For those of you who may not see the error, the engine does not have the United States Postal Service emblem on the side! That’s the screaming eagle logo from the latter years of the Missouri Pacific railroad.
For the rivet counters, note that this loco only has one nose strip instead of the correct two.
Okay, I, being the polite guy I am[swg], e-mailed him(or her)and kindly explained his(or her) error.
"Hello.
I note you listed this as having the USPS logo on the cab. That is actually the Missouri Pacifc(A.K.A. MoPac, or MP)“Screaming Eagle.” This logo was used in their latter years of operation. You may have more interest if you listed it as carrying this logo. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen this particular locomotive from Mantua in that scheme. Perhaps it is rare…?
Sincerely,
Matt"
Hopefully I won’t get an e-mail back calling me an idiot. That HAS happened before…
obviously we can’t be sure if he speaks the truth that the locomotive runs well or the headlight works well, judging that he obviously has no experience in Model Railroading.
Matt, hope he takes the e-mail serioulsy and kindly thanks you and changes his auction
When I see an item on e-Bay where the description is obviously from someone who knows nothing at all about the item, I don’t even think about bidding on it. Why risk taking their word for something they know nothing about?
One seller even had an old brass steam engine pictured with the tender turned backwards. Now that’s sheer ignorance. Has the seller never in his life seen a picture of a steam engine? If not, how can he be expected to provide an accurate assessment of its mechanical condition? “It moves and makes noise.” But is the noise what it is supposed to be making?
Did anyone notice the Lionel Scout set on there. I had one back in the middle 40’s. Now I’m no Lionel expert but Trying to figure out what couplers and trucks are on that set. My loco had metal shoes for pick up, not rollers and tender had a whistle in it. Also had the old coil wound couplers that were activated by a shoe on the uncoupling section of track. I just never saw Lionel couplers and trucks like those. Ken
I have my Dad’s old Lionel Scout set from 1948 - it has no pickup rollers on the trucks, the couplers are manual and opened with a diamond-shaped ramp built into a straight track section, you press the tab and the ramp raises to seperate the coupler pins, kind of like the original Kadee HO couplers (and Walthers), before the magna-matic days. The loco has sliding shoes, not roller pickups, and the caboose had a tab on a spring sticking down from the middle of the floor for the center contact for the light.
As long as there are people who scour the world looking for a bargain, there will always be an eBay… Which translates to… There is always a sucker willing to part with his $$$… There will always be a victim…
So sad…
The one that always puzzles me is seeing a matched loco and tender, up for sale by the same seller, listed as two seperate auctions - neither half is of any use without the other!