Will there be a 150 yr Civil War Train set made?

I would like to see one but I doubt it.

The LCCA offered a beautiful set of the General & Texas locomotives back in 2011, with a load of features.

I hope that Lionel brings out this beauty in a GENERAL set. No. 17 rolled out of [David] Kloke Locomotive Works in May, 2013. The Reader Railroad in Arkansas built wooden passenger cars for her that summer. Under the auspices of Steam into History, this train runs on the historic Northern Central Railway between New Freedom and Hanover Junction south of York, PA, about 6 miles west of Exit 4 on I-83. A town park and a fill provide fine photos in the appropriately named town of Railroad, PA.

They should make a blue set and a gray set. They would sell twice as many.

Maybe this is something SMR Trains could take on; they're definitely tops for highly detailed, O scale 19th century steam.

I would love a Lionel RF&P train set (Lionel has only ever done one boxcar in the 70s for this RR)  and if this idea is what it takes to get it done so be it.

Well, they have something close to work with as a starting point with the Lincoln funeral set.  Scale, good looking, and of the right period.  

I wish they would take this opportunity to make Civil War freight and passenger cars

in blue and gray. I would really like a gray flat car with a mortar and shot. If MTH

would make some of these cars and make them nice like models, not like toys, I would

be more than happy to buy a few.

Lionel, MTH, and LCCA / Lionel have all done their versions of the locos and sets. I doubt that you will see a high quality set from these guys.

The Lionel Lincoln Funeral Train was a nice attempt by the Lionel RR Club but ended up being blown out at the Lionel Red Carpet event to dump the set.

They've already made the Texas, Jonah, and others--problem is expense for some and limited production.

The only things that I've seen is a G-scale flatcar at the B&O Museum in Baltimore.  I replicated that on my diorama.  See the attached photo with the flat car in the background.  It is not totally accurate, but is the best that can be done, and is in scale with the figures.  Without 0 gauge scale figures of the period, anything in 0 scale would not work for me.

You might be waiting a long time in 0 scale.  Lionel made some in the distant past that were more like toy trains than the type you are looking for.  The Lincoln Train was out there in limited production in the past few years--really nice but expensive.  HO scale has a lot of period pieces which I've collected with passenger cars.  The 150th anniversary of the Civil War ends this year and I doubt that there will be the incentive to market the train you are looking for by major manufacturers, although SMR has made some in its scale in limited production as mentioned above.

SMR announced this past October that they would be doing a line of O scale Civil War era soldier figures (and not in battle poses).  If sucessful, I would imagine that other period figures may follow.

Arttista has already done period engineers and firemen, and I have also seen people modify and paint Arttista figures to make them look like mid-19th-century.

So there are some options.

Andy

I wish someone would also make 19th century civilian figures in 1/35 mm as well.  I quit making Civil War military dioramas after many years in that scale because nearly every federal soldier that was manufactured was posed with a knapsack on--not convincing when trying to depict a scene when the federals were in a defensive posture.

Don't forget the issue of lead time. If a set like this is not in the catalogs being printed in China right now, we will not see these offerings in 2015.

A photo of the flat car in Baltimore (B & O Museum) in what appears to be G scale.  Also a photo of several of the HO trains in my collection.

From my many conversations with Dave over the years, I get the impression that if the SMR soldier figures are a success, civilians will follow.  He told me that the soldier figures will be in poses you would find in a camp or general work setting, not in combat, drilling or marching poses.

It makes sense because he has more Civil War era locomotives on the drawing board, and a lot of his customers want the figures for the locomotives they already have.  I know that I will be buying his figures when they are available.

Andy

The LFT is a nice model, although it does not have sound or an e-unit, etc.  and is a bit delicate.  I ended up buying a total of three extra sets of cars and converting/bashing/repainting them to period passenger cars including a baggage car, etc. (photo below) which look good both with civil war era locos or any loco up to the 1880s as in that picture.  

If (when) I find a good LFT loco at a real discount, I want to buy one to re-do - remove all the filigree and such and re-paint it black, maybe put a smaller, thin coal stack and use a different tender.  I can add sound (in a seprate car if necessary, live without an e-unit.

MTH did a car back in 2011 to mark the anniversary (30-74665):

I would imagine that if it were a big success, we might have seen more from them.

I have my doubts as to whether we will see scale locomotives from this period from Lionel or MTH.  The locomotives from this period are tiny when compared to most of MTH and Lionel's scale offerings.

Andy

A few random points.

Very few engines (essentially none) of that era were black overall, and many had very little black on them anywhere.

Almost all the HO offerings are oversize and post-war.

1/48 scale troops are difficult to find and exspensive as a rule.  Accurate 1/48 equipment, artillery, and wagons are nearly none existent. and also expensive when located.

There is a Yahoo Group and a connected NMRA SIG devoted to ACW RRing.

If you can come to Springfield, IL, the first weekend in May, you can experience the Funeral train in 1/1 scale pulling into town and the caskets being paraded to viewing and interment.  One of the field pieces in my unit will be there firing salutes.

I will keep an eye out for the SMR figures and buy some if made. When I was a kid

I had a Civil War set of solders. They probably were not 1/48 scale, but they were

available. Now, you can't find anything. As for the MTH Civil War cars, I think I have

at least one of everything they have made and wish they would make more.

Yeah, I might try to do a period paint job but frankly, "black" is my favorite color for steam, so . . . 

I'd like to see the Lincoln funeral train in full scale.  Will keep that in mind.

Thanks

My thought is if MTH / Lionel were going to do something, we would have heard about it before now. Given the current state of our society, the vast majority of the residents in USA either don't know or don't care about this anniversary.

Just my $0.02

Gilly

I'd buy scale locos and freight cars at a Rail King level of detail and price. I know there are items out there....but do not want museum level detail and price. A box and flat car, maybe a coach and a 4-4-0 that could be detailed and paint to make different locos would be great. 

I want better detail than railking. If the locos and cars were close to scale and a nice level of detail then I would be in. If not then don't do it. 

Btw 73% of college graduates don't know that the civil war was ever fought or don't know why. This poll was taken last year. Good job by our schools eh!!

Too true. When I was looking to have a civil war cannon barrel for a monument on my layout, I found nobody makes anything even remotely close. So, my Dad, being the talented man he is and an expert of civil war artillery, whipped out a M1857 12-pounder barrel for me out of brass. It was easy for him as he's built a full size 6-pounder years ago and has built numerous large-scale cannon and carriages (yes, including the special artillery-profile wheels, something he really enjoys), so I think this one took him hardly any time at all:

The plan is to mount in on a pedestal as my layout takes place in the 1940s, so an original carriage would have long ago rotted away and nobody was making replica ones at that time. Oddly, the area I model (the Northeast corner of Tennessee) was decidely pro-Union and actually fielded as many -if not more- units for the Union than is did for Confederacy.

Not surprised at all.  Last year we had our modular layout set up at the National Train Show (NMRA Annual Convention) in Cleveland. I was operating my NYC Empire State Express consist (all K-Line 21" cars), and very nice family began asking me questions about the train; both grand parents, both parents and three kids of varying ages up to about 12. When I explained about the sad fact that the ESE was actually inaugurated with the newest stainless steal streamlined train set, on December 7, 1941, they all drew a blank. I then asked, "Don't ANY of you know what REALLY happened on December 7, 1941?". Even the grandpa & grandma, nor the two parents had any clue. After I told them what happened on that date, they still drew a blank!

Its a shame that none will be made, or that there is no hype in the last year of the 150th year that the Civil War ended. Seems that History, and "Remember---" are dead and forgotten herefore.

Yes, there have been numerous number of these locomotives made from Marx, to Lionel, etc. and they have sold pretty good. I remember our local Hobby Lobby had over 2 dozen Lone Ranger sets, they all sold out within a week and they were taking rainchecks. I'm sure with the interest amongst "O" scalers, there would also be collectors, Civil War enthuist and collectors. Have even seen these engines used by decorators of offices.

I'm huge into history, more so than maybe most train fans. But even I can't really find fault with 'these kids today' as kids are being hit with a totally different set or priorities and things that really should be important to them than anyone past the age of 40 or so.

My primary hobby is doing living history displays for WW2 stuff at airshows, parades and military events. I run into people of all ages who don't have a clue about history at all. Heck, I encounter people who'd served in the 70s and 80s who swear they used a WW2 Jeep in the Army, when that's clearly impossible.

Besides, you could easily find people of any age who wouldn't know important dates.

And really, which dates are important to someone is highly relative.

Would most of you know all the dates for:

• Battle of New Orleans (which took place after the War of 1812 was officially over)?
• US Civil War starting at Fort Sumpter (though some historians consider a few other events as the 'real' start of that war).
• Lee surrendering the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House (thought that really didn't end the war as such, it was still going on afterward)?
• German invasion of France, or the Low Countries?
• WW2 ending... in Europe and in the Pacific?
• US troops evacuating Saigon?
• The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster? or the orbiter Columbia breaking up in re-entry?

I pose that very few (if any) of the people here would know all those dates off the top of their head. But each are seriously important to someone, somewhere...

I really don't fault people for not knowing exact dates of historical events in U.S. history. But when they don't even know the century it was in (for the brief time this country has been in existence compared to European nations), that is pretty bad.  

I promise you all, this isn't limited to any specific demographic. You can find people equally clueless of history in any age range.

Just like the show, "The Big Bang Theory," where the main characters are super-smart with what many old folks refer to as, "Book learning," but completely clueless of the things most people would assume you'd need to know to simply operate in modern society.

Just like some people think that the day some popular music or acting celebrity was killed (like John Lennon getitng shot, for example) should be a recognized day of mourning each year. I neither know nor care what those dates are, but they're really important to a few people.

Plenty of people couldn't tell you when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, but anyone down in the French Quarter knows that date as clearly as their own birthday.

Again, it's all relative.

Actually, there are manufacturers of toy soldiers from all periods of history in the typical 1/35--William Britains being one of the largest.  They are made from pewter today and run about $35.00 per figure (mounted figures are extra).  I have some Napoleonics, Civil War, and Revolutionary War ones.  They are really at a higher standard of authenticity than the lead toy soldiers when you were a youngster.

I'm not a fan of 'dates' just to know a date. Know the basics of the event is better than nothing. 

While riding the Amtrak Southwest Chief last week we went through Raton Pass. We were at dinner and another lady my age said 'at least it's not Donner Pass'. The two twenty somethings had no idea what we were talking about......but when we explained it they had no idea what a wagon train was. To them it was some brand of auto. One of the twenty somethings was a botanist, highly educated, but lacking in any what we used to call common knowledge.   

Hot Water; to me that is absolutely disgusting that no one in the family remembered Pearl Harbor.

Some of the stories in this thread reminds me of when I was travelling with a co-worker and some customers on U.S. Route 40 and as we drove past General Braddock's grave, my co-worker explained how General Braddock was a famous Civil War general and that a suburb of Pittsburgh was named after him... I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing.  At least he got half of it right.

Andy

Each November, my living history group is asked to do a day-long event at a local high school, where reps from venterans groups are also invited, and we give 20-minute talks on various apects of military history. Most of us pick an era and specific issue in military history to discuss. We're all in the uniform of whatever we're talking about.

As we can't bring any weapons for display, I usually come as a WW2 war correspondent (it also helps that I might have one of the most comprehensive collections for that subject in the country and am considered an authroity on that).

This past year, I broke out a few representative items, showing field gear and uniform for a Pacific Theater civilian correspondent:

The kids seem to like seeing the old camera and the typewriters. I love explaining that the 'shift' button is called that for the carriage to shift to upper case, and that the 'tab' button was to engage the track on real metal tabs you placed where you wanted it to stop...

But most of all, I like putting this in the context of how America in WW2 was hardly what you read in the history books today. They were shcoked to find out there was an isolationist movement alive and well in the US after Pearl Harbor, how people were fed up with the war by 1944, how the draft was taking almost any able-bodied man by the end of that year and was not only running out of people to fight, but had almost completely bankrupted the US economy by early in 1945. I even mentioned the nagotiated peace that was batted around in the back rooms of the West Wing. Then, I pose them the scenario of a negotiated peace where England is left to fight Germany alone, the Hollocaust goes on for at least well into 1946, the Russians eventually overrun all of Europe by the late 40s at the latest, and the US never becomes a superpower in the current conception of one.

Then, I explain how a simple photo by the most unlikely American hero, turned public opinion around to prove yes, we can win this war and we need to. One person really can make a difference, buy you have to be at the right place at the right time.

Afterward, most of the kids file out, and several thank me while really looking over the gear they've never seen in person before.

But many, surprisingly many this time, tell me they never knew any of that stuff and never realized how close a thing it was in the 40s.

Those reactions are worth it all to me.

Kind of like Bluto's motivational speech to his Frat Brothers in the 1978 movie Animal House:

Bluto: "Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? H*ll, no."

Otter (to Boon): "Germans?"

Boon: "Forget it. He's rolling."

And that movie was set in the year 1962