An Illinois Central GP-9 and a GM&O GP-20 are about it for motive power. Also several pieces of assorted MPC rolling stock, mostly boxcars and flat cars.
all the Service Station sets, Collector line hudsons, mikados, berkshires, FARR sets, and all the Limited edition engines and sets. one of my best runners is the 8206 NYC Hudson, and the Electronic Whistle and Sound of Steam actually works. I think I am one of the only ones with this engine that the sound works pergectly. Also running LTI Collector line engines, rolling stock, SS sets etc. It all looks good with the newer standard size stuff and Postwar Celebration series, and my original postwar acccessories.
Mark
Mark, nope you are not the only one. My Electronic Sound of Steam locos also work and for all it’s simplicity (compared to proudcts today), I still like it. For historical fans, MARX actually came up with this idea a couple years before Lionel.
The main problem with the ESOS is the foam insulation piece in the tender that separates the circuit board from the metal frame disintegrates. Whenever I find one of these units, I immediately check the condition of the foam and replace it. Chances are, if the loco hasn’t been run for a while by the previous owner, the ESS still will work. If they’ve run it with the compromised piece of foam, there’s a good chance they’ve fried the board of which there are no replacements that I am aware of.
Of course, for all it’s utter simplicity, the Mechanical Sound of Steam doesn’t have this problem, though I find I need to grind out the opening where the roller sits inside the frame, so that the roller makes better contact. I also add a little weight to the MSOS tenders and replace the “rubber band” around the sound drum.
I agree. all of my engines run perfectly, however the 8206 hudson was one of the first ones with the whistle feature, which fried the boards, I have 2 of them, 1 i bought mint by itself, the other one came in the early service station set it was included in and they work perfectly. I like the whistle sound better then the old ones on the postwar. As much as I enjoy the sound of steam, I still love Railsounds also.
If the foam pad is bad, I use double sided foam tape, works great. I have many replacement Sound of Steam circuit boards on hand for all my engines with and without the whistle. You can find them at parts dealers and at shows. The BB;s in the roller isnt for me, nor are the 2-4-2, 4-4-2, or the e2-6-4’s
Give me berks, northerns, hudsons etc…lol
Mark
Yes, I own many MPC era engines and run them all. Since no one has mentioned this specifically, I have a Chessie Steam Special set, and it rocks! I run it occasionally, got it from ebay 5 years ago (brand new in boxe(s)). I like the uniqueness of plain passenger car windows, no passenger inserts. I think they only did it that way for a few years. The sound of steam in my engine still works, it died in my other MPC steam engines.
This thread is certainly a blast from the past. I have and run frequently two MPC engines from my brother’s trainsets (I seem to have them on permanent loan) a Santa Fe FA from 1970 or 1972 and a Grand Trunk 2-4-2 from the same dates.
Certainly I run and very much enjoy MPC-era trains. If it hadn’t been for them, along with Ron Hollander’s “All Aboard” book, I likely would never have returned to O gauge (I was very active in N scale at the time). Ron’s book–a Christmas gift from my girlfriend–rekindled my interest in O gauge, and I subsequently asked my mom to ship over (to Hawaii) some of the stuff remaining from my many happy boyhood years with Lionel.
Went to the local hobby shop in Honolulu to buy a transformer and some track so I could run those things, and left the place that day with a car full of track, switches, transformer, signals and other accessories, and, of course, several new MPC trains. That pretty much did it for me, so I owe a whole lot of thanks to the folks at General Mills and MPC!
In many ways, I enjoyed what the hobby was in those MPC days a lot more than I enjoy what it has become today. There was less product available, but it was always eagerly awaited. Folks weren’t hung-up on the “brand wars” thing because there were few brands to have wars with, and nobody really cared about such nonsense. We were thankful for what we got, even though we always wanted more. There was no Internet, so friends you made in the hobby were selected from among people you actually met and knew, and who shared your interests beyond what the hobby offered. You may not have had a large circle of friends, but at least they were real people and you rarely, if ever, were exposed to the fussing and fuming in and about the hobby that emerged with the Web and discussion forums.
And I don’t believe I’ve ever had to send an MPC item in for repair. If anything ever went wrong with an item, I was able to fix the problem myself. A good many of those trains are still with me today, and still seeing regular use.
Even though I’ve enjoyed playing with TMCC, DCS, RailSounds, ProtoSounds, and the other bells-and-whistles feature
Yes, it’s some of my favorite stuff also. I’m partial to the MPC geeps. I feel fortunate to own, with their matching dummys, the Boston & Maine, Pennsylvania, Jersey Central and CP Rail. Lionel never made a dummy for the latter, maybe because it came in a set and not offered for separate sale.
Tony Sincius[:)]
Yes to MPC! Here is my favorite Disney set from 1977.[:)]
