Yep. A fair few 381e owners complained to Lionel salesmen that the loco couldn't pull the state cars. Many were replaced with 408s.
Same me, different spelling!
Thanks!
smokey1, I do understand the preference for steam, and I think it would be great to have a #6 or #7 4-4-0 eventually. Something about the electrics to me just has that "classic" look of the old toy trains.
Kens std gauge, from what I heard, it apparently had some trouble pulling a full 4-car State set. My set of 3 medium size cars is a breeze to pull, but they're a lot smaller and lighter than the State passenger cars.
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Always been one of my favorites too! Beautiful! Congratulations!
Nice work on a favorite locomotive. One of Lionel's best, I think. I'm always puzzled by the period reports that this was a poor puller. Mine is more than satisfactory, not quite as good as the dual motor 402, but plenty.
Enjoy it and happy Christmas.
Congratulation, it's always great getting that hunted-down piece.
I'm not a fan of those engines, I prefer the steam engine, ( don't take me wrong I have had them, just prefer steam) anyhow today I bought the Lionel uncatalogued 2-4-2 #390 Standard gauge engine, which will go with my 1766, 1767, & 1768 red passenger cars. So now I think I'm going to have a loop of G then a loop of standard gauge and finally, I have my O gauge inside of that.
Yes we will dub it The Dreadnaught!
Good Lord, it's not a toy train, it's a battleship!
Well done sir!
I finally got the video done!
Also, here are a few more photos!
Really cool rail beast!
I've got it mostly done and working! I just need to make a few more adjustments and it'll be ready to run. I'm also working on making a video showing what it looked like before and some of what had to be done to fix it up.
McCoy trains in the 70's thru the end reproed them. Also Williams and later MTH had them as a option on thier early runs of Standard gauge
What a find indeed... I too can't wait to see pictures! I had no idea anyone reproduced Bild-A-Loco motors. Or any prewar motors for that matter! I figured any newer ones were just can motor powered.-Ellie
"Unless bought from a known and trusted dealer who can vouch otherwise, assume every train for sale requires servicing before use"
Score!
Well done! Looking forward to the pictures!
There's one standard gauge Lionel electric that I've always wanted but never purchased because, whether it was an original or reproduction, it was way out of my price range. And then a few weeks back, I was making a random search around eBay, and a Williams reproduction was up for sale for under $400 (half the usual going price!), and it wasn't even in bad shape!
I received it a few days later, and after taking it out of the box for inspection, I found that the original owner had even installed a reproduction Bild-A-Loco motor (possibly made by KMT, not sure) in the thing, and it's all in good working order! It was mostly a display model and has very little run time, so the only real issues to work out are cleaning up the tarnish and some bits of rust here and there. It only needs about $25 or so of replacement parts (original couplers got mangled in shipping, some stanchions are missing or broken) to be complete, and I think I'll also cast some lead weights to bring it up to standard Lionel traction.
As for which model it is? It's none other than the 381E in state green, and from the original 500 that had the Lionel plates instead of the alternatives that had to be used later on! This'll be my biggest (it's even bigger than the old #42!) and most decorated engine, and I'm definitely excited to have it pulling the train around the Christmas tree this year! I'm working on a video now and will hopefully have that all done and uploaded in the next couple weeks or so, so you'll all be able to see the before and after when it's ready.
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