I just love these darn things (American 4-4-0 types). Does anyone else like to run these from time to time? Here is my Thomas Branch line Special with a Thomas caboose.
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@amflyer1 I always thought the Franklins had a nice color scheme
I love mine not that great of shape be runâs and smokeâs like a top.
Chuck
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The âJames Gangâ general set.was one I always wanted so when the opportunity came up to purchase a decent example for $20 I jumped at it. Around this locomotive I built my model of Disneyland.
On the shelf below the MPC 1:24 scale model kit of the General are the three combination cars of the Disneyland Limited and 2 flatcars with 54mm First American Civil War figures, mortars and a cannon that I painted.
Having an article about my layouts published in the December 2013 issue of Classic Toy Trains gave me the funds to upgrade the Disneyland Limited from DC operation with no extras to Lone Ranger General with smoke, sounds and better details all around. (Although the whistle sounds more like an F unit 
)
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Nice pennytrains sheâs a beauty
Chuck
@pennytrains I like my Lionel Generals, too, but find the front trucks a little sensitive to imprecise trackwork. Does anyone have any tips about the front trucks? There doesnât seem to be much room for adding weight on them
Donât know if it will work of Lionel but I have a few American Flyer Trains with front trucks that bounce off the track I use a old spring and twist it around the post that attach it to the engine it dose work. hope I expanded it ok,
Chuck
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I have an 1862, havenât generally (no pun intended!) had issues with its pilot truck, but it has a spring to help keep the truck pressing down on the track. I donât know if the cheaper MPC versions like the âJames Gangâ had these springs or not, that could potentially be part of the problem.
I should photograph it for this thread, come to think of it! Stay tuned, I supposeâŚ
-El
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Makes sense
My two Lionels are the 1970s MPC General and a postwar 1872. I also have short and tall stack Marx Crooks and a couple of running Thomas Shawnee with the big funnels (one needs body work) in addition to the Thomas Branch line. Also, an American Flyer Franklin.
Just noticed the MPC General has no spring on the front truck, but the 1872 does. I should look at doing something about that.
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Hereâs a pic of a 500th Anniversary AHM Genoa that I stupidly sold several years ago (along with all the Civil War cars I had built from BTS kits). sigh
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Looks neat as all get out. Are those 2-rail or 3?
Beautiful! I donât know if the real Genoa had a portrait of Columbus on the tender but if it didnât it should have! And this is the first Iâve ever seen of one!
Is it OK if I fudge the âWesternâ requirement a bit? These are my 4-4-0âs (with the exception of âWilliam Crooksâ which everyoneâs seen) but only one made it west of the Mississippi. And actually two have âWesternâ in the 'road name but weâll come to them shortly.
Right, all MTH products and presented in the order I got them.
First, USMRR âGeneral Haupt.â
Next, UPRR #119
Next, Baltimore & Ohio.
Now, the âGeneralâ from the Western & Atlantic
Canât leave out âTexasâ from the same 'road!
And so there we go. The only one thatâs eluded me thus far is Central Pacificâs âJupiter.â But Iâm sure our courses will cross one of these days!
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Hey, during the first American Civil War âthe Westâ was east of the Mississippi, at least as far as the Union Army was concerned .
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MTH did a nice job with those for sure
The real Genoa was a Virginia and Truckee engine that AHM lettered one of its 2-rail, O-scale 4-4-0s as, and it lacked the mural on the tender side. That special offering was targeted for release in 1992, but the production was delayed, and they were finally released a year or so too late for the 500th anniversary, so they ended up getting blown out by sales in mainstream magazines as well as the hobby press. For awhile, they were common and cheap, but O scalers picked them up for repaints, and now they are hard to findâin fact, all the AHM Americans are hard to find and go for goodly sums when they turn up. There was a Reno as well as the Genoa, and you can go see both of the prototypes at the Nevada State RR Museum, IIRC. The V&T was a pretty neat RR, and there is a modern tourist operation there.
During the mid-19th century, there was precedent for murals on tenders They were the pride and joy of the engineers who commissioned them and, naturally, needed to be maintained. But I have never seen evidence of a Columbus mural. That was just an entrepreneurâs get-rich-quick scheme that didnât pan out.
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Good information!
Oh yeah, during the years 1861 to 1865 the East was a heck of a lot wilder than the West was!
In actual fact though Western historian and novelist Louis Lamour once said that the âWild Westâ wasnât really all THAT wild. You had a much better chance of dying from a rattlesnake bite than a gunshot wound!
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