A anachronistic product post, i guess. I have not read too many reviews of these. I hope it is of interest.
Long ago, when i began g scale, i remember having a love/hate for these cars.
There was something slightly garrish , yet charmingly toy-ish, tin plate like, to my eye. Perhaps the brass railings, brass truck springs, oversized details and the foil appliqués.
After decades, i bought a pair, because I think they are unique. I happen to like the Gulf,Colorado and Santa Fe livery. Btw, this was a branch of the Santa Fe RR, in Texas. I believe the livery entirely fictitious, but for me, it is attractive, plausible, and remniscent of Virginia and Truckee, et al.
These early REA versions have a split axel, joined by a plastic sleeve. These do not fare well with time and split. Mine arrived with 4 of the 8 axels broken. I replaced them with lgb ball bearing axels. The original REA electrical brush pick ups have a LOT of drag.
I was attracted to the arched windows, and green glass top panes…the green panes probably entirely fictitious too.
Mine also arrived with most of the combine windows dislodged. I thought non ‘curtain windows’ might look less toy like. I left the observation coach alone, because those windows were still firmly glued, and i gave up.
I show several details, including the observation cars opening gates and lifting platform over the car steps. With a Preiser figure, its clear these are 1;24 but, to my eye, still plausible with LGB 1:22, imho. The car body rods, brass, having working turnbuckles!…go figure. Ill likely paint these black.
They have a wick style, and huge, working smoke stack. Mine smoked well, but the stack wind cover causes the smoke to leave a lot of oil condensation on the roof. As much as i like smoke, I don’t use them.
These cars have separate switches for interior lights, and smokers. Unique to these, as far as i know, are the side wall mounted light fixtures, as opposed to ceiling mounted. Interesting,visually pleasing, but i think they never were used.
They are roughly 2” shorter than the LGB coaches. Smaller knuckles work reliably too. Plastic…id guess styrene, but seem very robust. Probably not as impact resistant as LGB plastics.
I used yellow oxide, an almost perfect match, to paint over the brass plates between the windows, as they were glued with tough old orange adhesive. i assumed these would not come off without issues.I also painted the brass truck springs black, and washed the decades old , but still very bright observation bright brass railings with india ink. I think it helped. I assume those brass plates were design fantasy, as ive never seen any US car with such decorations.
I like the uniqueness, odd detaling, oval pained windows and elaborate clerestory windows especially. These track well, and seem to be a robust build, but for the axels.
Long ago, when i began g scale, i remember having a love/hate for these cars.
There was something slightly garrish , yet charmingly toy-ish, tin plate like, to my eye. Perhaps the brass railings, brass truck springs, oversized details and the foil appliqués.
After decades, i bought a pair, because I think they are unique. I happen to like the Gulf,Colorado and Santa Fe livery. Btw, this was a branch of the Santa Fe RR, in Texas. I believe the livery entirely fictitious, but for me, it is attractive, plausible, and remniscent of Virginia and Truckee, et al.
These early REA versions have a split axel, joined by a plastic sleeve. These do not fare well with time and split. Mine arrived with 4 of the 8 axels broken. I replaced them with lgb ball bearing axels. The original REA electrical brush pick ups have a LOT of drag.
I was attracted to the arched windows, and green glass top panes…the green panes probably entirely fictitious too.
Mine also arrived with most of the combine windows dislodged. I thought non ‘curtain windows’ might look less toy like. I left the observation coach alone, because those windows were still firmly glued, and i gave up.
I show several details, including the observation cars opening gates and lifting platform over the car steps. With a Preiser figure, its clear these are 1;24 but, to my eye, still plausible with LGB 1:22, imho. The car body rods, brass, having working turnbuckles!…go figure. Ill likely paint these black.
They have a wick style, and huge, working smoke stack. Mine smoked well, but the stack wind cover causes the smoke to leave a lot of oil condensation on the roof. As much as i like smoke, I don’t use them.
These cars have separate switches for interior lights, and smokers. Unique to these, as far as i know, are the side wall mounted light fixtures, as opposed to ceiling mounted. Interesting,visually pleasing, but i think they never were used.
They are roughly 2” shorter than the LGB coaches. Smaller knuckles work reliably too. Plastic…id guess styrene, but seem very robust. Probably not as impact resistant as LGB plastics.
I used yellow oxide, an almost perfect match, to paint over the brass plates between the windows, as they were glued with tough old orange adhesive. i assumed these would not come off without issues.I also painted the brass truck springs black, and washed the decades old , but still very bright observation bright brass railings with india ink. I think it helped. I assume those brass plates were design fantasy, as ive never seen any US car with such decorations.
I like the uniqueness, odd detaling, oval pained windows and elaborate clerestory windows especially. These track well, and seem to be a robust build, but for the axels.
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