The 1957 Canadian Pacific F3 ABA set is probably the rarest. I've seen a set at train shows for around $6,000.00! It was only made for one year, 1957. I have the reproduction set that was reissued in 1973 and 1974. Being a 1957 Boomer, I would have loved to have the 1957 set, but will have to wait for a powerball ticket to hit to be able to afford that set!

@@johnphillips4342 Holy Moly! Thats a expensive set. Pretty cool you have a re-pro of it :-)

I bought a SF 2343 unit that had a pretty beat up shell to get a chasis with 2 motors and magna-traction and put the Candian Pacific shell on it since the repro unit was just a single motor locomotive. After watching the videos I need to do a cleaning of the SF and CP powered units. I also have the New York Central F3 ABA set, for 3 of those iconic F3 sets. I doubt today's highly electronic Legacy locomotives will be running 70+ years from now. Lionel did a great job designing and building the locomotives of the 1950s and early 1960s.

@@johnphillips4342 Pretty cool you did a little mixing and made up a 2 motor C.P. 3 different road names of F-3, paint me jealous!! Yeah I don't think 2020 runs of model trains will be kicking around in 2090. Need to bring metal construction back :-)

@@classicmodeltrains the toy trains full of electronics that are prevalent in today's world of toy trains in the future the electronics will be just all cut out of the things and they will just run without any bells whistles Camp chatter speed indexing any of that garbage. My Williams locomotives the circuit boards generally the last about 12 to 14 years when they start singing to themselves that's the sign that they are about to go out. The rectifier is in the circuit board so if you hardwire the motors that you have to run straight DC and that I got no problem with when the time comes. It's amazing about the Canadian Pacific set because it was such a loser outside of Canada because who would want to spend such a amount of money for a Canadian Train. You could have bought as many as you wanted for less than suggested retail because people the shops were just want to get rid of them. I can't believe the ridiculous stupid money that's in these Hobbies now because of the rich people going in there and just jacking up the price of stuff left right and Center. They know nothing about toy trains or motorcycles but they managed to screw up both Hobby. Perhaps in 20 years you'll be doing videos about how to keep today's electronic trains running when you can't get electronic parts for them anymore. Even in the Box Electronics fail just from age. Coming from ho as far as I'm concerned as long as the train is running and the headlights on you're good.

What a GREAT Memory! Thanks for sharing :-)

Thanks Frank. Maintaining things makes em go a long way :-)

Thank you! Pretty cool you have the aluminum passenger cars also! What a great gift to get :-)

They sure did!

Thank you for that info Howard. I actually waxed them with the turtle wax. sorta the same thing. A very light rubbing compound. Except mine were not minty fresh :-)

Thank you very much :-)

Thanks for watching!

Thank you!

The GG1 would be a great one to take apart and see how it works!!

These were pretty cool "toys" back in the day

Yup!

Thanks EC! They are engineered NICE!!

Thanks for subbing, sounds like your a fixer up kinda Feller! We would get along real good. Good luck on your search, and yes that Lucy early on.

Right on Brad! I'm surprised you recognize Lucy from the way early days.

I like the way you think!! :-)

Coming soon! Thanks :-)

Thanks 👍

Thanks Regis! I've polished up a bunch of old turd cars back in the day, I figured it should work on these also :-)

Muito obrigado meu amigo. Eu aprecio suas amáveis ​​​​palavras!

I'm gunna need a bigger cabin to hold a proper radius "O" gauge 1:48 scale R.R. Thanks for watching :-)

I was I was a rich kid back in the 50's. But being a middle class kid from the 70's wasn't bad either :-) Thanks for your nice words once again Ray

Right on!! I agree with you :-)

Thanks

Good day to you Sir!

I read about that. Pretty cool deal for Lionel !

Thanks Brad!

Sounds like a great antique store to me!!

Awesome! Hopefully this spring I can scare up a set of passenger cars :-)

That is awesome!

Thank you very much!

Thank you! Glad it helped

Thanks for watching!

Thank you RL for your kind words! Welcome aboard

Glad you enjoyed it (them). Cool you have the whole set.

Thank you Bob!

Off topic I know, but do you happen to know where I can locate some layout plans? I own a O gauge 2343 ABA set, but I don't have a clue what size curves to use and so on. Thanks.

@@les6556 the curve size should be the largest you can fit in your space. The space determines the curve, not the engine. Many modern engines require 072 curves, 6 ft diameter but your engine will run on anything. Gary j

I seem to have a collection growing also. These are nice pieces

Thanks for the great info. I have a 250 watt ZW these bigguns will be suckling from :-)

Thanks!

They are a monster. Thanks for watching Stu!!

Wait til your eyesight starts to fail... You'll appreciate O gauge much more then.

On a 4x6 or a 4x8 layout you could have a nice setup of O gauge and/or 027 there are plenty of track plans for small areas you don't have to have a great big Museum size layout to have fun. Go ahead take the plunge you'll enjoy it.

I grew up in the 70's-80's era. Still a pretty good time. The 50's sounded like it was a better time. Pretty Cool you still have that great set!

@@classicmodeltrains The early fifties was a pretty great time for Lionel. We lived in New Jersey, and every year at Christmas time we’d go to New York City. The highlight was the Lionel display at Times Square. Lionel had a huge layout in the flatiron building showing off all of their new stuff. People were always huddled around the windows about five deep. Kind of like the scene in Christmas Story. Lol

@@rpondyke2121 That sounds pretty cool to have seen them kind of displays

Thanks! Glad the hear the MPC is a pretty good puller :-)

@@classicmodeltrains yes I have it pulling an 11 unit train in the upper level

Learned from experience to pass on any mpc era item and save up for better built, longer lasting stuff. Gary j

@@thetrainboard2772 Yes,that good advice. If you buy something of lesser quality you will never forget what you paid for it ,but if you buy quality you will forget what it costs. I wise old guy told me that years ago and now I’m old man and still recall what he said to me.

you are correct! Great job on scoring a A-A set!! hope you can find a "B" out there :-)

Very cool!! From my research I found that magna traction was introduced in 1950. the only difference between the 2333 and the 2343 was magna traction. Perhaps someone has installed magna traction trucks back in the day? But then I again I could have some bad information. Thanks for watching and commenting :-)

:-)

Thanks for the info!

Did you mean to say NO-OX rather than Inox? Never heard of Inox.

@@les6556 it's Inox. It's an Australian brand of WD-40, but in my opinion it better than WD-40.

@@TheCreativeMind Thanks for clarifying. I use NO-OX-ID. Leaves an almost undetectible coating on the track, and improves the performance. It's a paste that is applied thinly along the running surface of the track. I'll have to look up Inox. Thnx for the tip.

@@les6556 Yes, I blew it and missed it in editing. Sorry

Yup a lot of Fellers mistake scale and gauge. A Lionel true "O" scale will be quite a bit larger than a O-27 one.

Thank you Joseph :-)

Cool! We can sit at the table and know someone ;-)

@@classicmodeltrains 🤣🙋

Sounds like a good idea to me!

Thank you Eric! These F-3's were sold as A-A set or A-B-A sets. Cool that it still runs. If your transformer only has a broken case I've had success glueing Bakelite back together with CA glue (superglue). Pretty cool your Dad played trains with you as a youngster!!

It's time Jeb ;-)

I figured Lionel would have brought this one back during that time period. They re-launched some excellent pre and post stuff. I wonder if that affected the collectors market? You know, bringing prices down on original stuff because you could buy a new "original" stuff.

Right on! I wished I had a big azz layout so I could see how much they can pull :-)

@@classicmodeltrains check my videos, I've pulled 70 cars on a floor layout with one 2343!

@@joeystrains.9316 Good Lord!! That would be awesome. I shall check that vid out!!

Kind of a sad story. Didnt know Lionel shipped them with batteries installed. Kind of a catch 22 for collectors.

Greetings Tom! THANK YOU VERY MUCH for the great information you shared. I believe I had a line on them passenger cars on e-bay. Aluminum extruded right? There was 4 of them, in pretty bad shape, restorable of course, but I thought the bids got a bit high so I backed off. Should have pressed on. The old bulb I pulled out was a #57, but I did notice what you mentioned with the clearance issue. I shall hunt down some #1445's. I couldn't find a original horn on the bay, but did locate a repro being offered. $20 seemed fair. Your information definitely helped out!! Hope your holidays are good for you and yours, Ron

I have an old 0 gauge F3 A-B-A with passenger cars, and a box full of tracks, but I don't have a clue about layouts. Would you happen to have any track layout plans? Is there a minimum radius to use for the curves? Thanks.

@@les6556 Just found this comment. Sorry for the long reply time. I believe the minimum radius for these is 31". I don't have any track plans but the google machine is filled with so many of them you won't know which one you want to do first :-)

Yup!

I always seen Lucy in her "I love Lucy" days. Her whinny characters voice drove me nuts. I suppose if I had seen her in some earlier movies, where she played a more "normal" character, I could have developed a puppy crush also :-) I saw a documentary on her a few months back. I never knew she did modeling or movies before meeting Dezi.

Yup

This one had missing contact lens looking ones. Replacements from the eBay were ugly but all I can get :-)

The powered A had no original windows. The dummy A had 2 and the dummy B had 2 originals. I popped them out early on and had no footage of that. When I ordered in new port hole windows they only came in 8 pack. I installed the new ones in the A's and glued in the originals into the B. You have a very sharp eye! I agree the new ones have a funny look to them. I would prefer originals. Thanks for watching and commenting :-)

Yup! Thanks and good luck on your search for the 2328 :-)

Hello John. Just tell me the engine number up on the nose. I can look up what year it is.

A couple of Classic keepers!!

@@classicmodeltrains According to Lou Shur back in 1978, he told me that the lowest production was the Canadian Pacific F3’s & passenger set; however he also said the Texas Special AB was the most desirable! In 1979 I was able to purchase the Canadian Pacific set for $500. All boxed and rarely used…

@@classicmodeltrains And I must add an honorable mention. The Super O New Haven AB set; I have it from 1958. The odd thing is; it only has one motor in the A unit! So at an old Greenburg show I P/U 2 rear F vertical motors and put them in the B unit. The set includes the Mint and the Aquarium cars and the black 6464 New Haven and the white caboose. I just wish Lionel would have made 072 super O curves…

@@user-nl7we4fq1e pretty cool you scored the CP so long ago when the price was not yet thru the roof !!

@@user-nl7we4fq1e sounds like you have a lot of really nice desirable items. very jealous! 🙂

Yup!

Thanks Dan for the Sub. I watch VGG a lot. Were both from the same neck of the woods,( the State of N.D.) perhaps our personalities are sorta the same. He makes interesting vid's to watch and that's my goal also. A little teaching and a little fun! :-)

I wash mine with dawn dish soap and a tooth brush.

Lots of good information out there. I read the change to O-27 was of course for budget minded consumers, but also the "O' stuff took up so much room in the house. They scaled everything down to accommodate the smaller sized houses being manufactured (if I read that article right :-)

These were pretty popular back in "The Day" :-)

@@classicmodeltrains I have this old lionel device that makes my engine make a whistle sound, but Im not sure how to hook it up. can you give some advice. It has two buttons on it, one for a whistle, and one for reverse.

@@3dartistguy I'm not a Lionel expert (yet) so off the top of my head with no pictures it sorta sounds like the power transformer. I have a FB page under classicmodeltrains. if you can send me a picture on the messenger, perhaps I can help out more

Thats what Ive been hearing.

diecast shell....WOW that would be a heavy loco!!

@@classicmodeltrains there were two men in Mexico who made bootleg copies of Lionel f3s with a diecast shell they had a falling out and no more engines were made. I like diecast over plastic anytime. I didn't mind plastic when I was in Ho because everything was plastic in HO trains. I had a few diecast cars in HO trains and I like the solid h e f t of my diecast Varney F3. It would have been nice if he had a diecast F3 the way Varney had. The company that made the plastic that Lionel used guaranteed it would be quality because Lionel was not sure of making anything for a diecast engine I wish they had not talked to him into using the plastic but it seem to be more modern and Progressive because plastic was new back then a novelty.

Thank you! Hot water won't clean as good as an ultrasonic. The ultrasonic vibrates very very fast and creates cavitation in the cleaning liquid. tiny bubbles "blow up" causing the dirt and scum to be removed with out having to scrub it.

@@classicmodeltrains Thanks Ron! I will have to invest in one then! ✌🏼

Yeah, I mentioned the holes later on in the video. I need to get on ordering up a new horn for the Gal :-)

I wished I had a circle of track here in the cabin so I could let them buck for an hour and get the room charged up with atmosphere. They do smell awesome when running!!

I was thinking I had the 1952 version. I will investigate some more. Thanks for your input :-)

Never heard of Williams. I shall have to go and do some research

@@classicmodeltrains you never heard of Williams trains? He started making reproductions of standard gauge Lionel items when the originals became too pricey for someone to afford he used to hire kids from the neighborhood to work for him one of those kids was Mike Wolfe from MTH. He's at started making reproductions of all of the post war Lionel line. They were very simple robust sturdy engines with just a circuit board for a horn and a whistle very reliable and very well priced. I had one take a dive off my train table and it just broke a horn off it. When Jerry Williams retired he sold the line to Bachmann trains which killed the line. Thank God I stocked up on anything and everything that I could find in my price range. They made great trains

Feather duster with a shop vac hose nearby to “hopefully” suck up the airborn dust.

@@classicmodeltrains thanks

Back in the 50's the craftsmanship was the same for all gauges.

Your radius would need to be at or larger than 31”. That number sometimes confuses people so I will say for the locomotive robs able to make a u-turn the track will take up 62” center of the track. Over 5 feet wide layout to make a turn. That’s minimum. I would do no less than 36-42 radius. O gauge is real big so it likes large turns. Now someone will come along and say there’s runs just fine on O-27 track. (27” radius) but believe me bigger curves are always better.

@@classicmodeltrains I have both 0-27 and 0 ga. On an 0=27 setup the F3 requires at least a 42" radius. I was not sure on the 0 gauge. Thanks for the info.

Lucy Ball

Right on!

SPEED NUT! there it is. Thank you. I like those when the pin is threaded. push on to hold, twist off like a nut to disassemble. :-)

Thats gunna be tough. Most of them are probably cracked

Yup!

Google "The Train Tender". He's in upstate New York.

I tried quite a bit. a lot of footage is not shown in the video. The drive shaft was not coming out with out removing that plate. Thanks for your input. perhaps the next one I run into will come out easier :-)

I do some other Fellers stuff also.

Sounds good to me!

Found it in a second hand store.

@@classicmodeltrains nice. You’re very lucky!

Lucille Ball.

Thanks for the great info, I have not done a ton of research on Lionel. I know there are some fellers out there that are very knowledgeable on this topic. I am but a pup now, but soon I shall be able to hang with "the Big Dogs"

@@classicmodeltrains You'll be A Okay!! No worries! Just keepa rolling just like you are!

Hello Mike! Cool you have the passenger cars, Plus a pre-war steam!! RIGHT ON!!!

Glad you enjoyed the video. Perhaps you can get yours running top notch now, after viewing this :-)

WELL WHEN I WAS IN SOUTH EAST ASIA MY MOM SOLD ALL MY TRAINS TO A DETECTIVE SHE WORKED WITH, SO NO TRAINS NOW TKS RON

:-)

Doug, I would like to thank you for your kind words on my video. I appreciate if someone disagrees with the information I'm saying, they do a little "buttering up" before the hammer falls. It makes me feel as if we're having a "Gentleman's" conversation. In my extensive research I do on my video's, I continually come across websites that make reference to post-war Lionel O-27 having a scale of 1/64. Not all Pieces. Here is a quote I found after a simple google search. "True O27 is a 1/64 scale train operating on O trucks / wheels, made to run on O track, yet capable of handling a 27" diameter curve. True O27 fits within the definition of semi-scale. Offscale O27 is a train, smaller than O, made to run on O track, yet capable of handling a 27" diameter curve." Here is another example "Pretty much since the very beginning, Lionel and its competitors like American Flyer and Ives made trains in multiple sizes but running on the same track. By the late 1920s, they had all pretty much settled on two or three sizes of trains. The smaller trains, which ran on O27 track, had cars that were about 7.5 inches long. The bigger ones were 9 or 10 inches long. Lionel continued this in the postwar era. The smaller trains were O27, and most O27 cars, especially the boxcars and gondolas, were about 1:64 scale. That’s right, they were S scale cars on O gauge trucks. Flyer guys have been buying those cars out of junk boxes, repainting them, and putting S scale trucks on them for years. The blue Lionel gondola pictured above is exactly the same length, width, and height as a Flyer gondola." Now I also know Lionel used "selective compression" on some (most) of their pieces making them anywhere from 1/48 down to 1/64. So I can only conclude that they are kind of all over the board. What would be a good thing to say about the gauge vs scale argument I put forward in this video to please all the Lionel modelers out there? From the data that KZfaq has provided me, I have managed to offend many modelers with this abundance of information that I gleaned from the internet with very simple searches. I have done a lot of research in the making of this video. Thank you for commenting and engaging with me. If you have some information that could help a Feller out clearing up this confusion I would enjoy learning some more. Sincerely, Ron Davis.

@@classicmodeltrains Ron: And thank you for engaging with me as well (and so swiftly!). I guess the best thing you can say is what you said about selective compression. Lionel did do this extensively. But what you said in the video implied that all O-27 was 1/64. Info I have seen says that DID happen. But I have also seen info that says "No, if you take a prototype car, the S scale model (1/64) might be as long as the Lionel O-27, but the Lionel would still be taller and wider.", meaning the proportions are closer to 1/48 in those dimensions (& some in between - I saw 1:43 for example). The shorter length is to accommodate the tighter track radius (27 inch diameter of 8 pieces of 45 degree curve sections making a circle). I just found the implication that all O-27 is 1:64 misleading. But as I said, I really have been enjoying your work. Very well done (and I was a TV producer/director for 25 years so I have an idea what goes into what you do - did see your Studio Setup video, BTW - nice!). I have also subscribed... PS: I heard you talk about 54-year-old eyes. This is a bigger problem for me (74 & AMD - Age-related Macular Degeneration - to boot - eat your leafy greens & take Preservision - just a word of advice), PPS: How close to Chicago did you grow up? You sound close... PPS: Lionel was and remains Toy Trains - which is why they take so much license & why I ditched it to build my current HO layout, which is now OLDER THAN YOU! (56)

@@dougvalmore1450 Thank you for your polite response. As I move forward with this channel I learn so much from the research online, and also from viewers who take the time and share their knowledge with me. I am picking up what you are laying down. I generalized the Lionel O27 as a whole and I should have said "some". I think my takeaway will be the true "O" gauge stuff is MOSTLY 1/48 scale. The O27 stuff will be selectively compressed with some having 1/64 scale, but other pieces being somewhere in the spectrum between 1/64 and 1/48 depending on the Engineers and Accountant's, at the time. Thank you for saying my video's are very well put together. That means a lot coming from a former Producer / Director of TV. I spent many years in the entertainment industry. Live sound and lighting production. Bands both local and touring, industrial gigs. live theatrical stuff. Was a IATSE feller for many years. This channel is my first on camera work. Thanks for the channel Sub! I'm from the Upper mid-west, North Dakota region. When I was not shlepping Racks and Stacks, I worn my body out from being a heavy equipment mechanic. The entertainment industry and its labor force has changed so much over the last 15 years that it is no longer a good fit for me. I still miss it so I get to play a bit, by lighting and shooting these small video's, and mixing sound for them. Ive enjoyed this back and forth "conversation" today. If you have a Facebook account, I can be found on my Classic Model Trains fan page. Messaging there is not so "global". Take care! Ron.

@@classicmodeltrains N. Dakota... huh. Doesn't sound like what we heard in Fargo (though it's probably exaggerated like most movies). IATSE - huh. I was IBEW for 3 summers of vacation relief engineering during school before directing. Shot & edited ACTUAL FILM (everybody says "I filmed" but NO FILM INVOLVED - if they had EVER actually used film they would know the difference. Should say "I recorded" or "I shot" etc. Oh well). My business changed radically, too, when it went digital (hired someone half my age & half my wage who was already trained on digital from school rather than train me. Oh well). I miss it too. Do you ever do repairs for hire? I have a couple "Shelf Princesses" that my old eyes just can't hack anymore. Would love to see them move again... PS: What looks like copper contact strip is often phosphor bronze. Copper is sometimes too soft/malleable for applications that require more "srpingyness". Do a search of "phosphor bronze" to see what does look like copper...

yup!

That makes since! Thanks :-)

Yup

yup

Yes