Just bought it and I have to say that it is a very nice set for the price $214.95. Any one else have it or have an opinion. It was featured in the K-Line by Lionel Catalogs (both vols. 1 and 2)
I saw it in the catalog and almost ordered it. A very nice looking set! Love the McGinnins Alcos.
Have you run it yet? Can you provide a review of it for us?
Jim
I’m probably not knowledgeable enough to write a formal review so I’ll give you an ethusiast’s view that is probably devoid of the technical details that many people would covet.
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Packaging: Very nicely done…The Alcos, boxcars and caboose all come in a brown master carton where each car is sub-boxed using styrofoam and a plastic sleeve to go over each box. The Alcos are further protected by including a plastic sleeve for them within the sub-box. The Alcos also include diaphragms which I did not attach for their first usage. The extra care given to the Alcos made the other cars seem more cheaply packaged and left an impression. I tend to think that all cars in a set should be packaged equally and to the highest degree possible.
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Quality: I’ve never owned a train other than a regular Lionel manufactured train one so I was apprehensive that K-Line by Lionel would be the equivalent of Marquis by Waterford … nice, but not as nice, as Lionel. Insofar as starter or a shade above starter sets go, I found the New Haven Alcos to be of very, very nice quality. By comparision, I have the late '90’s Warbonnet passenger starter set from Lionel where I had to purchase the dummy unit separately. These New Haven Alcos have it all over the Warbonnet ones in both detail, quality, sound of the horn, etc. The horn actually has a very nice diesel sound.
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First use: I’ve put the Alcos and caboose on the track surrounding my XMAS tree. I’ve substituted with the boxcars with a REA Reefer Car in Green and another boxcar (can’t recall as I’m at lunch at work now) in red to give some holiday flavor. I’m also using the world’s cheapest transformer…the old 40 Watt starter set transformer from the mid to late '90s as I use a TW on my permanent layout that uses only vintage Lionel engines (2343 '52 set). With this very weak transformer, the
A waste of time?! Not at all. I enjoyed reading your impressions of this set. Thanks to you, I might just reconsider buying one.
Jim
Thanks. I also forgot to mention that the Alcos have nice grab-rail detail on the sides.
I have a few K-Line boxcars that also have them. Ladders actually. A nice touch. Thanks again for reviewing the set. Ya did good! [;)] [tup]
Now tell us about your 2343s! Are they in good shape?
Jim
Yes, the 2343’s are in great shape for that era. I purchased them off of Ebay maybe 3 years ago for somewhere in the $250 range. I found that they had developed a strange starting problem which I solved with a workaround rather than a repair. When I’d fire up the TW, they would sound like they were trying to move but they wouldn’t…almost like stuck in neutral. So I discovered that shutting off Transformer power in neutral where going forward would be the next direction once power is applied would cure the problem. In all respects other than that cold start issue which is now solved, they move forward, reverse and neutral perfectly. It’s the 1952 set because they have the black and white GM logo.
The Alcos are in great, great cosmetic shape for their age. The horn doesn’t work so I use a Lionel Diesel Horn shed to supply the sound. I either run a freight set (which can be viewed in the 1951 Lionel Catalog) containing all of the vintage cars in that set or the Hillside, Maplewood, Chatham passenger cars. Those Alcos are, for me, the epitome of model railroading and they tend to hoard most time on my layout which is just a basic figure 8 with a couple of Lionel passenger stations, the old out of scale flagman, the oil pumping station and the tall water tower with the blinking light on top. When the Alcos are given a break, I substitute with what had been a working 675 K-5 which needs repair or I’d remove everything and put on my preWar Lionel 260E passenger set.
You have great taste in old trains!
Jim
Thanks. Once I bought the Alcos, I figured that I should pair them appropriately and I found a 1951 mint catalog on Ebay for something like $10. I bought it and then knocked off each car individually on that freight set via Ebay as well.
I’m going to be bringing the K-5 into the local train store for hopeful repair this coming week and if it’s not cost-prohibitive, then I’ll repair. Otherwise I’ll replace by purchasing another one or a 2020 (6-8-6) if I’m remembering the number on the loco correctly. I’m hoping that it won’t be cost prohibitive as the smoke unit was modified for liquid smoke which I actually prefer and I like the PRR logo on the front boiler.
The 260E set was another Ebay find and was the first train I ever purchased in the mid to late '90s when Ebay was in its infancy. I won’t tell you what I paid for it (even though it was a restored set and didn’t have the “right” tender) as I’m ashamed of how little I paid.
To bring the story full circle, I will be moving the New Haven Alcos from this new set onto the main layout as special guest stars after the holidays. They are attractive enough to merit their day in the sun.
The Engine and Caboose looks exactly like the set produced by K-Line for the TCA 1998 Convention in Providence, RI. Engine and caboose even have the same number. Two New Haven box cars were produced for the New England TCA for fund raising sale while the set had other NH cars. (Old time Refer, Depressed Flat Car etc.)
Out of curiosity, did you purchase them back in the 1990’s and if so, were they significantly less expensive and how have you found the quality?
I too have the K-Line New Haven Alco A-A in the beautiful McGinis Era colors. The A has twin motors, and the Dummy has a horn.
In my case I bought it when K-Line offered it as a direct sale from their newsletter K-Line Connections, in 1998. I was also available as a complete freight set. See pages 36, and 244-245 of the K-Line Collectors Guide, Volume 1. Page 244 shows one of the two TCA NH Boxcars.
In my case I paired the A-A’s with a set of sharp New Haven Streamliners that K-Line offered as a set the following year through regular retail distribution. They match the Alco perfectly and make for a great looking Shore Line express.
Ken
A set of black NH streamliners are offered in the K-Line by Lionel catalog. I’ll bet they look pretty snappy with those Alcos.
Jim
A looked at the set on the K-Line By Lionel website, and they have a few differences from the set K-Line offered in '99.
Per the catalog pictures the new NH Streamliners have Orange Colored Doors on the baggage car and on the coach car the orange stripe is below the window line, which I believe in more prototypiclly correct.
Ken
I have a set of the old K-Line TCA New Haven Alcos from several years ago. I saw the new K-Line Alco set on display at Grand Central Terminal in New York this week, and I was surprised to see that the new Alcos displayed have silver/gray truck sides. Do the production models also have silver/gray truck sides? My old NH Alcos have black truck sides.
I also obtained at York last fall the four-car set of K-Line 027 passenger cars in the NH Black Knight paint scheme. The newly announced K-Line three-car NH passenger set (which I have on order) appears to be an add-on to the older set, although it could also stand on its own. The new set does not duplicate any cars from the original set.
Richard Bjorkman
The orange colored doors on the baggage car are prototypically correct. The black car with orange below the windows was unique–car #1000–the only one painted that way.
Richard Bjorkman
Yes, the Alcos have the silver/gray trucks.
I cannot be authorative as to this new specific set. But since Sanda Kan is still making the K-Line by Lionel items, and since Lionel is probably not altering the K-Line tooling and dies in any way (since they are still properly owned by Sanda Kan), I think it’s pretty safe to make some conclusions based on prior K-Line products.
The K-Line Alco FA’s beat the modern Lionel ones hands down. An aquaintance of mine who once worked for Lionel explained that the either completely open or totally closed front pilot was a labor/cost saving move when Lionel was produced stateside in a union shop. The K-Line version, with the open slot up front means the couple has to be fiddled over the shell. When producing thousands, the small amount of extra time adds up. K-Line had started around 2000, to issue the Alco A-A’s with 4 motors, instead of just one powered A. The Union Pacific, Santa Fe war bonnet and NYC lightning streak locos were all re-issued with dual powered units, until the new Seaboard Coast Line Alcos were issued, when K-Line went back to just one powered unit in the A-A set.
As one who has long bought K-Line and Lionel starter cars, I would say until very recently, K-Line’s cars were of much higher quality at a lower price than the Lionel starter cars. Even now, with the improved quality on the Lionel ones (metal brakewheel and painted now), the K-Line cars are still better for the money.
Lionel starter box car: plastic riveted attached truck, plastic coupler armature, plastic frame, plastic door guide. At one time the cars were unpainted, but now are molded in the color of the car and then painted the same color. Lionel had been producing these cars from the old MPC-era 9200/9400/9700 tooling with no rivet side detail on the body. Most new Lionel starter box cars do have the side rivet detail. Though there are exceptions: the current Canadian Pacific starter set has a beautiful older paint scheme CP box car, shown in the catalog with rivet detail, but the car is actually fro
I cannot be authorative as to this new specific set. But since Sanda Kan is still making the K-Line by Lionel items, and since Lionel is probably not altering the K-Line tooling and dies in any way (since they are still properly owned by Sanda Kan), I think it’s pretty safe to make some conclusions based on prior K-Line products.
The K-Line Alco FA’s beat the modern Lionel ones hands down. An aquaintance of mine who once worked for Lionel explained that the either completely open or totally closed front pilot was a labor/cost saving move when Lionel was produced stateside in a union shop. The K-Line version, with the open slot up front means the couple has to be fiddled over the shell. When producing thousands, the small amount of extra time adds up. K-Line had started around 2000, to issue the Alco A-A’s with 4 motors, instead of just one powered A. The Union Pacific, Santa Fe war bonnet and NYC lightning streak locos were all re-issued with dual powered units, until the new Seaboard Coast Line Alcos were issued, when K-Line went back to just one powered unit in the A-A set.
As one who has long bought K-Line and Lionel starter cars, I would say until very recently, K-Line’s cars were of much higher quality at a lower price than the Lionel starter cars. Even now, with the improved quality on the Lionel ones (metal brakewheel and painted now), the K-Line cars are still better for the money.
Lionel starter box car: plastic riveted attached truck, plastic coupler armature, plastic frame, plastic door guide. At one time the cars were unpainted, but now are molded in the color of the car and then painted the same color. Lionel had been producing these cars from the old MPC-era 9200/9400/9700 tooling with no rivet side detail on the body. Most new Lionel starter box cars do have the side rivet detail. Though there are exceptions: the current Canadian Pacific starter set has a beautiful older paint scheme CP box car, shown in the catalog with rivet detail, but the car is actually fro