The Lion Roars - Lionel Collectors Club of America

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“unreal” circuitous action. He saw a Log Loader placedon a stub end track. There was enough room for one logcar to dump. At the other end of the loader, logs fell intoa truck on a hill behind the stub end. See Figure 1. Nowthere’s a good idea!Figure 1Toy Trunk Railroad364 Log LoaderVic further discussed how he intends to group hisaccessories by industry rather than place them in ahaphazard fashion. I suggested to Vic that he separatethe logging accessories from the sawmill so that there isa purpose for the railroad to transport the logs around thelayout from the forest to the mill.Some other items worth mentioning; plan the lengthof passing sidings according to the longest anticipatedtrain, and provide power for the siding through aninterlock to the turnouts. If you don’t give someforethought to the length of a passing siding, it will foreverdictate the maximum length of trains. The best example Iknow about for passing siding control is the NLOE(Nassau Lionel Operating Engineers) layout. On thatlayout both turnouts must be pointed towards the sidingin order to apply power to that track.I believe NLOE has a three-track main line, and theiroperating practices are realistic. At one train station,multiple platforms are served by tracks on both sides.They use the station as a staging area. One can place atrain on the passing siding adjacent to track 1, call it track1A. When a train pulls into track 1, the dispatcher setsboth switch tracks towards track 1A. This automaticallystops the flow of power to track 1 and energizes track1A. The train on track 1A departs and runs out on track1. After travelling across the entire layout, the train returnsto the station and is forced onto track 1A. If the switchwere not thrown, the train on track 1 would be rear-ended.This is a well-thought-out design that inherently protectsagainst human error.I invite you to take a picture of your well-placedaccessory and send it to me at: 2023 Coyle Street,Brooklyn, NY 11229-4013 or pennsyfan@earthlink.netAnswers — A Train Quiz on page 14AnswerItem2 (Lionel) Joshua Cowen’s middle name4 (119) UP’s number at Promontory Point, 186912 (Davenport) Developed first electric train20 (#402) Lionel’s major electric engine, 1923-2722 (#2037) Girl’s Train pastel engine21 (about 24-1/2") Inner diameter for O27 circle6 (8-3/4") Length of O27 straight track33 (10") Length of O straight trackNG Height of O27 track (3/8")11 (11/16") Height of O track31 (about 85") Circumference of O27 circle8 (31") Outer diameter of small O gauge circle1 (Campanella) Brooklyn Dodger & Lionel collector7 (DiMaggio) New York Yankee & Lionel collector9 (Wellspring) Bought Lionel in 199510 (Ives) Bought by Lionel in 192832 (PFE Reefer) Pacific Fruit Express15 (Magnetraction) Magnetized wheels and axles28 (Lionel Corp.) Largest toy company in the world in 195516 (General Mills) Purchased Lionel in 196917 (New York City) Locale of Lionel Corporation in 194818 (#81000) First Lionel Large Scale set19 (General Purpose) GPNGCP engine at Promontory Point, 1869 (“Jupiter”)5 (Bascule) Lionel 1940 bridge opened & closed by remote controlNG Price of Lionel 408E in 1927 ($44.00)NG 6720 divided by 1/2 (13440)by Erik Sansom36The Lion Roars August, 1999
Mainline toChesterfieldby Gary MoreauSweating the DetailsOur new catalog will be hitting the street about thetime you read this. If you’ve had a chance to see it, you’llknow that we’ve really stepped up the pace of new productintroduction. But the biggest news of all may be whatwe’re doing behind the scenes to improve our existingproducts and give people some pleasant surprises on theproducts they’ve already ordered. I’ll share a fewexamples.The original Lionel Texas Special F3 was one of themost admired and sought-after locomotives we ever built,even though it was introduced in O27 and had only onePullmor motor. That’s why we decided to make somechanges when we introduced it as part of the LionelPostwar Celebration Series. We wanted to make it asmany think it should have been — the best Lionel has tooffer. So we added a second Pullmor, made itCommand equipped, and outfitted it with our latestRailSounds — complete with TowerCom andCrewTalk.But we also knew that the color was an importantpart of the charm of this piece. That deep, shiny red isunique and striking. But matching an old color is a biggerchallenge than it sounds, particularly in this case. In thepast, lead and other heavy metals were often used to attainthe deep dark colors like red. Today, we use only watersolublepaints for environmental and health reasons. Butpigment color is much more of an art than a science, andevery type of paint shows a color in its own unique way.So our decorating engineers went back and forth to thepaint supplier, mixing and re-mixing, until they achievedthe perfect match of shade and gloss. It was worth thetrouble. When we sent sample shells to a couple ofknowledgeable collectors for their blessing, they gave usa big grin and thumbs up.While the deco engineer sweated over pigments andgloss, the project engineer worked on the cab. Wepreviously added back the postwar nose vents removedin modern production. That was pretty straightforward,since adding an indentation simply requires removing or“cutting” material from the tool. Now we wanted toremove the raised ribs along the side; these werepreviously added to make it easier to do certain paintschemes. This was a tougher challenge. It required“welding” material to the tool and we could ruin the entiretool if it didn’t go perfectly. We took the risk anyway,and it worked. The ribs are gone and the cab looks greatwithout them.We also made a number of less obvious changes inresponse to customer comments and requests. Mostnotably, the number boards have a black background withclear numbers. Modern Lionel changed over to thereverse of this postwar standard in order to reduce costsand improve efficiencies, but we decided to change it backanyway. We also added grab irons to the nose and coatedthe ladders with black oxide.But even before you see the Texas Special in August,you’ll see our greatly enhanced Commodore Vanderbilt.The quality of the die-casting was improved because wemodified the tool to allow more even material flow. Andinstead of applying a single coat of paint as in the past,we applied three coats of paint for an exceptional lookand finish. We added an infrared tether for a sharp, cleanappearance and made dozens of engineering and processchanges for greater smoke output, smoother operation,and more pulling power.We also made changes in our processes as well asour products. We added new test fixtures to the productionline and we tested under a broader range of operatingconditions. We even built a special “sound room” in themiddle of the plant to allow our engineers and operatorsto test both our sounds and the sound of the product inoperation more thoroughly. The plant can be a fairly noisyplace, and we weren’t always able to catch sounds thatyou might be able to hear in the relative quiet of yourtrain room.My point is that we know customers have options inthe marketplace, and they vote with their wallets. It’snot enough to make a lot of products. They have to meetor exceed customer expectations. It’s all about payingattention to the details — and we’re doing it more thanever before.IBCThe Lion Roars August, 1999
Page 1 and 2: The Lion RoarsVolume 29, No. 1 Augu
Page 3 and 4: The Lion Roars ContentsLCCA Members
Page 5 and 6: The Right Trackby Ed Richter RM 130
Page 7 and 8: diesel. Now, it really doesn’t ge
Page 9 and 10: Nylon monofilaments hold the items
Page 11 and 12: ailroads. In 1969, the windows were
Page 13 and 14: The Amtrak EraToday the only inter-
Page 15 and 16: A Layout in Arizonaby John Ford RM
Page 17 and 18: The TinplateCannonballby Ken Morgan
Page 19 and 20: The Mane Lineby Dennis Leon Clad RM
Page 21 and 22: from Bill’s Hardware Store at1-80
Page 23 and 24: The 1950s toy-type carrying casefor
Page 25 and 26: exactly copy another product right
Page 27 and 28: pretty slick and includes some inte
Page 29 and 30: In 1921, Ives started to sell “wi
Page 31 and 32: Photo by B. Schwab used by permissi
Page 33 and 34: The show was open for two days and
Page 35 and 36: Catzillaby Wolfgang F. Kuhn RM 1190
Page 37: Chief Dispatcherby Bob Amling RM 91

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