I have been reading and posting on this forum for a couple of months as well as checking the forum’s archives and have not seen anyone else post about their Lionel Rock Island 2031 Alco AA (FAs ?) that were manufactured between 1952 and 1954. I have this engine set.
There have been discussions about the 2023 UPs (1950-1951), the 2033 UPs (1952-1954), and the 2032 Erie Alcos (1952-1954). I have the yellow nose AA 2023s as well, and the mechanicals are very similar to the 2031s.
Of the whole bunch, I think that the 2023 Grey Nose seems to be the rarest because the production run with this color scheme ran only a few months.
I thought the others including the 2031s that I have were quite common and that there would be a lot of baby boomers on this forum that had a pair. There were old forum threads from time to time whose topics were generally “your first train,” but these 2031 Alcos were not mentioned by anyone. They’re on ebay, so I know they are out there. The 2031s don’t even come up in forum discussions of the Rock Island railroad and the rolling stock.
Does anyone else besides me have this 2031 engine set? I don’t think it was ever sold as part of a train set with cars, passenger or freight.
Yup, I have a set of 2031’s and a set of 2032’s and the freight set that came with the 2032’s. The 31’s were never cataloged in a set as you guessed. In my opinion, these engines are every bit as nice a runner as the 622 series switchers even though they only have one motor. They are very smooth and pull a nice train when they are properly serviced and in good condition, It helps if the train is serviced as well, a few tight trucks or wheel sets in postwar cars will slow anything down and lead to someone commenting on what a crappy puller their engine is! Both of these pairs of engines have made the cut as to keep or sell from the many postwar engines I used to have. I just can’t make them leave…
Regarding the pulling power, as you said when properly serviced they can do a decent job of pulling a moderate consist. Clean track, lubed cars of course. Selecting lighter cars. I never tried more than 12 cars, and some of them were superlights from a starter set.
Jim A. (Jumijo) provided this link (below) a while back in the forum. The poster of the video makes no mention of any modifications, but there has to be a second motor mounted in there, perhaps the dummy is now powered too. The car count on one of the videos is 15 and 21-22 on another.
The youtube poster of the video is BoxcarFrank, so if you want to see two more videos of the 21 car consist, just click on “more from.” Then do a search of his available videos, type in Rock Island 2031. You’ll get a good look at the Chicagoland Lionel Railroad Club layout.
I picked up a pair of Rock Island Alcos a couple years ago and they are my favorite amongst all the early Alcos. I felt fortunate to find a pair with origional red paint at a reasonable price. There is nothing rare about them and they show up occasionally at shows and on ebay. But, not as frequently as UP and Erie. They are coveted more than anything due to their sharp graphics. Most of the grey nose UP Alcos floating around are fakes. Despite the cheapy stamped frame and motor, my favorite of all the Alcos is the blue Santa-Fe freight scheme.
I have been doing some searching on the net for some background info. on these Rock Island ALCo deisels. A lot of guys on this forum seem to know quite a bit of toy train and heritage on their steamers, so I thought I’d try to do some research on my ALCos.
The 2031 is a reproduction of the ALCo FA-1, the real deal manufactured from 1946 to 1950. They were manufactured with engine designation 244 which came as either a 1500 hp 12 cylinder or a 2200 hp 16 cylinder. They were used in both a freight and passenger capacity. And they were produced for a number of different RR lines.
Lionel produced the Rock Island 2031s from 1952-1954. The 2031 shell details are fairly faithful to the real loco’s physical detail; some guys have posted detailed FA-1 sketches in various places on the web.
Color and paint schemes for the Rock Island are another story. The Lionel 2031, 2041, and 231 all have essentially the same red stripe over black color and paint scheme, same with the Williams repro. But when I search for the real Rock Island engines from which they are derived, I can’t find a match. The RI FA-1 colors are maroon stripes over black. And the paint scheme is arranged differently. Is this a case where Lionel went their own way with color and paint scheme? Why would they bother?
Second, ALCo FA-1s are shown in real life as AA arrangements or with a B unit. Lionel did not offer a B unit for the Rock Island, Union Pacific, or Erie FA-1 variations between 1950 and 1954. Was not offering a B unit for the FA-1 done for economic reasons? Lionel did offer B units for their F3 offerings, albeit some were separate catalogue items. B units were also of
The F-units were bigger and sexier. The FT is the diesel that finally signalled the end of steam locomotives. When Lionel tooled up theirs, they conned GM and possibly the NYC into paying for some of that tooling.
The 2333 is a dual motored loco, sans Magnatraction.
Lionel’s Rock Island scheme is fairly accurate. The attached link is for a Precision Craft HO model with the correct scheme that Lionel is close to. The most noticeable difference with the version I linked is Lionel used a white stripe along the bottom instead of red. Rock Island painted their FA’s in a variety of schemes over the years. I’ve seen pics of the real deal but cannot recall where.
If you study the link, you will see Lionel’s FA’s proportions are close in all directions except width maybe but they are scaled down for 027. The trucks Lionel used are an EMD design which were carried over from the NW switcher.
It’s hard to say exactly why Lionel chose to do scale sized (1/48) F3’s first. Before the war, hobbiests raved over Lionel’s scale and semi scale Hudson, B-6 switcher, and freight cars. Lionel was proud of this line and it is likely they wanted to continue with it. EMD came out with F units (FT’s) quite some time before Alco came out with their FA’s. So it’s only natural Lionel had F units on the drawing board first. Alco was nowhere near as popular as EMD because they were late getting diesels out. Alco had one over on EMD because they could rip some healthy ground shaking farts during start up and literally fumigated the right-o-way with black smoke.
As far as AA verses AB, paint scheme, and EMD trucks, Lionel was making toys. Not 2 rail O scale. Cost was an issue. They did come out with a B unit during the cheapened stamped frame era. Several stories have been published on Lionel’s Alcos. TM’s postwar book and the Sept 99 issue of CTT for example.
EMD (General Motors) was at that time (and for several more decades) far and away the biggest builder of diesels. The FT (introduced before WWII and then built through the war years) clearly demonstrated the capabilities of diesels for general freight service, and the F-3 was the improved successor that carried out the diesel revolution on American railroads. (In fact, by 1948, the F-3 had given way to the F-7 which was even more successful sales-wise.) So EMD was the premier diesel manufacturer, and it is no surprise that Lionel chose to go with their streamlined cab units when time came to offer a diesel model. GM, the Santa Fe, and the NYC each joined Lionel in financing the tooling for the new locomotive, 25 percent each.
Lionel generally tried to “spread the wealth” around (various roadnames, etc.) Alco was definitely second to EMD in diesels, and so after two EMD engines (the F-3 and the NW-2 switcher), they picked Alco’s FA for their new 0-27 cab unit in 1950. As an 0-27 engine, they made it smaller (the prototype is just about the same size as the F-3), and they were also able to use the motor and trucks from the 622/6220 Santa Fe NW-2, which may have influenced the size of the model.
Okie, OOOPS…you’re right. [oops] Both the SF 2333 F3 and NYC 2344 F3 were duals.
The SF 2243s (55-57) were single motored but came as an AB set, and both the NYC 2343 and NYC 2353s were dual motored. I thought there was one more postwar F3 from Lionel that was single motored, though.
John/3railguy, thanks for the reference material. I saw that HO site when I was searching and that is the closest in color and scheme I’ve seen to the 2031 (copied?) but nothing in real life photos.
The Texas Special (2245) was single-motored, as were the 2240 Wabash and the 2242 New haven. (All single motor F-3s were numbered 22xx, while the twin-motor F-3 models were numbered in the 23xx series.)
Another thing to keep in mind if you are looking for a Rock Island A-A 2031, is the
Rock Island A-A 2041.
The 2041 was made in 1969 only and as a few books have mentioned it LOOKS like the 2031, but being it was made in 1969 it is a much cheapended version. It have a single axle drive, rubber tires, a headlight in the powered unit, open cab windows (ie no windshield), and a 2 position reverse.
I bring this up, as if you are looking for a RI 2031, and the numbers on the cab are worn out, make sure it’s not a 2041.
A 2041 should only cost about 1/2 of what a good 2031 will.
I saw Marx Rock Island 99 diesels on the ChooChoo Trains auction site. I don’t do a lot of train browsing outside of ebay, mostly out of ignorance and lack of familiarity with the other auction alternatives. The listing had the A unit as “very good” and the B unit as “good.” The pics were not much help. The picture when blown up deteriorated quickly. The item description was equally poor.
I know nothing about this one or Marx trains in general. Does anyone have some experience with this engine set?
The Marx Rock Island 99 listed was made I believe in 1976 by Louis Marx & Co. which went bankrupt in 1978 (1919-1978) and got broken up. Continued under new ownership as K-Line and parent MDK.
The Marx Rock Island color scheme is very similar to and perhaps better than the Lionel 2031 from 1952-1954. From the ChooChoo picture, the Marx offering appears more detailed. Sizewise, the Marx looks longer than the earlier O27 Lionel offering.
The ChooChoo Auctions listing says AA units, the picture shows AB, and the description is for AB. While bumbling around on the internet briefly last night I read where the Marx AA was the set and the B unit was available.
The historical pictures on the net I have found show the real RI diesels from the latter part of the 1940s and 1950s in many configurations: A, AA, AB, ABA, and ABBA. Rock Island operated both in a freight and a passenger capacities.
I know nothing about Marx quality and parts availability under K-Line. While Marx trains had been around for a very long time, I find it curious there is not a lot of their stuff out there at auction unless folks list the stuff as K-Line.
I am originally from Chicago. It was my father who selected a more local railroad for my first train. In the toy trains hobby, I see
Those Marx RI diesels are beauties, Jack. You better act fast and snap them before I do!
All the Marx locos I have are quite easy to disassemble, clean and get running again. Elegant simplicity. The only rare Marx is the one that doesn’t run.
JPC…I have never seen a Lionel 231 Rock Island Alco (1961-1963) in all black. NIB 231 wouldn’t fetch $750. Repaint for $750? Doesn’t sound right. Yet there were both live floor bidders and the ebay bidders who thought it was worth it. Hmmmmm.
It looks like Hillside had part of a bin full of all-black 231’s(no red stripe painted on). It is still debatable whether any completed ones left the factory, or if they were assembled outside.
My guess is they were assembled this way by Lionel as there is no glut of regular 231 shells that were excessed when the switch was made, and there have been many all-black units sold/traded with 231P boxes.