Lionel Vision Line N&W Class A #1218- Photo Tour & Video

[SantaFe158]

A brief video I assembled giving a bit of a "walk-around" tour along with some video footage of the new Lionel N&W Class A 2-6-6-4 locomotive #1218 from their Vision series.  This one is modeled after 1218 in its excursion career when kept a bit cleaner than it likely would have been in its service life, hence the glossy paint

[Flintlock76]

Fun video!  And congratulations on that 1218 acqusition!

LOVE the swing music background!  I don't have a problem with C&W but hearing country music as the standard background for rail videos, model or otherwise, does get a bit tiresome.  There WAS other music around back in the steam days after all! 

I like the way you recreated the famous side-by-side run of 611 and 1218 as well, very clever! 

We rode behind 1218 several times in the early 90's and getting up close to the engine I was surprised how compact and small (for lack of a better term) it is compared to a Big Boy or a C&O Allegheny.  A lot of power in a small package!

Thanks for posting!

[SantaFe158]

Thanks!  Everybody has their musical preference but I've always felt like jazz or big band type music goes well with the trains.

I was born a few years too late to ever have the chance to experience the 1218 in operation, but I did get to enjoy the 611 back in 2015 during its first weekend of public runs after its return to service and am definitely happy for that.  Glad you noticed my version of the side-by-side runby.

As someone that works on steam locomotives for a living, I have a great appreciation for the N&W steam locomotive designs.  They did exactly what they were built for and seemed to have been built with maintenance and operation in mind.  

[Flintlock76]

SantaFe158

They did exactly what they were built for and seemed to have been built with maintenance and operation in mind.  

Exactly.  The last N&W steamers, the Class A's, J's, and Y's were very efficient and economical to run and were one of the reasons the N&W wasn't in a big rush to abandon steam, especially since the locomotives were still making a healthy profit for them. 

Mind you, N&W officials weren't starry-eyed romantics, they knew dieselization was going to come eventually, they just weren't in any hurry.  And not rushing gave them a good opportunity to see what other railroads were doing with dieselization and avoid making the same mistakes.