Grandpa's train....help.

[Anonymous]

I finally found a way to get my wife to let me buy another set or engine (my first set is less than a month old).....my grandfather worked as a train engineer from about 1945 to 1975. The train was out of Pitt, PA and went thru Cresson, Lilly and Altoona....anyone know what train this would be or what engine, etc., etc.???? I wonder if there is an engine that I could get that would be like the one he worked on....

[phillyreading]

Hello, I have talked with a couple of railfans that I know & not knowing more from your end I will venture to say at least four differant locomotives may have run that route, the most likely would be a Pennsy K4, or a GG-1 if overhead electric wires. Other information I have found out about is that the Pensylvania Railroad leased over 50 steam locomotives from the Reading Lines(Reading's frieght division) because the Pennsy was low on locomotive power during the early fifties.
Just some other info about the Pennsy; the merger with New York Central formed the PennCentral during the mid 70's as both of those railraods tried to stay out of ConRail
untill their demise in 1983 into ConRail. Reading Lines went into Conrail in 1976, Reading Company was absorbed into Amtrack in the mid 70's.
Hope this can help you some, I used to live in Reading PA.
Just some other info for you, a Reading T1 steam locomotive is at Scranton's Steam Town, I think theroad number is 2128. Steam Town helped to rebuild 2102 of the Reading fleet.
Lee in south Florida

[Anonymous]

That line would have had Pennsy class K4 pacifics, I1 deccapods, L1 Mikados, M1 mountains, then your normal early diesels, F3, F7, GP7/9's The cost to get one of these depends if you want a scale model or a Lionel model for the post war era, The 675/2025 locomotive is based off of a K4 but has the wrong wheel arrangement and is shorter than scale. Lionel does a nice F3 that could be custom painted or they did offer a PRR version in the 70's. Lionel also does a nice diecast GG1, but those ran on the NE corridor between New York city and Boston. You would want either a steam locomotive or an early diesel. Cheers Mike

[Anonymous]

Here are some Pennsylvainia Locomotives you might like.

1. 1970's MPC F3 A-A, Maroon or Green. B-unit is availible.
2. This years Lionel 0-27 Green R-S3
3. This year's Lionel 0-27 Green Berkshire with Railsounds
4. 2004 Lionel Pennsylvainia K-4 4-6-2
5. MTH Torpeado Streamlined 4-6-2 Pacific
6. Williams Golden Memories GG1 (Maroom, or Green, Scale or Traditional)

Also, there are lots of others on the market that are reasonably priced. Just Keep looking. Besides, more than likely your wife dosen't know what locomotives the Pennsy had, so you can buy any Penssy engine, and your wife probably won't know the distance.