Mercedes of Steam

[Chris Rock]

I've been trying to look closely at photos and videos of the Lionel Class A engines and it looks like they used the wrong crosshead guides on the 1211 so I think that one would be eliminated from the mix for me. I was waiting to order until next week and I'm so glad I caught that before I ordered one. The jacketed smokebox is still grating on me.

[Big Jim]

Chris,
That is too bad about the 1211 crossheads. I did send a message to Ryan long ago about which engines did and did not have the multiple bearing crossheads and which ones had the roller bearing rods. He did respond to me that they would get them right. Oh well, all one can do is try.
You mentioned the sheathed smokebox. Some engines got them, others didn't. The 1218 does have a sheathed smokebox and since I didn't expect Lionel to make different boilers I can't fuss too much that my "1210" has the sheathed smokebox. It appears to me that Lionel did copy the 1218 as it is now pretty well being that they modeled the extra lubricator reservoirs and how the injector outlet pipe runs through the framework. Not having seen the "1218" excursion version close up, I am going to assume that it should be fairly accurate.
On the 1210 version, the tender frame should flat/straight and not have the fishbelly. Larger details such as the toolbox, push pole and rerailing frog holder are missing along with, what I consider the mark of a quality model, the water gauge.
Even though I haven't seen each version, I am guessing that all have steam delivery pipes to the front engine missing. Other high end models come with cab curtains. This one doesn't. The one thing that is really curious to me is that on some versions the low water alarm does not have the cover over the top.
Being that this is the 2 Rail forum, I expect a higher level of knowledge about these models. How many 3 Railers are going to know that the lettering on the "1200" version should be silver? Or, are aware of the other things we have discussed here?

[bob turner]

There is life here.

When folks worry about road number-specific changes, that tells me the basic model is probably accurate. That was my guess from looking at photos.

That is not always true - Sunset put straight boilers on its SP Mikes and Decks, as well as the A-6 Atlantic, and as I recall the major beef with some of those was the headlight.

We have to remember that this is a Lionel 3-rail model, and I personally would assume that wide wheels and hideous flanges would overwhelm any mistakes on steam pipes or crosshead guides. Making a different boiler die would increase the cost of this monster beyond the imagination of the most ardent 3-railer. Opinion, of course - some of those folks have assets!

[Chris Rock]

Thanks for that info Jimmy and Bob.

I've always understand the point regarding new castings being cost prohibitive but I assumed there were two castings made since the Lionel model early versions don't have the sand line covers. I did not realize the early Lionel model versions also have the sheathing on the smokebox. That makes me interested in how they handled the sand line covers on the later versions. They are nicely done as separately applied.

By coincidence the Lionel 1211 with the wrong crossheads being multiple bearing would actually work as a 1206 which would be pretty cool. The 1206 had the multiple bearing crossheads and had its tender swapped with the same type C tender that was on the 1211. The 1206 swapped tenders with the 1223 sometime before 1953. But the more I look at it, the more the sheathed smokebox bothers me on engines where it should not be applied.

The sheathing on the smokebox seemed to be the exception and the 1213 and 1214 were the only engines I am aware of that had the sheathed smokebox other than the excursion version of the 1218. The 1213 with the sheathed smokebox was even more of an oddball because it had two different crosshead types since one of its engines was swapped with one of the engines from 1205. That leads me to a path where I could make a 1214 out of a Lionel model with the sheathing. I'd like to get more info about when it was applied to that engine. Maybe someone on the N&W list could shed more light on that and maybe suggest other engines that had the sheathing applied.

I have a number of Class A engines already which is the reason I can be fussy about the details of the Lionel version.