In light of the recent thread on vintage HO, I have been inspired to try and post more. The trouble is I have to take the time to snap pictures, as I don’t usually have a bunch already.
Today, we’re going to talk about the Lionel 0605 saddle tank switcher!
This locomotive’s origins began with the John A. English company. From what I can tell, it was originally offered as motive power for John English’s HObbyline train sets in the late '50s. It was also offered as an unpowered, all-plastic kit. There is a thread on the Tyco Trains forum with pictures of the unpowered kit, and powered RTR version, which can be found here:
John English, HObbyline HO Trains
@Darth_Santa_Fe has done an impressive conversion of one of the unpowered kits into an operating model, I highly recommend checking it out:
Lionel had launched their HO line in 1957, and initially must have found success, as somewhere around 1958 Lionel decided to purchase the majority of the HO scale tooling from John A English, and set about re-tooling for a new line of Lionel HO products, revealed in the 1959 consumer catalog. The 0605 saddle tank was among the full line of new Lionel HO motive power introduced that year, and aside from some subtle changes in 1960, would remain in the catalogs unchanged through 1962.
Unfortunately, my only example (to date) is a fairly battered one. Nonetheless, I got it relatively inexpensively, and it is a fun piece to have in my collection. I hope to eventually find one without so much damage to the plastic body.
Here is a video of it in operation:
It’s a fine little runner. Most of these are non-operational due to failed rubber drive belts. They can be a little finicky to get working.
I will make a followup post with a little more interesting context about the Lionel model, stay tuned.
-El