ToyTrains1's Blog

A New Look

ToyTrains1 — Sat, 05 May 2012 14:07:54 +0000

The blog has a new look! Turns out that when WordPress upgraded to a new version, the old default theme stopped working properly, so I took the opportunity to apply a new theme and spruce things up a bit. For recent entries and from now on, clicking on a photo will bring up a lightbox with the photo full-size from my web site. Also, the photo and video thumbnails here on the blog are now larger. Enjoy!

The State Set Locomotive

ToyTrains1 — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 06:28:47 +0000

The "eventually" in my last post turned out to be a month! LOL I snared the MTH reproduction of the 381E on eBay. It's the exact one that was brought out to go with my State set. Since it dates from 1998, it's PS1, so I will arrange to have it upgraded to PS2 in relatively short order. A video showing it hauling the State set (it's amazingly heavy and has no trouble hauling the 20+ pounds of State cars) will get done in the next few days. Meantime, here's a photo (click on the photo to enlarge).

The Standard Gauge State Set Video

ToyTrains1 — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 16:51:56 +0000

As promised, here's the video of the Standard Gauge State Set in action. I show the cars being pulled by my Lionel Corp. #400E steam locomotive; I will eventually get the matching two-tone State green electric locomotive (modeled on a Milwaukee Road bipolar). Enjoy!

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Standard Gauge State Set

ToyTrains1 — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 15:41:55 +0000

The largest and most elaborate passenger cars that Lionel ever made were the Standard Gauge "State" cars beginning in 1929. These cars are about 22" long and very well proportioned. Though I never thought I'd have them (the Ives cars and the Blue Comet cars are plenty big enough), the Standard Gauge bug bit hard and an opportunity presented itself to get them at a very reasonable price so I couldn't resist. These State cars are reproductions (as is all of my Standard Gauge) that were made by MTH in 1998. I have them being pulled by my gunmetal #400E steamer until I can get the appropriate green locomotive. Here are photos (click on the photos to enlarge); a video will be forthcoming. The first photo shows the California coach car.

The second photo is a close-up.

The next photo shows how the roof is hinged to open to show off the detailed interior.

The next photo shows the interior seating.

The next photo shows the rest room at one end of the car; note the operating hinged door.

Here's the rest room at the other end of the car. The toilets have seats that can be raised and lowered!

The next photo shows the solarium car Maryland. This is a new car that MTH created and was not part of the original sets of the late 1920s and 1930s.

The next photo shows the coach car Colorado.

Here's the last car, the observation car New York.

I've spoken in the past about how scale really isn't a factor when discussing Standard Gauge toy trains. The next two photos should speak volumes about that. Both cars are Standard Gauge, both cars run on the same track. The rest, well, let the photos speak for themselves. LOL

The red car is from one of the Standard Gauge Christmas starter sets. The comparison between the sizes of the cars should explain why I laugh when someone asks about the scale of Standard Gauge!

And, as I say, a video of these four cars being pulled by a Lionel #400E steamer will be forthcoming.

Standard Gauge Freight From Another Point of View

ToyTrains1 — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 20:32:33 +0000

I've been bitten badly by the Standard Gauge bug. I've now obtained all nine of the 500-series freight cars (in modern reissues of course) that Lionel originally put out beginning in 1927. This video shows all nine being pulled by my Lionel Corp. #400E steam locomotive. The cars are the 511 flatcar with wood load, 512 gondola, 513 cattle car, 514 refrigerator car, 514 boxcar (please don't ask me why they used the same number for two different cars), 515 tank car, 516 hopper car, 517 caboose, and 520 floodlight car. The video has two run-bys, the second one faster than the first. Since people seemed to like the birds-eye view video of my O-gauge layout, now the I have the flatcar I was able to mount the video camera and the third segment of the video is a birds-eye view of the Top of the World layout. There isn't all that much to see, but it is a very different point of view!

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Blue Comet Video

ToyTrains1 — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 21:38:34 +0000

It's taken a while, but I've finally shot the video for the Standard Gauge Blue Comet. It came out rather well, if I do say so myself! Here it is.

Click here to view the embedded video.

My New Blue Comet!

ToyTrains1 — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 21:15:12 +0000

I can't believe that I actually forgot to blog about this! Chalk it up to my excitement at playing with my new toy and other things that have been going on. On a visit to Trains & Things in Ewing/Trenton, I was once again enchanted by the Standard Gauge Blue Comet set from the new Lionel Corporation that Tony had on the shelf. It's a modern reproduction of a set from the original Lionel that came out in the early 1930s and was a representation of Jersey Central's famous Blue Comet which ran from the Jersey Central terminal in Jersey City (now Liberty State Park) to Atlantic City. On this visit, it called out to me too loudly and wound up coming home with me! Unlike the original set from the 1930s which had three cars, this set has five cars — and additional coach as well as a newly-designed baggage car. As with the prototype, all of the cars are named for comets. The train is pulled by an absolutely exquisite two-tone blue 400E steam locomotive, fully equipped with all the modern conveniences such as PS2, sound, smoke, etc. Now, I had already bought a 400E, in gunmetal grey, to pull my Standard Gauge freight cars, but as the saying goes, you can never have too many 400E's. The cars are also absolutely exquisite and sport the same detailed interiors as the originals, down to the sinks and lavatories in the rest rooms! In the following photos (click to enlarge), you can see the locomotive, tender, the five cars, and the detailed interior.

The 400E Steam Locomotive

The Tender

Baggage Car "Olbers"

Coach Car "Tuttle"

Coach Car "Faye"

Coach Car "Westphal"

Observation Car "Tempel"

The detailed interior, with opening doors, seating, and rest rooms

Rest room detail, showing the sinks and lavatory

The New Reefers in a Video!

ToyTrains1 — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 21:56:58 +0000

This video is to showcase the twelve new 40' woodsided refrigerator cars (reefers) that AtlasO just brought out in July 2011. To pull this short freight train, I've assigned the Pennsy L1s Mikado (2-8-2) steamer, one of their workhorse freight locomotives during the steam era. Built between 1914 and 1919, the Pennsylvania Railroad's fleet of L1s Mikados hauled freight through two world wars and served until the end of steam in 1957. All told, there were 574 of them built. The reefers are the twentieth regular issue of these cars by AtlasO since they first started bringing them out in 2000. A few special runs (custom made for various dealers) are also included. For the first time, the regular run contains both regular reefers as well as models of the rebuilt reefers (distinguishable by the roof deck). I think you'll agree that the designs this time around are quite nice.

Click here to view the embedded video.

More Reefer Madness

ToyTrains1 — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 00:04:17 +0000

Atlas O has released a dozen more new 40' woodsided refrigerator cars. Unlike past runs, these are a mix of standard reefers and rebuilt reefers and are the twentieth regular release of these cars. There are also a few custom cars included in the dozen. Photos appear on the Atlas Reefers page of my web site, which also serves as a photo catalog of all of the woodsided reefer cars (both 40' and 36') that Atlas has issued over the years. Here are a few photos to whet your appetite! (click to enlarge)

It’s Summertime!

ToyTrains1 — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 00:42:50 +0000

::sigh:: I'm getting way too old for this!

Temperature this afternoon: 101 degrees F

Feels like: 112 degrees F

What more can I say?

Golly Gee!

ToyTrains1 — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 06:23:45 +0000

Almost three months to the day after hitting a total of 6 million views for my videos on YouTube, we're now up to 6.5 million views! It still totally boggles my mind!

The Orange Blossom Special, Upgraded

ToyTrains1 — Wed, 04 May 2011 20:22:23 +0000

Here's the last of my older Protosound 1 O-Gauge diesel locomotives that I'm converting to Protosound 2 (this makes a total of six). This is the Seaboard Orange Blossom Special set which consists of EMD E8s in an A-B-A configuration with six matching passenger cars in Seaboard's very attractive "citrus" paint scheme. The locomotives came out in 1998 with the original Protosound system, and I've now converted the set to PS2 by making each A-unit an independent locomotive with full control and sound electronics (in the original set, only the leading A-unit could run by itself; now, both A-units can run independently). In this True HD 1080p video, you can see them running as a DCS lash-up hauling their passenger trains. The prototype began running in 1925 from NYC to Miami and last ran in 1953. The Pennsy handled the train from NYC to Washington, where it was taken over by the RF&P to Richmond, where it was handed off to the Seaboard for the stretch from Richmond to Miami via Raleigh, Columbia, Savannah, and Jacksonville. If you compare this to the video of the set as-issued (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrrKa8-qBqM) you'll note that there's now twice the sound, lots more smoke, no more tethers between locomotive units, and you'll have to take my word for it that it's a lot more fun to play with!

Click here to view the embedded video.