#o-gauge

[mrpullmanjr]

Lionel Trains, a company that has withstood the test of time for 126 years and showing no sign of stopping.

Lionel to me has always been the biggest name of model trains and for good reason. My first big train set was a Lionel (the Polar Express to be precise). Some of my first train themed shows or movies had a focus or had items produced by Lionel. Lionel creates memories, memories that honestly are just nostalgic in their own right.

Photographs of items posted in the order of acquisition.

And thats where this set comes in. This is the Union Pacific Famous American Railroad #2 set produced by Lionel in 1980. It was one of Lionel's more premium offerings back then and was the second set in the namesake Famous American Railroad series, then-paying tribute to still-operating lines in the US. It wasn't a set in the traditional sense of a master carton, separate boxes for all components and track & transformer. Everything was sold separately.

Note the transition of me photographing the equipment. I didn't have a care in the world back then, and you can slowly see me set up my "style" later on.

When I was in high school (around 2016), my Lionel collection wasn't big. I slowly wanted to get into collecting more items, and I believe the UP reefer above started the train rolling, so to speak. It was a slow, long arduous process. I could've gotten the entire components at once but it just never occurred to me to get it all. High school came and went, and so far the only UP FARR items i had were the reefer and the uncatalogued flat with two trailers. It wasnt until 2021 that I sourced more components. By this time, I was in college, however the O-Gauge collecting was starting to slow. Then, come 2023 and 2024 I snagged the tank car (peeling decals are sadly common even on NIB cars) and box car respectively from two train show visits. By this time, I was full-steam ahead on HO, having only gotten the FARR cars because they were there and it was another component not needed.

Then...about two months ago. I bit the bullet on the caboose, and a friend had the engine for sale. A ten year venture had finally come to a close.

The last time I actually ran one of my Lionels probably was in the 2022 or 2023 era, and the last time I ran some of my UP FARR stuff was undoubtedly sometime before 2020. It just hit me big time, the nostalgia wave. Sitting on the floor watching my trains go by at sorta breakneck speeds and remembering the good days (and not-so-good days) of high school and college. Lionel just has that vibe to it.

And yes, for those curious those are the sounds this engine has. Its...actually a bit too loud. In time I plan to fix it by outright removing it.

[crannog-beag]

Occurs, I never updated my progress on the tinplate train. Or why I called it Slieve Glah. So here are the last pictures I took of it.

Full assembly of the parts I had made.

And after attaching the cab/splashers/firebox assembly to the footplate. Firebox extends forwards to hide the motor when assembled. 'Rivets' on smokebox and cylinder cover made by using a punch on the other side of the sheet, in roughly the right places. It's not meant to be a perfect replica, more of a 'that sure is a train that looks vaguely similar to the original!

Speaking of the original this is based on a S-class from the Great Northern Railway (Ireland), or GNRI. Specifically the only survivor No.171 Slieve Gullion, now owned by the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland. They use Slieve Gullion as one of their excursion trains on Irish mainline, albeit the engine is undergoing overhaul right now. (Link)

Anyway, the engines of this class were all named after mountains. I looked up 'Slieve G' in honour of the original. Slieve Glah is what came up, and I thought that sounded nice. The mountain is in County Cavan, within a few miles of the GNRI branch to Cavan town, which is another point in favor as far as I'm concerned.

[crannog-beag]

Sneak peek. It runs too fast, needing three wagons behind it to stop it from just flinging itself off the track. If it keeps this up when it’s done, I may have to fiddle with the governor so it’s more stable. The tab is slightly to short, working if the motor is going forwards, not if going backwards.

[mrpullmanjr]

Hudson Comparison

Comparison my O-Scale model of the Max Gray J1 Hudson No. 5200 to my Lionel MPC era 783 Hudson.

The Max Gray model was likely produced and built sometime in the 1950s or 1960s. The 783 on the other hand was produced in the 1980s, but has its roots (tooling wise) with the original 700e Hudson from the late 1930s/early 1940s.

Both engines generally are in the same size bracket, though its clear there are a lot of differences in both engines.

The Max Gray wins in the category of overall detail and "size" to a degree. The model, as far as I have researched, is very faithful to the original J1 Hudson No. 5200 as it was delivered from the ALCo shops on Valentine's Day, 1927. The Walschearts valve gear and shorty 4-wheel tender are correct for early NYC Hudson steam. 5200 later in its life was upgraded to a larger 6-wheel tender and converted to Baker valve gear, and was likely scrapped around the time this kit may have been produced (this I am still trying to research, I have no paperwork or way to verify the "heritage" of this model).

Where it falters however is the fact that this engine is unfortunately nothing more than a display. Its a 2-Rail O-Scale model that has no identifiable markings or modifications that show this was ever intended to be a motorized kit. There are no gears in the wheels nor does it look like there is space in the boiler or cab for there to be a motor. The wheels CAN turn and everything is timed nicely, but it is stiff. If I somehow manage to have this get towed by sometihng, it would undoubtedly be dragged in the consist, and it wouldn't even sit correctly on 3-Rail track due to the pilot truck's assembly. The engine itself is also very light.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The 783 wins in the play value category and general "history" aspect. The Lionel semi-scale Hudson family had its roots planted with the 700e Scale Hudson. This is the MPC era issue, which is the "4th" family member in line (700e Scale Hudson, 763 Prewar Semi-Scale, 773 Postwar, 783 MPC era, and so fourth) from the 1980s. Mine features a worm driven motor (I think) and the rather horrendously loud "mighty sound of steam" feature. I haven't ran it to its full capacity given my sub-par transformer but it does run all right. The 783 is also the most "budget friendly" of the semi-scale Hudsons, though regardless it ain't gonna be an inexpensive model.

Where it falters is the fact that detail is generally out the window. Its a faithful model of a Hudson and the valve gear operation is superb at speed, but a lot is altered. Details are molded on, simplicity is at its finest and the mighty sound of steam is not only incredibly loud when turned on (and thats assuming you have the sound board repaired; the board rests on insulated foam that over time has deteriorated, even on NIB models) but there is no volume control and you lose out on the equally-loud whistle if you turn it off. I've never had a train make my ears ring before. To the uninitiated, this engine being all die-cast metal means its gonna weigh a lot too. In some cases you'd even have to resort to two-handing it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Each of them have their pros and cons, but I still love them both dearly. The 783 will log a lot of miles on my track in the future and the 5200 will be proudly displayed once I get some good 2-Rail track.

[crannog-beag]

Brackets to attach the body to the motor, the taller being for the front, smaller at the back. However, I then decided the height wasn't quite right, and so made a new set to lower the footplate. I seemingly forgot to photograph them before soldering them to the footplate, but there is a picture comparing the old (left) and new (right) brackets.

And finally the motor, footplate and painted wheels together.

[crannog-beag]

A Driving Wheel

For consideration.

(There will be lining in the hub when all's done)

[crannog-beag]

Footplate made!! (Running board might be more accurate)

Cutting out such a long piece with a fret saw was certainly interesting! Wasn't sure how well the long thin side folds would go, but I think they look pretty good. Obviously the big hole is there for the motor, the extension at the back is for one of the tabs. This, as a reminder, is because of the larger wheels I have fitted and the need for the footplate to be buffer height. Speaking of which, the holes for the buffers have been drilled.

[crannog-beag]

 So, the first job was triming the flash between the spokes. Fortunately, the base metal it’s cast from is soft so it was easily removed

Fitting brass bushes to the crank hole so that the pins I have will fit. The best fitting bush I had was actually some pre-made bushes, hence the oil-sink around the hole. They’re also much thinner than the wheel, so a bit of glue might be needed as ‘just in case’ to keep the pins secure. The hole in the wheel has been broached open to fit the bush

Preparing a bush for one of the hub holes. Fun fact, these wheels are deeper than the originals, and while the originals have a flat back and small pipe out, the new ones are dished with no pipe. This means the axles don’t actually extend to the edge of the wheels, so I needed extra long bushes.

Both bushes now fitted, although neither have been broached open for the pins/axle respectively. The base metal is so soft that the bushes came through with a skin of carved off base metal over the top.

Broaching the bushes. This can be a bit tedious at the best of times, but the long bushes took forever. Not to mention that the base metal is too soft to tightly hold the bushes. This meant that the hole has to be larger than the original wheels so they could be finger fit. It also meant that periodically the bush came free of the wheel (none of them got stuck on the broach, Thank God), so I had to put it back in place and glue it again.

Wheels after broaching was finished (forgot to take a picture before fitting them). The hub bush is very thin here. I’m probably going to have to broach the crank pins when I take the wheels off for painting so they accept the pins without being forced out. Maybe not. We’ll see. Also realised at this point maybe I should have done something with the rough circle on the crank, but it’s a bit late now. It’ll probably look fine, I’m not even sure what I’d do with them.

So, wheels all fitted. All three of these are the same motor. The middle photo shows the height rise between the two low tabs behind the wheels. The coupling rod won’t be fitted until I paint the wheels. Going to have to find something to cover the sunken axle holes.