I remember fondly, a thread Becky started that was titled "BYOB". This thread's title is of a similar ilk I've watched TM Books & Videos' production "Lionel OO and HO in action" more than twice now- while the postwar HO section was where my focus was mainly at, the segment on "modern era" Lionel HO ('70s and '80s) was interesting. I think Lionel had more interesting and better quality rolling stock in the postwar era, but the locomotive mechanisms in the modern era HO were superior for eliminating those unreliable rubber-band drives. But, I digress.Towards the end of the video, a brief mention is made of rare/unusual pieces for the Lionel HO collector to look for. One of these is a professionally repainted Lionel HO boxcar offered by Newbraugh Brothers Toys. According to the TCA Western article above, it was part of a series of commemorative boxcars issued in 1979 in the wake of the infamous incident at the 3-Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant. The article doesn't give exact numbers, but states that of the various scales that recieved a car (N, HO, O, Standard), all but the O gauge car were made in numbers of 100 or less. How accurate this information is, I can't say, but I get the impression that there's only so many of these things kicking around.Compared to the snazzy example that is featured in the TM Books & Video production, the car I found is no crown jewel. But I had faintly recalled it was a rarity, so I grabbed it, condition be damned!Truth be told, aside from a missing step, I think the car has suffered little damage that can't be fixed. The paint and graphics on the exterior of the car are still quite intact, and I think that I may be able to have a reasonably attractive car if I can find a donor car to steal the missing parts from.You can't see in the above photo, but the car does indeed say 'Lionel' on the underside. Not all MPC Lionel does, I have a GN caboose which was sold by Lionel but has no Lionel marking.Here's a close up of the lettering on the underside of the car:I presume that this car wasn't made by Roco, since it would say 'Made in Austria' if it was. While the mold for the shell looks nothing like the postwar 0864s that were made from old HObbyline dies, there was a later, much more rare generation of postwar HO boxcars with 0874 numbers which look very similar- I'd love to get my hands on an 0874 just to compare, I'm curious if the tooling was in any way recycled. The former color of my car was presumably unpainted yellow plastic:Note one of the lower door guides is broken off from the shell. I'll have to glue that eventually.The steel weight that is attatched to the plastic chassis has the markings of NBT and their printer, PVP (Pleasant Valley Process Co):The paint chipping is unfortunate, but at least the logos are intact.If anyone knows more about the production figures for these cars, specifically the HO version, I'd love to know more! My plan is to try and find a CP Rail boxcar to donate its red doors, or to find another MPC boxcar and spray paint the doors red. I may need to paint a catwalk too- the original would have been black.I think the end result should be worth it, I'll be keeping my eyes out for that donor car!-ElliePS: I currently have a spare set of 1959-1962 Lionel HO trucks, I'm tempted to try and mount them to this car but they're probably better used as spares for future pw cars I may get.
"Unless bought from a known and trusted dealer who can vouch otherwise, assume every train for sale requires servicing before use"
You probably missed my very first post here where the subject line said "Date me!" and it was about an unnumbered postwar Lehigh Valley hopper!
I do have the O Gauge TMI boxcar, with some amusing additions....
https://link.shutterfly.com/09NKgzvEbrb
And while I didn't get a blueprint with it, I do have
the one that came with my World's Fair car. Note
the quantities of O Gauge cars vs. HO & N scale models.
I would guess that the TMI car would have been
produced in similar quantities. The Standard Gauge
car by the way was a McCoy, similar to the Lionel
100 series cars of the teens.
Same me, different spelling!
Nifty! Love your additions... tempted to try to make my own for the HO version. Bet I can find some HO barrels and drill a hole in them to stick a magnet, so they'll hold down to the floor without hurting the paint. I don't think I ever got to see that original post, but that title is brilliant! I'm feeling inclined to pull another one of these next time I have a good opportunity I can barely find any photos on the web of cars besides the O gauge Lionel one. However many there were, they definitely made a lot more of the Lionel O gauge cars!I don't know about everyone else, but I think I'm really going to need an 0056 AEC Husky switcher and it's matching 0817 caboose, to go with this car. That and the 0805 AEC flatcar with it's load of flickering radioactive waste!Interesting how while there was a small AEC switcher in both O and HO, only the HO version got a matching caboose, or even the added dignity of being included in a set! I suppose maybe the 3535 counts as the matching caboose? If I ever wind up with a 57 AEC, I'll have to make a custom 6017 style caboose to match the HO one -Ellie
https://paper-replika.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2897:nuclear-waste-drum&catid=39&Itemid=207362
I made my waste drums from cardstock. The "as-designed" size of the paper model is approximately 4 inches tall. How much I reduced them I don't remember. But I know I just made a whole sheet of parts to make 6(?). The radioactive waste is a Europium based acrylic paint I purchased from United Nuclear. It's harmless, non-radioactive and non toxic but WAY better than any other glow paint I've ever seen. Of course, a black light helps!
Don't forget some armaments if you're making up an AEC special!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/204004073558?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=P5KK0Qt6RhK&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=xPQiKjP-Sgu&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
There's a tank car too!
Becky, when I was looking into my boxcar, I saw they'd done an entire TMI themed set as well!The tank cars are neat, since it seems they made them in two versions, with the red and white "flipped" (like a 6448)(pictures from https://www.robertstrains.com)I really like how the ends have a different color from the bodies- the radiation symbol on the ends is also a nice touch! I feel like it would be really fun to have a whole string of them, in alternating colors... but unlikely, with how (presumably) limited the run was for them.-Ellie
Funny thing, just ran into a video about TMI by someone who I've watched a few videos from- he's done some really good documentaries on Radiological incidents. I don't think it neccesarily came up because of me researching my car, but moreso because it only came out a few days ago.Reality aside, I do still like the idea of putting a few yellow radioactive waste drums into my boxcar!-Ellie
I had a really good documentary on VHS tape (I know, Yikes! ) on TMI. PBS American Experience. I watched it A LOT! I also had documentaries on the Hindenburg and the Shroud of Turin on that tape. There was an excellent docudrama on Chernobyl too. I'll find the link.
Found it: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J8F1aMkxpIk
Call me crazy but tapes don't scare me, and I have an assortment of VHS tapes I sometimes watch. The advantage is now you can pick em up real cheap for the most part, sometimes for free. So long as you have an operational VCR that you keep clean, you're good to go- unless the low resolution is too annoying.PBS has shown some fantastic documentaries, there's a great one on the flood that swept through the Connecticut River Valley back in the late '30s. Not something I'd expect to garner interest here, but a must-see (imho) for any train enthusiast in my neck of the woods. It left marks on the railroads in the area which you can still see today. The railroad station in Belows Falls VT has a high water mark from the flood. There's two "franken-bridges"- flood-induced damage took out the majority of a bridge, but a portion of it stayed intact and they simply replaced the wrecked spans but kept what hadn't failed. One of them is still an active railroad bridge, the other was abandoned in the mid '80s but now carries a short rail trail.I've seen a couple good documentaries on Chernobyl, not sure I've seen this one or not but I may well give it a watch. I think overall I much prefer spending time with the charming toy train, over the real-world stuff!-Ellie
You and me both!
I have an update of sorts to report- I found a broken Bachmann 40' boxcar which appears to be a model of the same prototype car as the Lionel one, and the construction is suspiciously similar. Turns out they were both made in Taiwan! I bet they were made by the same factory, but maybe at different times (the molds for the carbody and chassis are very clearly different). The doors I'm not sure are interchangable, but I think I can use this boxcar to salvage truck parts and to donate its catwalk- maybe the brake wheel too. I'm still not totally sure if the TMI boxcar originally had one installed or not, it doesn't look entirely like it did.More news to come as this story develops...-Ellie
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