I guess there's no end to doofy Texas Special models...

Take a look at this eBay item: 221037302275 The designer of this car should be taken out and horse whipped! AND $114.95!!!

Tom G.

Actual eBay link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/221037302275?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_sacat%3D0%26_nkw%3D221037302275%26_rdc%3D1

 

You can bet the UP and Santa Fe contingents would NOT stand for this!!!

 

You summed it up in one word: LIONEL

Next...

 

Shortly after my ROUTE OF THE ROCKETS book was published in 1997 I was contacted by a representative of MTH Trains. They were considering marketing a Golden State passenger set and wanted to know what name they should apply to the dome car. Oh well....

GS

 

Three thoughts...
1. It is Lionel.
2. It is a fair attempt at paying homage the TS EA-7's( I'd lose the Count on Katy)
3. See item 1

 

I think I am blind now . . .

 

So what was lionel exactly thinking when they came up with this? A caboose for a famous streamliner passenger train? Also one in a passenger style paint that not even a tourist railroad would use. I doubt they would listen but a kindly worded letter should be sent to lionel to see if they can correct this mistake.

 

Lionel isn't interested in making prototypical equipment. It is a toy manufacturer and it is going to do what makes their items eye candy. You can send a letter, but its too late. The model is already done, shipped, and selling. Chalk it up to the tin plate crowd and move on.

 

I would be willing to bet that this thing will sell reasonably well.

GS

 

What's the big deal here?

Lionel has been marketing The Texas Special since releasing their F3 A and B units in 1954. This was followed by the lower cost Alco FA. The name continued into Lionel's HO line as well. There was even a Texas Special HO caboose that came with the freight version. The HO passenger set included a dome car. A lessor known O gauge manufactuer, Kusan, also produced a Texas Special F7 that had superior detail compared to Lionel's version. Visit www.robertstrains.com for information and photos to see it and a Katy and Frisco FA! Kusan's FA runs circles around Lionel's version!

In recent years, MTH, K-Line and Williams have produced Texas Special O gauge trains too. It must be remembered that these items are toy trains and in no way prototypical. On the other hand, the designer of Union Pacific's Katy heritage unit should be tar and feathered and run out of town on a rail! Perhaps this joker designed the Lionel caboose too?

Lionel is releasing their own version of a Frisco heritage unit this year. Visit their web site for information and photos of it and other Frisco items. Toy train operators enjoy their phase of the hobby as much as the model railroaders do who strive to follow prototypical design and operation. Like many senior citizen members of this site, I got my start with Marx wind-ups and graduated to my first Lionel electric train set which I received for Christmas in 1951. Like most boys who continued to play with their O and S gauge toy trains, I converted to HO starting in 1960. There weren't many Frisco models on the market in HO then. Just look at the choice afforded you today!

So please don't be too critical when you discover tinplate models bearing The Texas Special. No one is going to force you to purchase any toy trains so just stay on your side of the tracks and enjoy the hobby as you see fit and let the tinplaters continue to play with their toy trains. For a really great cab ride in O scale (NOT tinplate!) visit www.oscale.homestead.com and watch the video "Busy day on the MKT".

Joe Toth

 

Most all of us started with a Lionel (Or maybe a Marx or American Flyer) Christmas train and no one is "forcing" anyone to buy silly trains, but the old, old story here is WHY won't a manufacturer who is going to the trouble and expense to produce a model (Or a "toy"), just go ahead and produce a believable model instead of an unbelievable model??

Tom G.

 

Indeed, I fully agree with all regarding the release of fantasy models decorated for any roads instead of bringing out prototypical schemes instead. Please note that I won't purchase any of these models either regadless of the scale. Item: Steele Craver, who keeps the steam fleet operating at Six Flags Over Texas, has been collecting everything brought out for the Katy for at least 40 years in all scales from Z to G. Every man or woman has an interest in the hobby and like the tinplaters, Steele enjoys this phase of the hobby.

Steele used to work part time for Bobbye Hall and picked up all the new Katy models when they were released. Are there any Frisco Folks who have collected all released Frisco models spanning 40 or more years? It doesn't have to mean everything from Z to G so if you have a giant HO collection of Frisco releases including metal cars it would be neat to see photos of the collection. I recently found a photo of a metal HO scale Frisco boxcar that Varney produced on www.hoseeker.com that I didn't know exisited.

Things like this make the hobby fun for me and this is why I would like to see an all scale Frisco model database like the GM&O folks got up on their site.

Joe Toth

 

I hate to trash my 2012 Lionel catalogs but that is where they belong. I tried flushing them down my toilet but it refused to finish the job! The Lionel tradition that I grew up with has been gone a good number of years. Their new scale (?) NW2 that is being released for the Katy has improper numbers for the NW2s that Katy rostered. Pray that Lionel doesn't release anything Frisco though they do have a fantasy BNSF Frisco SD70ACe coming. I will pass!

Joe Toth

 

I'll just throw some gasoline on the fire. Here is Lionel's BNSF Frisco SD70ACE coming out...

 

What a truly awful thing! I'm sorry I said all those ugly things about Lionel's Texas Sprcial caboose! Something else to despise about the BNSF...

Tom G.

 

I've done my best to stay out of this, that engine really makes the caboose look OK!!!
William Jackson
PS. Even though it is a toy, today it's a good day for HO.

 

Makes me want to go out and buy the Lionel Texas Special caboose!

Tom G.

 

Cheeze guys! I think they both look good.
For something that has not been around for 30+ years - name recognition should count for something.
They even have a Coonskin on the nose of that loco!
I hope they sell thousands of them.

 

If it were me, I would have just gone ahead and done it in orange (actually red, at least to my eye) and white. There is a reason why most products in a grocery store are packaged in red rather than black.

GS