Postwar Christmas Train

Merry merry to you all – I hope your celebration preparations are going well. 

This week I placed the multitude of Lionel train ornaments on the tree in the library, and set up a Postwar train underneath it. I use Lionel FasTrack for on-carpet setups – it works slick, and is a lot easier on the fingers than traditional tubular track. The train is headed by 2-6-4 #2035, which is supposed to emulate a Pennsylvania Railroad K4 Pacific. The main external distinguishing feature is the position of the headlight, at the top of the boiler rather than in the middle, which was a feature used on a lot of PRR locomotives. Internally, the 2035 is unique in that it is the only PW K4 produced that includes Magnetraction technology. This engine was made in 1950-1951. The tender has a functional air whistle, which makes a lot of racket, but is fun to activate. The locomotive functions very smoothly in reverse, but is having some problems when moving forward. I believe this can be fixed by doing a bit of basic maintenance, which I will try to achieve before Christmas. The rolling stock consists of two #6462 black NYC gondolas, a #6656 yellow Lionel Lines stock car, a #6456 LV hopper car, and a #6357 Lionel Lines caboose. It’s all powered by a Lionel LW 125W transformer, which may be the most recently manufactured item on display (aside from the track). Regardless, a very similar setup could have been seen under countless Christmas trees in 1955. Despite the age of the equipment, it still instills childlike wonder and fun, thanks to the timeless magic of trains at Christmastime.

Have a great week, and a very Merry Christmas, and shiny tracks under your tree ~

Now over 50 train ornaments on the tree

The Postwar Christmas Train