That growl from those F3 motors reminded me of something...
I'd shot some video of one of my post-wars, a 224, and the camera picked up something I hadn't noticed, a "hissssss" that sounded a lot like escaping steam as the locomotive shot past and barrelled down the track. Strange, I'd never heard it or noticed it but the video camera sure did!
Maybe there's some kind of subliminal, unconcious reaction to post-wars we're not even aware of? Maybe unknowingly Lionel stuck a bit of realism in those locomotives without realizing it? Oh well, why ask why?
NYC was very much a tightwad railway, no Mars lights or flashy paint schemes, the lightning bolt scheme was about as flashy as the NYC got. Where as your western roads were more flashy, CB&Q, GN, ATSF, WP ect. But the choice for the first F3's from Lionel was deliberate, those two railroads underwrote the cost of the F3 tooling. It was free advertising for both railroads and a huge PR sucess, more so for the fancy Santa Fe than the NYC. Look how easy it is to find the warbonnet F3s of any model number, vs the NYC engines. I also read the thought was kids east of Chicago would want the NYC as that is what they saw in real life, and west coast kids would want the Santa Fe's. Run thru power was not really heard of yet on real railroads. Either way, the dual motor F3's are the real stump pullers in Lionel's line up. The growl and massive amounts of ozone from those dual motors is Lionel magic at its best!
Silly NT's, I have Asperger's Syndrome
Man, wait until you get that 2056 up and running again, I've got one and I call it "The Bruiser", that thing'll pull tree stumps out of the ground!
Anyone ever notice how the two initial Lionel F3 paint schemes seemed to reflect the different parts of the country they represented? The New York Central F3's were very serious, very "man in the gray flannel suit", very big business and Wall Street. The Santa Fe F3's, pure Hollywood and West Coast flash!
I wonder if EMD's paint scheme design teams had that in mind?
Cleaned off the bench work that is done and assembled my roster of postwar power and rolling stock, along with a few accessories and SJ will spot my O scale TARDIS among the items. Haven't decided whether go totaly around the room or a "C" shape to avoid a complicated curved, removable section to allow room and closet access. In the line up we see my pair of custom Autism Awareness 2243 F3's, the 2333 NYC F3 pair, my two 1655's and my beater 2056 awaiting time in the shop for repaint and restoration. Mike
I run strictly conventional myself. First off, my layout's the old, traditional 4x8, that's all I've got room for, so TMCC or DCS doesn't make any sense for me.
Second, I like having the ability to fix any problems myself, hence my growing attraction to post-war, however I do have to say I've had no problems with any of my modern units.
Thirdly, I remember the wise words of Commander Montgomery Scott, chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise...
"The more ye complicate the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain!"
emdmike Thanks Earl. I never realised how much they are a benefit for me till my therapist explained it to me. And when I got back into running them again after spending quite a few years in HO scale and the frustrations of DCC, she told me to stick with them. I avoid all the new fangled electronic stuff as well, its neat and all, and I love to watch it at shows. But I am old school Lionel, e unit buzz and stinking up the house like ozone and smoke pellets. I do wear an noice canceling headset if I plan to run noisy trains for any length of time, for as much as they are a help, the noise can have the opposite effect. For short run sessions I don't wear it though. At Christmas time, I play my favorite holiday music thru my headset, anything from Manheim Steamroller, GRP Christmas, Trans Siberian and my Charlie Brown/Peanuts Christmas CD. Or will really set the mood/era back to the late 40's with big band music. Mike
Thanks Earl. I never realised how much they are a benefit for me till my therapist explained it to me. And when I got back into running them again after spending quite a few years in HO scale and the frustrations of DCC, she told me to stick with them. I avoid all the new fangled electronic stuff as well, its neat and all, and I love to watch it at shows. But I am old school Lionel, e unit buzz and stinking up the house like ozone and smoke pellets. I do wear an noice canceling headset if I plan to run noisy trains for any length of time, for as much as they are a help, the noise can have the opposite effect. For short run sessions I don't wear it though. At Christmas time, I play my favorite holiday music thru my headset, anything from Manheim Steamroller, GRP Christmas, Trans Siberian and my Charlie Brown/Peanuts Christmas CD. Or will really set the mood/era back to the late 40's with big band music. Mike
Lovin Lionel's NYC F3s, a good choice.
"IT's GOOD TO BE THE KING",by Mel Brooks
Charter Member- Tardis Train Crew (TTC) - Detroit3railers- Detroit Historical society Glancy Modular trains- Charter member BTTS
Mike, I had not realized that Lionel trains could have quite the therapeutical effect that you have so eloquently described.
I know that I often use the trains for stress relief after watching all the negative news on TV or after a stressful day. I almost always run my trains before going to bed at night.
Best of luck to you..,.
Earl
Amen to that! They can be a stress reliever for anybody, just a bit more important for me to avoid meltdowns. Those are ugly to see, can be distructive to anything I get my hands on and leave me exhausted for hours to even days. But l can escape into Lionelville where I am safe from a world that is overwhelming in ways those not on the spectrum cannot fully understand. Mike
Mike, you don't need to have Aspergers for Lionels to give you a good calm-down, trust me! They give a good calm-down to anyone. There's something magic in those toy trains, you can come home from the worst day imaginable and they just seem to put it all right. Amazing.
Its also a directive from my therapist that helps me cope with being autistic. Lionels are one of my "go to" coping tools to calm down, have been since I was a child. Whether its a regular layout or a "carpet central", when I get really stressed out, out come the Lionels to play with, make noise and turn the house into an ozone factory! I wasn't diagnosed till well into adult hood, but I used the trains as a coping tool long before I knew what that was. I remember one time when I was around 5 or 6 years old. We had one of those old fashioned Kirby vaccuum cleaner salesmen in the house and he just would not take no for answer(my folks are the image of yankee skin flints and would never spend that kind of $$ on a vaccuum cleaner!) It was getting late and it was causing a change in my schedule. This was before I had a layout in our basement, so I start laying track around the kitchen and thru the front room in a huge circle. The salesman kept looking over at what I was doing, even asking my mother what I was up to. I remember she just smiled and told him I was laying train track and winked at me. A few min later my MPC era Southern Streak steam engine was flying around my huge loop of track, it lacked on onboard whisle but I had a line side whistle, and after a few min of train noise and me blowing the whistle, the salesman gave up and left. Mom made me my favorite dinner the next night for helping get rid of him. It was not long after that, on my grandparent's next visit that grandpa helped me build the small 4x6 table in the basement for my Lionels to run on. So, for me, Lionel is in my blood. While I have G scale overhead in our living room and a new small raised line in our garden, I always go back to my Lionels when I need to recharge my internal batteries so to speak. Mike the Aspie
Nice haul bro! Rules to live by, buy what you like and the best you can afford, you can't go wrong.
emdmikeWhile I am slowly stocking piling stuff for a 2 rail O scale layout. My heart will always be for Lionel.
Go with your heart. Lionel trains are just plain fun.
Now that's a good day!
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
While I am slowly stocking piling stuff for a 2 rail O scale layout. My heart will always be for Lionel. So when I stopped at a shop in Indianapolis where I have some excess G scale consigned, and had sold, I used my instore credit to pick up a few pieces. First up is a decent operator grade set of 2333 NYC F3's with rubber stamped shells. Don't know if they run or not, but that is not an issue for me to deal with. Also picked up a boxed ZW and a wig wag crossing light. Then at the other remaining model train shop on the east side of Indy, I bought a nice Baby Ruth box car, another 1655 steamer(my fav starter set engine) and a few pieces of postwar 0-27 straight track. Had a great day and a fun trip. Mike
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