Added the 2 red jewels down low. You can see the color difference between the original green and the newer green. Original is on the left in this pic.
Looks neat. Only question is why the red jewels in the push pole pockets? Oh, another question. Is that HO scale below the O27? Ken
I figured they were just little cast circles and the jewels were a perfect fit, so why not???
They shoulve cast it with the poles.
Yes, there are two HO running beneath. All I have is this Xmas set up right now. Lots of space in the attic, but surviving one house fire and losing so much leaves me wary of having so much on the 3rd floor that disappears first. Basement is too wet and I use the garage too much.
Here you can see the Lionel and the two HO down below, one Conrail and the other PRR.
Red lights indicate the rear end of the train. Lionel always seemed to use green, which indicate that an extra section follows. Here is a discussion of their meaning:
http://www.trains.com/trn/default.aspx?c=a&id=200
I don’t understand how or why one would cast poles into the locomotive. There were wooden and used for pushing cars on a parallel track. They were very dangerous and have been illegal for a long time now.
The pockets the red jewels are in are where the end of the push pole would be held while pushing a car. They were still in use back in the days of steam. The pole was usually carried slung under the tender in a holder there. Yeah, I know Lionel always or most always put green jewels in the classification lights. The marker lights at the rear of the train should be red faceing to the rear. There are however times when one marker would be green and the other red or even both green. If a priority train like a passenger train was approaching from the rear and the freight train pulled into a passing sideing and stopped with the main line clear, the rear brakeman or conductor would change the marker closest to the main line to have green faceing to the rear. This would indicate to the overtakeing train that the main track was clear. By the way, I like your set up under the tree. Neat Ken