The Airport and the 390E

Well, another day on the layout....

Marc

A day at the airport....

And the 390E with a TCA load...

Some Very Nice Youtube

And now a break from our regularly scheduled programming (because I am working on benchwork this weekend with my buddy Randall and I should have the beginnings of a layout by next week). Some cool Youtubes:



and here:



And some MTH gear making noise:


Kudos to Bluecomet 390 for some great vids!

Marc

Go Checkout the Tinplate Times....

This new Ives 390E is really something. I know many of the collectors out there simply thinks this is just a hack. I still get a thrill out of opening a new 390E and seeing the shiny paint and wheels.

Now stop oogling the damn loco and go do some reading over at Jim's latest magazine!!!

Marc

MTH Blue 390E

The 390E Blue Comet engine has been coveted for years, predominantly because of its' unusual color scheme and because it came before the 400E to support one of the most recognized and popular passenger sets of all time.

The new MTH 390E is a solid reproduction of its' prewar counterpart. Really, the review for this engine isn't a whole lot different than the other 3 390E's I have already looked at. Here's a few observations:

1) This engine comes with Central Jersey plates. That does in fact make it easier to pair it up with the 300 series cars MTH shipped with the 384E set as well as the Blue Comet freights MTH shipped. When you see these together you'll immediately get it (I'll try and take some shots later on).

2) The flanging on the wheels is correct. I know this sounds insane but I've had a problem with some recent acquisitions. The flanging on the wheels is incorrect and the engine sways from side to side. These engines all seem to have the wheel flanging right. You'll know it when you see it. It makes a huge difference in how the trains run.

3) Since I do not have an original Lionel 390E Blue Comet the best I could do was compare the paint to the many pictures I have in my archive and with several flavors of Blue Comet I have (both MTH and original Lionel). The paint is almost spot on. I say almost because the prewar counterpart changes color with age. The newer Comets from Lionel and MTH are spot on. It's the same color. MTH did a great job with the paint for this. I have to say, one very positive thing I can say about all of the MTH engines I have looked at is that they seem to have put a process in place for continuous quality improvement. The soldering is solid in all of the right places and the paint application and application of exterior items like grab rails has been grown much better over time. When I pull this engine out of the box, everything is exactly as it should on the exterior of the engine.

4) The batteries are coming charged from the factory. This makes it much easier to get up and running immediately.

Enjoy the pics for now, more coming later!

Marc

More 390E on the way....

Hi All,

I've been working further on the 390E review/unboxing. I am going to show a couple of things in the next posts:

An original 390E

An LTI (MTH) 390E

Compared to the new 390E's.

Now here's something that's confusing me. The Green Stripe 390E has NYC plates!

There's also some other strange little items here I'd like to know. For instance, on the box for the Green and Orange Stripe it says: "390E Rev. B". Rev B? What happened to Rev. A? Is this a second generation 390E? It just struck me as interesting that MTH has different revisions.

Also, the descriptions were a bit different. The green stripe 390E is described as a "State Green 390E with a green stripe". The green and orange 390E is described as just that, a green and orange 390E. Yet when side by side, the green's are identical. Was the Green 390E with a green stripe put in front of a state set? Needless to say, if I find it in one of the original catalogs I'll definitely publish it. I know there were quite a few one off sets for department stores and the like. I've seen state sets pulled by 400E's and by 381E's but not by 390E's. Any thoughts?

More on the way....

Marc

The New MTH 390E Unboxed

There are some subtle and not so subtle differences between the 390E's of the past and the current MTH 390E. Obviously Protosound and Pittman motors can either add to your delight or dismay (depending on whether you take advantage of the new technology or prefer technology of the past).

I did feel a quick blush of privilege by getting to open a new 390E. The last 390E made its' debut in the Lionel Classics line in the early 90's. It was painted and remarketed by several people in one off colors and we see both the black and one-off colors on eBay from time to time. The original is quite a bit different than the current offerings both in technology and build. I'll show you both the new product as well as the venerable Lionel original.







390E's are one of those strange engines that everyone seems to love but nobody seems to be able to pay alot for. Sure, there are the green one's that go for a huge amount of money but on the whole, if you wait and watch a decent black 390E can be had for under $1000 in very good condition. They pull and run just about anything from passenger sets to freight. They look good in front of just about anything; apparently Lionel thought so because it headed up the Blue Comet set before the 400E. And whoever painted it green a couple of times at the Lionel factory also seemed to latch onto a winner.
This box came extremely well packed. It looked like it had been opened since it came over the ocean and had been repacked.