r/lioneltrains

All together for 4th of July

I decided and change up my Postwar inspired 4ft by 8ft layout. So here is a short 50 second video of running a 2333 F3 diesel around. Feel free to suggest anything I should add.

Smokes harder than my aunt.

Recently got some new trains in and wanted to run them prior to selling.

Btw, new YouTube video is out! If you want to see me unbox this train (and more), then check out my latest vid! https://youtu.be/fZSaDSGBS0Q?is=StrR6BTRAH-XC7up

Don't be alarmed thinking I forgot the rest of the Circus Train. I realized as I was preparing the Circus Train Grand Finale, that July 4 would come before I was ready to post. Thus I switched gears to do this, but will soon complete posting the Circus series. Now, on with America 250!

The first photo is a flatcar with a Tank & an earth-mover. I have noticed throughout my railfanning years that a military train is rarely without some form of this equipment.

The second photo shows a second flatcar, this one with a Howitzer & another Tank.

The third photo shows flatcar #3, with a troop trailer, Humvee, & second Howitzer. Before going any further, yes I know there's work to do color matching the wheels & other things. This is an ongoing project.

Next is Flatcar #4 with a Red Cross Medical Truck, & a Halftrack.

Then comes another Flatcar, this time carrying a Jeep & a Semi Cab. The latter will become clearer with the next photo.

With Flatcar #5, we have the rest of the Semi Truck. I've seen many of these tankers on Military trains, usually for hauling fuel.

Now we get to the really cool stuff, starting with my first Minuteman Missile Car. This one requires manual operation. You swing back the roof, open the side door for access, then press the back of the launcher to raise the missile. You pull back the hammer & let her rip! This one's powered by rubber bands (can use Lego brand ones, but that got too expensive) & will launch the missile a good 30 to 40 feet!

Next is my second Minuteman Missile car, this one being fully automatic! It uses Power Functions to open, raise, & launch all by remote control!

Then we have a flatcar carrying a truck trailer with a nuclear missile onboard. I have several of these in HO Scale, so I made one for my Lego trains as well. This design I cannot verify the authenticity of, but it looks really cool regardless. I even built in the capability to raise the missile vertically.

After that we have my budget version of the captured German Anzio Annie Railroad gun. I plan on making a better one someday. Still a cool piece of history.

Next is what I call my missile command car. A more fanciful creation to be sure, but very interesting nonetheless. It contains a mobile launch facility, with radar screens, safety controls, launch buttons, & 2 missiles each on their own launch pad. Included is a top-down view showing the details.

Next is another of my historical pieces, a German Flakwagen or antiaircraft car. These were used to protect WWII trains from air attack, though their success rate is somewhat questionable. I believe we captured a few of these as well.

After that, we return to good old American ingenuity, with a locomotive designed to run on any gauge track our military needed it to. Also included is a photo I took of the real thing.

Then we have a somewhat more fanciful, & Lionel inspired American Antiaircraft car. This takes elements from several things & combines them into a really neat MOC. There's a radar for detecting incoming attacks, & a Flack Gun for defense.

Continuing, we have a car inspired by Buster Keaton in 'The General'. It carries a cannon reminiscent of the Civil War, complete with ramrod, powder, & cannonballs.

Finally we have another Lionel inspired MOC, a third operating missile launch car. This runs by a #2847c01   remote, & launches a barrage of 3 missiles sequentially.

I hope you all enjoy this tribute to our Armed Forces as we celebrate the United States of America on her 250th birthday. As always, feel free to comment, ask questions, & even recreate for yourself, but please do not monetize my designs.

Pardon my dust I’m adding a siding!!!

I’m more of an American Flyer guy but it’s my favorite color in need of some love.

My 7 yr old son is really into trains and wants a ‘proper’ model train set for his bday, e.g not battery powered, heavier, metal, etc. Found somebody near us selling this model from Lionel new in box - anyone know anything about it? I read Lionel quality from the 90s is generally pretty good but couldn’t find much on this model - appreciate any help thank you!

Reading and Northern 802 a real life SW-8 meets its little model from, a Lionel Legacy Reading and Northern 803, might be different numbers but it’s still the same model.

Lionel Area 51 layout, the reactor is online.

I've been working on a new model. Not because anyone asked, but because I wanted to see if I could. This bridge may or may not look familiar to some people. Anyway...the model is close to done I guess but it's massive and will need to be cut up for ease of 3D printing, particularly on something like the Bambulabs P1S. It's been a considerable amount of effort thus far. Before I go through the additional effort of trying to slice and dice this for printing. I wanted to see what anyone thinks...whether I should do it or not.

So I got a lionel set from a family friend recently & while the box was a little water damged the tracks, cars, controls & even the papers are all perfectly fine. I never had one before so hopefully someone more who knows more can explain a little about the set, I'll add any other pictures if anyone wants to see the rest.

Does anyone else enjoy running trains with their cats? Kramer is my official yard master.

The remote that runs a nursing home display I made fell down and burst open. Is it safe to resemble or is it just busted?

The 1937 Lionel 700E Hudson and the 1938 “OO” Scale Hudson side by side - Lionel engineers one-upped the 700E with this amazing little model. It has virtually all the detail at 60% the size with the only noticeable differences being the slightly oversized handrail stanchions/ valve gear parts and the solid driver wheels.

I was excited to find this mini version of the 1953 catalog at York this year - I had no idea these existed! The pages are printed in 2 color except for one center spread that was altered for the final full size catalog. My guess is they wanted something more epic for the dream team F3 combo, reusing the 681 Turbine linework at the bottom of the image and swapping in the 736 Berkshire above it. For the full size catalog the F3s were instead incorporated into their own spread- the iconic image of the nose to nose race through the mountain snow.

Nothing like old Lionel…

https://youtu.be/4thj23jGGaY?is=Odg-G5axLQ2jyw8c

Who said modern and old couldn’t mix? Decided to run my new Legacy SW8 on a little Postwar switching run today.

As much as I like Railsounds, sometimes it’s fun to run the trains with the sound turned down.

Here’s a quick floor layout I set up to test a 20 year old brass steamer following some maintenance.