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 Posted - March 01 2017 : 10:49:46 PM
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The title says it all. At a train show last weekend, I was looking around at the swap meet section when I found a table that had a ton of different trains on it that peaked my interest. There was an Athearn DCC gas turbine locomotive brand new in the box, some other Athearn locos, and a ton of Fleischmann items dating back to the 60's. One thing in particular that popped out to me was this Santa Fe Alco FA with a bunch of double decker passenger cars; all from Fleischmann. The reason I was interested was because I rarely ever saw Fleischmann locos (especially the American ones) at shows. I asked the seller about them, and he said he was basically trying to get rid of all the stuff on the table since he was getting out of model railroading. I asked him how much he wanted for the set, and he said $40. I looked at the set, sighed, and asked if I could test run the loco. He said I could, and I brought it to the test track the train show always has. I put the hefty old girl onto the tracks, and at first, it wasn't very responsive. After a little bit of time trying to get it to go, it finally sped off and ran beautifully. After a few laps around the test track, I decided I would purchase the set for $40, and that's what I did. All I had to do after that was clean the wheels (a lot of them were just covered in filth) so it wouldn't stall on the switches on my home layout, and now it runs like a charm! I remember looking at the bottoms of the locomotive and the freight cars, noticing the little code numbers on the bottom. I eventually found that they were date codes, and based on a little bit more research, I was able to conclude that the locomotive and all of the coaches were made sometime in 1960. 
-Steve
"A lot of modellers out there who go to these train shows see broken HO stuff and go, 'This is useless' when, in reality, they can still be used for modeling whether it's as a prop on your layout or a cool project to make something old new again."
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Posted - March 02 2017 : 10:25:15 AM
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I had te Dummy for years kept it because it was Metal then 12 years ago got the whole set
As you state it was made in the sixties 1962 1963 I believe
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Posted - March 02 2017 : 10:56:27 AM
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quote:I had te Dummy for years kept it because it was Metal then 12 years ago got the whole set
As you state it was made in the sixties 1962 1963 I believe
Originally posted by thesiding - March 02 2017 : 10:25:15 AM
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Sounds about right. I don't know why but I actually quite love the set. Something about its overall build quality...
-Steve
"A lot of modellers out there who go to these train shows see broken HO stuff and go, 'This is useless' when, in reality, they can still be used for modeling whether it's as a prop on your layout or a cool project to make something old new again."
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Country: USA ~
Posts: 3533 ~
Member Since: February 17 2014 ~
Last Visit: January 11 2023
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