This is my Alco collection to date. I need to get a dual motor Alco to climb my grade, as the one motor engines have limited traction on the grade.
Let’s see your Alcos!
Paul
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Here’s two pics of a a Lionel ALCO C420 that I custom painted and lettered for the Arkansas & Missouri, which still runs these great engines.
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Here’s an MPC A-B-A ALCO set with Bluebonnet (#8351) A units. I opened up the front apron of one of the A units and installed a coupler. This project was in memory of a pair of 8351 A-A units I saw for sale at a Sears back in 1976, one of which had a front coupler from the factory. My grandfather was shopping for a Christmas present for me, and I asked for that pair of engines, but he preferred to buy a whole set, so I ended up with an TYCO Chattanooga Choo-Choo from JC Penny. sigh
I restored the 8021 B-unit, which I bought with a butchered paint job at a show.
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Beautiful cars,palallin, and very nice restoration work!
Rich
Paul nice I like the collection’
Chuck
Great paint job ! I like it!
Paul
Those came out great! By the way, I had Tyco trains back in the ‘60’s. They were well made back then by Mantua. Mine still runs! Tyco made Century engines at one time.
Paul
Thanks! I had serviced several engines, and tested them on my new loop. Apparently oil had migrated onto the track. I’ve cleaned the track, and now I have traction. I have matched a 202, my Milwaukee cars, and a postwar boxcar into a matching consist…
Paul
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Paul love the silver streak dose the horn still work?
Chuck
The speaker works, I can hear it. I don’t have a working horn actuator at the moment. I bought this set at a train show last year, great price! This was the complete set, as sold in 1952.
Paul
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It’s in really nice shape jugging by the photos
Chuck
Alas! my TYCOs were not Mantua, and we went through three engines before we got a runner, and it didn’t last too long, either. Still have the set though I ended up experimenting with painting and detailing on the pieces.
Love the Lionel ALCos, be they the fancier early-mid 1950s version, or the ‘cheapened’ 200 series that appeared at the end of the 50s. I’m fond of the B&M Railroad and I have two examples of the 217 A-B combo. I also have what is best described as “pieces” of a 226. Total basket case if you ever saw one, but I just couldn’t not pick it up, ruined as it was. If I can gather enough parts, I’m hoping to bring it back around- it’s a rare enough loco to be worth the fuss I think. And I like a challenge.
Here’s the whole ‘family’:
The 217 on the bottom of the pic was a total steal… a friend snagged it for me from an antique mall for $20, along with a 6464-525 in pretty good shape, and a pair of 6800 series flatcars missing their loads. The engine has some cosmetic flaws, and the pilot was cracked… but nothing missing. Glued the broken part back on.
-El
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I really got lucky with this one. The seller had excellent prices, but this train cried out to me! First purchase in the morning, right after getting to the show.
Paul
I still have a soft spot for Tyco, having grown up with it. I’ve got a Chattanooga Choo Choo caboose in the box in excellent condition.
I like old trains.
Paul
That’s an amazing collection! All those beautiful Alcos!
I like that B& M blue paint scheme. Very tasteful.
Paul
What is the difference between 217 and 226? They appear similar.
I still have that TYCO set, a Bachmann set I got for Christmas some years later, and a few odd pieces including a few. left from a friend’s childhood set. I got rid of all the rest of my HO for want of room.
Now, I am trying to get rid of four crates of AHM 2-rail O, some of it MIB. Too many scales, not enough room. I had collected the AHM for an article on the history of the brand’s foray into O.
And now, back to ALCOs!
Here’s a pic that shows my first Lionel, the engine from a 1292 set I got in 1972.
Here is a scan of the Sears catalog page from which the set was purchased.
And here is a pic of the whole set.
It includes the dark blue GN #9011 hopper car that the Greenberg guide says is one of the rarest MPC cars. Don’t know if that is true–I have never seen another one. It is the only car in the set with plastic wheels.
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