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Post by harborbelt70 on Mar 16, 2024 15:17:59 GMT
In a strange example of “déjà vu all over again” or “just like before/it’s yesterday once more,” my own starter post of last week reminded me of the late and much missed “SMR Trains” or Schneider Model Railroading Trains, maker of some fine O scale 19th century steam engines and rolling stock, including in 3rail. I’ve posted before a photo of the Civil War corner of my display but this time I’ll focus on what I consider the better of the two engines, the Texas (on the right and in the close-up):
Please pardon my souvenir Golden Spike in the foreground, which has nothing to do with this pair, famed for being in the Civil War Great Locomotive Chase of 1862. I know that many people on OGF have Lionel or MTH versions of Jupiter and/or UP #119, which were the engines at Promontory in 1869, and I’d be interested to see any models of these and other 19th century locomotives/rolling stock. But SMR models are to me the apex of O scale models of this period.
By reference to the superb online archives of my pals at BrassTrains.com, whose photography skills exceed mine by a huge margin, I got these images of a 3rail Texas, the distinguishing feature of which is the actual wood log load in the tender:
OTOH, as the first photo shows, my version of the General has a simulated (plastic) log load, which is not a patch on the Texas. After all this time I am not sure how this happened, although I think I ended up with two engines from different production runs. Anyway, at some point SMR issued a General with real wood in the tender (although the backhead with the gigantic center rail roller in the picture is in fact from their version of the Texas):
I haven’t actually seen this particular model of the General, but its tender load looks messy compared to the Texas. Meanwhile, I have found a supplier of fine Canadian scale split lumber that I might use in place of the plastic if I can bring myself to mess with the General:
Aside from that, I have only two more comments about this pair, which are probably of interest to nobody but me but I’ll make them anyway:
1. Looking at the Texas, I’ve often wondered what branches or twigs were used for the “logs” and thought that maybe, given the core areas you can see, it was poplar or alder. On my Texas the bark on these has survived unscathed for many years. Historically, I understand that railroads used whatever was at hand, which in the case of the prototypes probably included pine. But were these imitation logs whittled in the Far East or here?
2. I had kind of a hard time selling myself on getting both of these two engines ‘way back when but don’t regret it now as nothing of this quality has been produced since, AFAIK. The dreaded buying influence of Traindiesel! was present even before I had met him!
P.S. There’s a fine National Park Service account of the re-making of Jupiter and #119 here: Everlasting Steam: The Story of Jupiter and No. 119
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Post by Adam on Mar 16, 2024 15:43:33 GMT
Side shot of the OGF Flatcar withe pup trailers.  Attachments:
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Post by healey36 on Mar 16, 2024 16:02:06 GMT
Those are some sharp models of General and Texas, harborbelt; just lovely. Now I've never been one to look at something manufactured for 3-rail operation and similarly say, "Hey, that's a great model." Just me, I guess. The center-rail pick-up, the expanded track gauge, the exaggerated wheel flanges, all detract from it being a drop-dead accurate "model" to my eyes; still, that SMR Texas is a sharp locomotive. Lovely paint and detail on all three of them. I'm still digging out the basement layout, getting stuff cleaned up and things put away. Here are a few tank cars by American Flyer from the prewar era:  At the top, a 3210 that Denny passed to me; second, a 231 (in need of a restore) and a 3018 (restored); third, a 3/16-gauge 480 from shortly before the war; and lastly, a pair of four-wheelers, a 1228 and a 3008. I also have an early 1118, but that's in pieces and not pictured here. I'm a sucker for a tank car, especially one needing some TLC. |
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Post by harborbelt70 on Mar 16, 2024 16:25:49 GMT
You know, I've never even noticed the exaggerated wheel flanges on these models although I did on an SP cab forward I had some years ago. But now that I do I actually like them! There's no accounting for (my) taste - or lack thereof.
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Post by seayakbill on Mar 16, 2024 17:17:26 GMT
A new freight car for the Hoosier Line, a MTH Premier Monon 70 ton gondola. Bill  |
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Post by af3020 on Mar 16, 2024 18:20:12 GMT
If we are going to do the Great Locomotive Chase for this Saturday then I think it would be appropriate to have the three major actors in that drama and position them as they were during the chase. With that in mind I'll put the General out front. The Yonah was the engine that made the chase possible from the Confederate side and it was replaced by the Texas who had to run the chase in reverse.  ...and, since this is Saturday, a day which should, hopefully, be easy on the senses I'm including an up close shot of the Texas and the Yonah (both 2 rail scale) to hopefully relieve some of the eye stress caused by viewing the oversized flanges of the three rail versions.   I agree with harborbelt70 these models are superb. As I've mentioned before, I had a number of long and very interesting conversations with the owner of SMR trains when he had his booth at York. He never ceased looking for accurate information concerning the various cars and engines he made. One interesting aspect of this effort can be seen in the colors of the engine boilers. At the time he offered The General the best information concerning the color of Russian Iron was the light blue. A few years later additional information concerning Russian Iron had been discovered. One aspect of that metal was that when polished it would reflect the colors of its surroundings and, of course, if it was a nice bright blue day the engine boiler would look like it was blue. The additional information which came to light (sorry about that) was that Russian Iron was more of a bluish-gray hence the color of the Texas and Yonah boilers. A couple of years later someone found an actual sample of real Russian Iron and it is a dark gray. That information was incorporated into the next round of SMR production - the PRR engines  |
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Post by harborbelt70 on Mar 16, 2024 18:54:27 GMT
I agree with harborbelt70 these models are superb. As I've mentioned before, I had a number of long and very interesting conversations with the owner of SMR trains when he had his booth at York. He never ceased looking for accurate information concerning the various cars and engines he made. One interesting aspect of this effort can be seen in the colors of the engine boilers. At the time he offered The General the best information concerning the color of Russian Iron was the light blue. A few years later additional information concerning Russian Iron had been discovered. One aspect of that metal was that when polished it would reflect the colors of its surroundings and, of course, if it was a nice bright blue day the engine boiler would look like it was blue. The additional information which came to light (sorry about that) was that Russian Iron was more of a bluish-gray hence the color of the Texas and Yonah boilers. A couple of years later someone found an actual sample of real Russian Iron and it is a dark gray.
That information was incorporated into the next round of SMR production - the PRR engines
Definitely not dark gray but I assume no color photos from that period survive.
P.S. And definitely more info than I needed but interesting nonetheless, here is a UtahRails.net page on "Russian Iron" including what it is and what it looks like: Russian or Russia Iron
The photo sources all seem to be modern but do confirm it's grey: 
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Post by healey36 on Mar 16, 2024 19:37:20 GMT
The attention to detail on those 4-4-0's is just extraordinary. Colors don't necessarily irk me one way or another, but things like handrails, domes, spoked wheels and pilots, really impress me, and these are very nicely done.
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Post by harborbelt70 on Mar 16, 2024 19:52:52 GMT
A new freight car for the Hoosier Line, a MTH Premier Monon 70 ton gondola. Bill I really like that gondola. The only thing I have that represents the Hoosier Line is this special run boxcar from a few years back that has since been re-done by MTH and possibly others. Everybody already knows the Purdue University student prank it reflects so I won't repeat it.
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Post by david1 on Mar 16, 2024 20:45:58 GMT
Incredible 4-4-0's guys, I admired them from afar when SMR was in business and today they look even better. My pictures this week of my semi scale gg1's I bought in 1996 from MTH and before any of the scale gg1's were built by Lionel or MTH. The semi scale gg1's fit my layout now and the run great. They are conventional with horn which btw is annoying.
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Post by Traindiesel! on Mar 16, 2024 21:00:58 GMT
…..2. I had kind of a hard time selling myself on getting both of these two engines ‘way back when but don’t regret it now as nothing of this quality has been produced since, AFAIK. The dreaded buying influence of Traindiesel! was present even before I had met him!….
I still believe it’s a great purchasing system strategy.   I struck out looking at the beautiful SMR sets. I wanted a PRR set but had other trains in the pipeline to buy and waited too long. It was amazing to me they could squeeze TMCC into those little beauties. I think they installed the TMCC in a trailing box car?
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Post by harborbelt70 on Mar 16, 2024 21:05:30 GMT
More on SMR as I turned this up in a search for the original info on the business's demise:
SMR P.R.R. Russian Iron
I'll only add one photo from this archive with the backhead detail of the engine af3020 posted about above. This is beautiful:
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Post by harborbelt70 on Mar 16, 2024 21:09:09 GMT
…..2. I had kind of a hard time selling myself on getting both of these two engines ‘way back when but don’t regret it now as nothing of this quality has been produced since, AFAIK. The dreaded buying influence of Traindiesel! was present even before I had met him!….
I still believe it’s a great purchasing system strategy. I struck out looking at the beautiful SMR sets. I wanted a PRR set but had other trains in the pipeline to buy and waited too long. It was amazing to me they could squeeze TMCC into those little beauties. I think they installed the TMCC in a trailing box car?
Yes, the sound and TMCC was placed in a trailing boxcar. The motors in mine are actually in the tender.
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Post by jdekan on Mar 16, 2024 23:08:36 GMT
Had this thread in mind when getting out what I wanted to operate today! Playing with just a "little" UP power! Attachments:
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Post by harborbelt70 on Mar 16, 2024 23:47:54 GMT
Had this thread in mind when getting out what I wanted to operate today! Playing with just a "little" UP power!
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