Lionel 700W?

[wjstix]

Sorry to revive an old thread, but that does make sense now. I had one of the early Williams scale 4-6-2s and was a bit surprised when it came with an empty coal bin in the tender.

[Flintlock76]

Art Young

This is a Williams brass tender from their first run of brass engines back in the 80's. All of those wires go to the electronic eunit and whistle.

Ah-HA!   Mystery solved!  Thanks!  

[Art Young]

This is a Williams brass tender from their first run of brass engines back in the 80's. All of those wires go to the electronic eunit and whistle. I owned one, the circuit board had burnt out (you could see the arcing marks on the frame), and someone had installed a DPDT toggle switch instead. As to the coal bin, this was as it was made, there was no load. It looked pretty sharp on my layout with the diesel coal loader filling it up.

[stuartmit]

Does this sound foolish?  I am dissappointed  to hear it is not what it seems at first or second glance 

[M636C]

wjstix

It's for sure not an original 1937-42 700EW & tender. It might be a more recent reissue, like the one Lionel did maybe 30 years ago. Lot of wires between the engine and tender compared to the original, and the tender trucks look less detailed. Tender lettering looks slightly different too. (Compare the video to the 700EW in Flintlock's link.)

 

The tender isn't a 700W. It doesn't have any rivet detail, and the loco lacks the combination lever on the Baker Valve Gear. It might be a brass tender.

I have the 1990 1-700E and neither the loco nor tender match mine.

Given the trouble the filmaker has gone to, it could be post war Hudson with a custom tender just to allow the coal loading.

Peter

[wjstix]

It's for sure not an original 1937-42 700EW & tender. It might be a more recent reissue, like the one Lionel did maybe 30 years ago. Lot of wires between the engine and tender compared to the original, and the tender trucks look less detailed. Tender lettering looks slightly different too. (Compare the video to the 700EW in Flintlock's link.)

[stuartmit]

Looks to me like it would be quite a load required To fill that 700w. I don't own a 497, but if it's bin capacity is similar to the capacity of the Lionel Bakelite dumping bins used for coal and logs, a created space in the 700w would only be about half full.  Leaves a hungry loco! 

[Flintlock76]

lionelsoni

I don't have a 700W, but I opened up a 2426W to see how much space there is.

The plastic coal pile comes out with two screws.  It would be easy to replace it with a false sheet-metal floor, about 1/4 inch below the side walls.  With the "coal" mounded up about an inch in the middle, you could perhaps create the illusion of putting in a full load of coal.

 

I just watched the video (vintage and fun!) and I suspect you're right, someone may have "chopped and channeled" the tender to take a coal load, I haven't seen anything to indicate Lionel actually built them that way.

No copyright date on the video, but I'm guessing it's from around 1990, more or less. 

[Flintlock76]

stuartmit

YouTube history of model trains mccomas

Thanks!  I'll have a look!  Here's the direct YouTube link for everyone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eucywo3lxLo  

[stuartmit]

Any chance it is the re-issue of 20-30 years ago?  It is not the greatest viewing angle but you can clearly see the coal falling into the tender, and the angle seems to barely allow a view of an empty space there.

[stuartmit]

Ok. It is at about 14.00 in the video,  and it is exactly the tender depicted above

[stuartmit]

I just checked. Type in:

 

YouTube history of model trains mccomas

 

its 30.00 minutes from dungeon studios;  just pick it out and go perhaps 2/3 through  

 

There will be a sequence showing a train proceeding across the drawbridge, then some action including the 397 call loader, the coal dump ramp, the lumber loading accessories, and then they will return to the 497 call loader dumping from above into a tender behind a scale Hudson and Cole is dumping into what seems to be an empty coal bay in the tender.

 

 

[pennytrains]

It was one of the 6 great toy train layouts episodes but I don't recall which.

[Flintlock76]

Say, what's the title of that TM video?  I'd like to watch it myself!

( 'Cause here I am with 100+ channels on cable and nothin's on!  Go figure!)

[lionelsoni]

I don't have a 700W, but I opened up a 2426W to see how much space there is.

The plastic coal pile comes out with two screws.  It would be easy to replace it with a false sheet-metal floor, about 1/4 inch below the side walls.  With the "coal" mounded up about an inch in the middle, you could perhaps create the illusion of putting in a full load of coal.

[Flintlock76]

Here's a picture for all.

http://www.dakotapaul.com/items/showitem.asp?iid=2915

To my knowledge the 700W tender was never meant to take "coal" from a Lionel accessory dumper, Lionel had purpose-built hopper cars for that.

As you said, there was a whistle unit in the tender, so I don't see how it could have been possible anyway.

[stuartmit]

Got the correct YouTube video by mccomas. The tender is lettered néw york central 

[stuartmit]

There is a YouTube video whose title is approximately a history of model trains. It's about 45 minutes long and I can't remember who made it although I think it may be McComas. In the course of the video, it shows the Lionell cpaling station which lifts a movable bin up to the top dumping coal into a tender which looks like the 700 W and has an empty bay. it is running behind a scale Hudson. Did that tender come with a removable plastic coal pile so that you could fill up an empty bay below it in that way? I would have thought that the whistle would have been in that space below the coal pile.