One of the holy grails for Conrail collectors is a special that Lionel made to commemorate the company's safety record shortly after it was split up. The set features an SD70MAC that for some reason can only run on traditional tubular track as well as a couple of well cars and containers bearing the names of a number of CR employees.
In Christmas of 1987 this became my first o gauge train set and first standard O loco and cars! I was thrilled and it quickly became a favorite. The engine is actually over scale, or too fat, so the old motors could fit the body! At the time it was something special, as there was not much scale sized conrail stuff out there, but it was quickly surpassed as the hobby took off in the 90s and MTH, Kline, and Lionel began importing trains from Korea and China.
So I just clocked out of work, and you’re gonna like this, I saw CSX’s Conrail heritage unit. I totally freaked out when I saw it, and I figured “what better way to tell him than to put it on his Conrail video?”.
Most of the freight cars from this set have been repackaged under the “standard O” line in the more modern catalogs. Exceptions being the boxcar and the caboose (duh).
Great video! I own the Service Station set with all of its add-on cars (there are 3 sets of twin packs) and it is one of the weakest engines I've ever owned. With only 1 pullmor motor and magne-traction, the darn thing struggles to pull its own set, let alone the addon cars. It also sounds like a bunch of angry hornets locked inside a Tupperware container when in operation. I got mine New In Box last year from Legacy Station, and despite it's miserable pulling performance, can certainly light up a room. Hope when you get to review yours, you have better luck than I did!
@@alexanderpoirier3350 The add-on packs came with two "overstamp" cars each. Pack 6-21756 includes both a green Penn Central (6-29233) and brown Erie Lackawanna (6-29234) boxcar are both overstamped for Conrail. Pack 6-29281 comes with a red CNJ (6-29279) boxcar and a white Lehigh Valley (6-29280) boxcar, both overstamped for Conrail. Pack 6-29286 came with a New Haven (6-29287) boxcar overstamped for Penn Central, and a brown Reading (6-29288) boxcar overstamped for Conrail. To say it looks impressive when put together is an understatement. They aren't too hard to find online, either. Mine either came New In Box or Like New for around $30-$50 from Trainz.com.
This might be Lionel's first SD-40 , These are all early Standard O Scale cars. So before this there were just a few Standard O cars made to go with the MPC Scale Hudson Locomotives, so a big deal in 1987, I bought the Chessie Set, still one of my favorites
I really do hate the stupid .05 screw at the top of the motor that you mentioned. I had one on a Lionel SD-18 circa 1979 that got to where in would not stay tightened. The motor will not run if that screw isn't tight.
Nice. I have the BN Limited set myself, the horn on that SD40 sounds a bit like a pig oinking, its so corny and campy that I kind of like it. Was hoping you would have sounded the horn in the video.
@@cobramerciless Mine's failed too. Has been for a few years now. While it is a fairly easy fix, all those components on the PC board inside are simple to desolder and replace, it is a very low priority project. So I think, like Mighty Sounds of Steam from the '70s, the circut boards aren't great.
Might do that, although I'm more of a sounds off sort of guy when it comes to O gauge. Something about hearing the mechanics of the motor and the sounds of metal wheels on metal track just makes me happy.@@modelrailpreservation
I do believe the caboose is based upon a Canadian National prototype, but was reused by Lionel in a variety of road names. Also, perhaps the title of this video should be ‘Conrail? Con-Fail!’ 😁
I'd like to post more often, but in between all the time I have to invest and my schedule, it's hard to fit it all in. I'm still aiming for once every 2 weeks, with enough motivation and video subjects that I could probably do weekly for a while if I had the time.
