Mail Call! Railway Post Office, commonly abbreviated as RPO has rolled in!

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KriegslokBR52 said:
I was in Edison, NJ today at a large Greenberg train show. One stand had extremely rare early Mantua 2-8-0 model representing Reading Railway engine. I don't think the seller knew exactly what he was selling as the price was $45. After negotiation i paid $35 for it. Mantua came up with these models in 1937-1938 time frame and they are hard to find, it was in fact the first time i saw one.View attachment 234851View attachment 234848View attachment 234849View attachment 234850View attachment 234852
As can be seen, the value gear is totally messed up on it, maybe the driving wheels slipped on the axles and caused broken and bent rods. It will be a fun project for the evening.
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I could be wrong, but I think you might be able to replace the valve gear, and, if necessary, the drivers with those from a Mantua Mikado 2-8-2. Look on the 'net for Mantua parts or on ebay similarly. Not sure if those are 63" drivers or 52".
 
trailrider said:
I could be wrong, but I think you might be able to replace the valve gear, and, if necessary, the drivers with those from a Mantua Mikado 2-8-2. Look on the 'net for Mantua parts or on ebay similarly. Not sure if those are 63" drivers or 52".
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I think i'll keep the drivers because they are so fine looking, certainly nicer than thick tires on Mikados from later years. I also purchased a Bachmann I10 without a tender for a mere $5, maybe i can use some valve gear from that one. The Bachmann is plastic and weighs a fraction of that Mantua model.
 


I needed a London & North Western Railway (LNWR) locomotive, true to the area modelled.
0.6.2 Webb Tank Locomotive

IMG_0600.JPEG



Dewsbury, Leeds Railway (DLR) 0.4.0 locomotive 'Lady Ellen'. Named after a close relative who lived in the Edwardian era.

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KriegslokBR52 said:
Too bad the "Old Rivets" doesn't have the rivets, but those versions are hard to find.
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Indeed, they are Mack! Thanks for noticing :( 🤣
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I missed the Lionel Vision Line version; pictured above, it has the Rivets. I added a link to the photo, click on it and it will take you to Lionel to see a better photo.

If a Lionel Vision Line Conrail Bicentennial GG1 shows up on eBay the sellers want $3500 now. I refuse to pay that much, but I keep looking. The MTH version has made me happy, for now.

I bought the Lionel Vision Line Amtrack #926 Phase One GG1. The preorder price was $1399.99 for each GG1. I was too cheap to buy both. I bought all the Vision line passenger cars to go with #926. The entire train cost me a little over $2500. I remember seeing the Amtrack GG1 roar past me. I can't remember if I ever saw the Conrail GG1 in person, but I love it!

The GG1 is my favorite locomotive. I have more than a half dozen GG1s from N to full scale O and in-between in several different paint schemes.

“Old Rivets,” the legendary GG1 #4800, is proudly preserved at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, Pennsylvania. Have you been there to see it?
 
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Bruette said:
Indeed, they are Mack! Thanks for noticing :( 🤣
View attachment 236440
I missed the Lionel Vision Line version; pictured above, it has the Rivets. I added a link to the photo, click on it and it will take you to Lionel to see a better photo.

If a Lionel Vision Line Conrail Bicentennial GG1 shows up on eBay the sellers want $3500 now. I refuse to pay that much, but I keep looking. The MTH version has made me happy, for now.

I bought the Lionel Vision Line Amtrack #926 Phase One GG1. The preorder price was $1399.99 for each GG1. I was too cheap to buy both. I bought all the Vision line passenger cars to go with #926. The entire train cost me a little over $2500. I remember seeing the Amtrack GG1 roar past me. I can't remember if I ever saw the Conrail GG1 in person, but I love it!

The GG1 is my favorite locomotive. I have more than a half dozen GG1s from N to full scale O and in-between in several different paint schemes.

“Old Rivets,” the legendary GG1 #4800, is proudly preserved at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, Pennsylvania. Have you been there to see it?
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Yes, i've seen it many times. I still have the pictures of it actually painted in it's early after delivery scheme. Too bad it's rusting now with just a primer on.
 
Bruette said:
I would enjoy seeing those!
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Just for you:
IMG_20250830_084625364.jpg
IMG_20250830_084530166.jpg

These are pictures of my actual pictures which i took while still in highschool. The date is September 28, 1992 and this might have been my first trip to the museum in Strasburg. The piant scheme is the same, the locomotive wore very early in its life when the railroad was still experimenting with painting them. This had the "Futura" letters and numbers and as you can see widely spaced stripes. Historically this was only the second scheme that 4800 wore in its life time.
 


Alcomotive said:
So include your picture and tell us about it and even give your review or reasons for obtaining the item or items
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I continue to be way behind on keeping here so once again just jumping to most recent stuff.

Rapido E8A-E8B in Union Pacific Paint.
Model has exquisite prototypical detail (obviously it is Rapido). One of the winterization hatches is a little catiwompus but no big deal. While I have never liked the UP paint scheme, I do have much of the "Cities Of" train set and had no locomotive to pull it. I have always loved how UP ran the E units with a single A and multiple Bs. So that is a main reason I bought this set, it came with a B even though I didn't show it in the picture. These models are so detailed I hate taking them out and putting them into the box, so I didn't just for a photo. I was on the HOgtrainZ.com site pre-ordering the Santa Fe Hudsons when this popped up on the "crazy sales" page.

Hopefully will get to "test drive" it soon. It is sound equipped.

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