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This layout at Higbee’s was put together by TCA members. It may have been featured in TCA Quarterly. I have some digital stills stashed away somewhere that show some stages of construction with Darren McGavin looking on.

Mike, I wish you would do a video on Kline's 027 version of the Texas Special which came out in 1993 (I think). I have seen one only once, when a train shop employee was packing it up to ship to someone that had bought it. Thanks for your great work.

I have been doing this with the Lionel Lionelchief engines and my conventional engines. It is a good solution when the Grandchildren want to run the LionelChief engines to set the transformer voltage low enough that the trains run, but will not run off the track at the corners even with the hand held unit set at full speed.

I primarily have prewar tinplate trains, O gauge and standard gauge, but have gotten off into the weeds with early American 2" gauge and European 1 gauge trains. I use a DC Lab Power Supply unit for those and they run cool and quiet and amazingly smooth. Hooking this up to my prewar Lionel and postwar Lionel locos, I found the same thing. The postwar motors, regardless of which kind they are, run extremely cool and notably smoother on DC rather than AC. I've got a dozen big Lionel Trainmaster transformers, I wish I'd known about the DC Lab Power Supply gadgets earlier, they are far more efficient at running the trains than any AC transformer.

Seriously that menards car looks amazing I thought it was someone else's product on the Thumbnail and METAL COUPLERS! They really need to release more locomotives. Or even start producing ho scale engines and rolling stock

Good video, good info. Marx made an interesting variety of trains and toys that were relatively inexpensive, reliable and with great play value!

I love my postwar steamers especially my 2037 she’s very reliable and pulls excursions regularly

Those trucks are also, with minor differences, on cabooses.

Good info with practical advice about car weights. The MPC-era 'fast-angle' wheelsets roll so much better than traditional Lionel, but it's preferable that they have the heavier metal wheels instead of plastic wheels to add weight low down. The heavier drag of traditional Lionel wheelsets can contribute to 'stringline' derailments of long trains on sharp curves. Lighter cars and/or longer cars on sharp curves can have a similar problem. I basically avoid running those longer cars on O27 and O31 curves because I don't like the looks of such long cars on relatively sharp curves, along with the potentially increased risk of derailments. I have a separate layout with wider curves to run the longer cars.

This is a great account of an interesting and unfortunate story. Ironically, Lionel was subsequently embroiled in a costly lawsuit with MTH which also involved claims of intellectual theft, this time by Lionel. K-Line made good products at competitive prices.

I want the Pensy RPO and REA cars for my Congressional and Broadway limited sets! Dear Santa........

Great update.

My preferred method of joining O27 and Standard-O track is to simply hammer Standard-O track pins into the O27 rail ends, after spreading the O27 rail web sufficiently with a screwdriver. This provides strong mechanical and electrical connections without requiring additional wire jumpers. And shim for rail height difference as necessary.

What gives with MTH? No Biden locomotive? Hey,MTH, if you're listening, I'm done buying your stuff.

Good info and great presentation. Old track and turnouts can often be obtained cheap if you don't mind the work of cleaning them up and troubleshooting turnout mechanisms.

Love the Menard's upgrades. Hope they eventually offer those trucks as stand alone purchases. I'd upgrade a few of my already aquired Menard's rolling stock!

The Menards stock car looks cool.

The earliest Scout plastic motors have a bad reputation for wearing out prematurely. The later versions of plastic-body Scout motors (easily identifiable by prominent ribs on the bottom of the case) were improved with axle bearings and oil wicks. I have a variety of Scout locos and they all have interest and utility.

Some good stuff comin'! Thanks Mike!

thank you!

The new Menards couplers/trucks are soooo much better ! Yessss!

Awesome video!

Thank you for the information and have a good and restful summer

I aquired alot of Marx trains at an auction recently. I know nothing about Marx and I plan on reselling as I only collect modern Lionel & MTH. In the lot is a Penn Central and a UP E7. They seem quite hard to find.

Thank you for a great video, not only do I enjoy watching the old classic trains, I also appreciate the history behind it. I always learn something new watching your videos and I hope to see many more.

Basic, I likem.

Great information and very historical.

Gun oil on the axles well make the wheels turn freer !, without where do the plastic ,

Another enjoyable informative vid Mike!

I picked up a Preamble Express recently for less than $100. I found a set of Lionel Philidephia Phillies Baby Madison passenger cars years ago for cheap. They're Polar Express style cars in MLB colors. I intend to repaint them eventually. They are probably going to run behind my Preamble Express. They're close to the right colors with a grey roof, white body and red stripe over the windows.

Awesome history and comparison, thanks!

I had one of these for a while. I always got annoyed that the white paint would show fingerprints no matter how clean my hands were. Its nice to see a video about them, brings back good memories

Lionel's original plans for the Freedom Train & Preamble Express were to have this F3 and a baby hudson, each pulling a set of baby Madison cars, similar to the real-life cars. The plan was canceled in favor of making the Freedom train in HO rather than O shortly after the engine was made.

Dakman has the Preamble Express.

Mike, the country's 250th anniversary is coming up in 2026. I have not heard of a special train for that, have you?

Awesome Overview! I like it!!

It would have been a nice fit for Lionel to include the 2400 streamline cars (like the TCA bicentennial cars) with the F3 completing the set.

I run mine with the TCA Bicentennial Cars as I see you do as well. Probably the best match up for this poor lonely diesel. Every locomotive needs a purpose. Another nice match up might be the Pennsylvania Presidential Campaign Observation cars like the 9828 Truman car. Thanks for your videos they are always full of some rich information.

I love learning about the mpc era F3s. Think you can cover the Burlington(1980) or Union Pacific F3s (1984) from that time period?

Nice. I got to see the Freedom Train when it came through Toledo, Ohio. It was headed by the Reading T1, 2101. When it went west, they used a SP Daylight. I'm not sure if it was the 4449. It then proceeded to Archbold, Ohio, where it was on display and the cars were open to the public, to see all of the artifacts and historical documents. It is a great memory that I will always cherish. A great video, as always.

Thanks Mike! I've seen those "Preamble Express" F3's at shows over the years. I was never really interested in them but always wondered what the story was since I knew about the Bicentennial Freedom Train and that wasn't pulled by a diesel. Thanks for posting!

A 2065 was my 1st engine...still the queen of my railroad! Rock solid reliability, I've named her Emma !

$80 for a railking boxcar? I don't think so.

Always look forward to these from week to week. Thanks for posting

Can’t go wrong with farm mall

I am 55 years old and on financial stable ground, however, I would never pay this kind of money for any model train or accessory Sad thing is most likely they are all made in China. $85 for a freight car and $80 for a really janky looking “Rudolph’s Christmas lights” store? No thanks.

Great review

Like the flat car with Farmall trailers.

Thanks Mike! And just so you know, this is one of the few RUclips channels where I hit the "Like" button before I even watch the vid!