Warren G. Harding Funeral Train Set

More than likely, this is just another quality control issue, but the main reason I shy away from this set is that I noticed the coloration difference in somebody's advertisement pictures (I think it was Mr. Muffins pictures).  Even sadder to see the difference between the cab and tender decks.

Chuck

No this is the correct tender for the set.

The tender itself is from the E6 Atlantic tooling, but was repurposed for this set.

The color difference is a hot topic of conversation. Some people go through lengths to defend Lionel saying that the difference in color is prototypical. Others (like me) find it visually appalling and wish they were both painted the shade of red that the roof is. Based on how engines at RRMPA are painted, the darker red should be on both cab and tender. This would look better too IMO. 

Can't help you out with the colors, but this PRR locomotive diagram may answer your question concerning the different deck heights -

http://prr.railfan.net/diagram...&sz=sm&fr=ge

- Mike

@rplst8 posted:

Second, the tender sits REALLY low on the trucks and the cab floor and tender coal bunker floor do not even come close to sitting at the same level.

Did Lionel ship the wrong tender with this set?

It what happens when a company plays Musical Tenders with existing tooling.

Rusty

Here is a cropped and flipped picture out of the Lionel catalog which seems to match yours in terms of relative height.

OK, check out the prototype photo here.

- Mike

@rplst8 posted:

So I recently purchased a Warren G. Harding Funeral Train Set.  I got around to unboxing the locomotive this weekend and this is what I found...

First, the red on the cab roof is about 20 shades of red different than the red on the tender deck.  Second, the tender sits REALLY low on the trucks and the cab floor and tender coal bunker floor do not even come close to sitting at the same level.

Did Lionel ship the wrong tender with this set?

Yikes! I have this set unopened. I’m still not entirely certain why I purchased this. I guess I needed another box. Now I have another thing to worry about in the middle of the night.

It is the E6 tender...looks like the Lionel/Kline engine tooling reflects the later stoker fed K4 with a higher cab floor.  The E 6 tender represents the earlier non stocker lower cab floor.  None of the Lionel engine's come with the hinged floor section that bridges the gap between engine fllor and tender fllor anyway, I guess you could make something up that might cover the difference up....

Looks like if the Lionel cab floor was down where the Old Altoona PRR K4 drawing shows it to be, it would be about right.....

Here’s the tender with the original E6s.  Those look to line up height-wise at least.

What a bummer.

It looks odd with two different colors, prototypical or not. Since we're rolling on three rails anyways, I would rather have it match. And I hate when they mix and match tooling and get results like this if that is the cause. We deserve better for the price.

@Randy_B posted:

It looks odd with two different colors, prototypical or not. Since we're rolling on three rails anyways, I would rather have it match. And I hate when they mix and match tooling and get results like this if that is the cause. We deserve better for the price.

One of my absolute favorite dealers cautioned me about this issue when I purchased this particular set. I agree. Now I wonder how mine is.

The Lionel website photos do depict the same colors you received - brighter red on the tender vs the cab roof. That being said i do agree it would be annoying to look at esp since we tend to look at our locos from above most of the time. Perhaps the thinking is the loco roof received more road grime while the tender got rinsed off after a water plug stop.

http://www.lionel.com/products...-legacy-set-1922030/

When looking at this photo of 1737, the tender deck height difference on the model doesn't look terrible.

Also check out the height difference on this L1

I think they did this two-tone color on the previous 2-8-0 engines as well. Did MTH ever make theirs with two different reds? That said, I hope this trend stops with this one.

@Prr7688 posted:

When looking at this photo of 1737, the tender deck height difference on the model doesn't look terrible.

Also check out the height difference on this L1

Interesting.  These smaller tenders wouldn’t have had stokers, meaning they would have been hand fired right?  How would a fireman not kill himself with that height difference?

@Randy_B posted:

I think they did this two-tone color on the previous 2-8-0 engines as well. Did MTH ever make theirs with two different reds? That said, I hope this trend stops with this one.

I own from MTH: J1, E6s, K4s, M1b, I1sa, H10s, and G5s.  All are a dead on match with their respective tenders, and each other.

The red MTH uses is closer to the red on this Lionel tender, but slightly duller.  

@rplst8 posted:

Interesting.  These smaller tenders wouldn’t have had stokers, meaning they would have been hand fired right?  How would a fireman not kill himself with that height difference?

How the fireman didn't get injured with the height difference beats me.

The K4's were all fitted with stokers in the mid-1930s when the ICC deemed all locomotives of a certain weight were required to have them; they did not have stokers up until this point. E6's were under that weight limit and thus did not need stokers - this class was hand fired until the end of steam. When the stokers went in, the K4's received new tenders.

In doing research lately on Premier steam, I have noticed that about the red they use. I think it looks better than either of Lionel's and is somewhere in the middle of both like you said. I want a PRR H10 pretty badly but a WTB posting hasn't turned anything up. Maybe they will run these again soon since it has been about 6 or 7 years. Or maybe Lionel had the good sense to acquire it and they will make some and use MTH's paint.

@Randy_B posted:

In doing research lately on Premier steam, I have noticed that about the red they use. I think it looks better than either of Lionel's and is somewhere in the middle of both like you said. I want a PRR H10 pretty badly but a WTB posting hasn't turned anything up. Maybe they will run these again soon since it has been about 6 or 7 years. Or maybe Lionel had the good sense to acquire it and they will make some and use MTH's paint.

MTH’s H10s is probably one of the finest models I own.  I have the first version (20-3055-1) with the 5V ProtoSound 2.0 boards. It also has the issue when if the smoke is on the headlight flickers a little.  I don’t run it much as it is proudly displayed in my office on the bookshelf.

If you get a chance to get on, do it.  Very detailed and stunning to look at.

P.S. The sound set on it is great too.

@rplst8 posted:

MTH’s H10s is probably one of the finest models I own.  I have the first version (20-3055-1) with the 5V ProtoSound 2.0 boards. It also has the issue when if the smoke is on the headlight flickers a little.  I don’t run it much as it is proudly displayed in my office on the bookshelf.

If you get a chance to get on, do it.  Very detailed and stunning to look at.

P.S. The sound set on it is great too.

I have seen videos of all three releases I believe and was impressed with them all. Of course, the drawbar on the Proto 3 one looks a little better, but I would still have one of the other two. I'm jealous! I'm also looking for one of their Reading Camelbacks from either release. It is far superior to the tooling Lionel has, although it's more expensive too.