing, though.  (It would be interesting to know how many people enter the drawing.)  And woe to the person who buys one thinking that it will become a valuable collector item in a few years.   

A "justification" for such a set is that there was an American Orient Express. The color scheme is appealing within the context of typical fantasy Standard gauge tinplate. The Lionel Blue Comet hardly looked like the real CNJ train of the same name. The fatal negatives for me are: (1) it is not conventional/traditional (IMO modern electronics in any tinplate is an aesthetic anathema and soon to be repairable only with difficulty), and (2) like many of you, I already own and run an extended consist modern reissue Blue Comet with both a 400E and a 390E to pull it. I've grown to prefer my blue 390E for this duty.

Don't see anything here to get all worked up about. Not my cup of Earl Gray, but to those who like it, have fun!

Bob

What page in the quarterly is the ad for this. I am trying to find it in the members section of the TCA site. Only 8 sets is a little off-putting though.

It doesn't appear any worse than the fantasy Daylight Cab forward, Hiawatha S3 and 49er Challenger from Lionel that folks seem to fawn over...

Rusty

ChooChoo1972 posted:

What page in the quarterly is the ad for this. I am trying to find it in the members section of the TCA site. Only 8 sets is a little off-putting though.

Page 37 of the HQ newsletter.

Before everyone totally trashes this train take into account that MTH will no longer being offering tinplate trains after these are complete. 

The number 8 came from the amount of parts MTH had at the factory to offer the complete train. 

I won't be one of the 8 that will be interested, but why make fun of those who will enjoy this set? 

For the record, I would like a traditional 400E someday to pull my small collection of 200 and 500 series cars.  Have to put those old Lionel Z's to work somewhere.

GG1 4877 posted:

...MTH will no longer being offering tinplate trains after these are complete...

Do you have that from a source at MTH?

Although the licensing agreement will be ending, AFAIK MTH can still produce tinplate trains (without the Lionel badge) if it believes there is a market.  Considering that Mike Wolf seems to have a soft spot in his heart for tinplate, I think he'll make them if he can sell them.

Great looking cars...this is tinplate, so..scale details don't matter.

It would not take much to add a few "european" details to the engine or cars....

I don't think we Americans would be too upset about proportions or exact detail...we just love tinplate for what it is.

Always liked green engines with red wheels and lots of nickel trim!....

How about it MIKE!

Maybe some more cream bodied, red or green roofed passenger cars with dark green or red trucks?

sncf231e posted:

Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

I saw the picture. As most of you know, I’m not much of a purist, I enjoy the odd stuff. I think it would have been a much more intelligent offering with a 392 tender. The oil tender is just ...........pick your own word. Removing the US type pilot and adding buffers would be a simple project.

Steve

The text on the tender is  not very legible, but I think it says K.BAY.STS.B. 

The resemblance is striking 

Regards

Fred

A K.BAY STS.B.

In green with red wheels would a big hit in any gauge or medium.

In tinplate...a super star!

Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

Regards

Fred