London Bridge Toys just received a batch of decals from Micro-scale decals in z-scale for Lehigh Valley passenger cars.
Hello, Is this not N-scale ? I can find no Z-Scale on Micro-Scale homepage, and if, do you have a link to the relating London Toys page ?
Armand, London Bridge Toys is located in the heart of Valley territory. They commissioned Microscale to make the LV Passenger decals in Z scale. They are not a standard Microscale product. London Bridge bought and paid for the run. Unfortunately, the London Bridge website is mostly just informative. It does not offer on-line ordering. They do, however do a lot of mail order business both international and domestic. But, they do most of their business by phone. The owner is not computer friendly, and their e-mail is only checked a couple of times a week. However, if you are interested in the decals, I'm sure that JD or I can help you with this. I usually make it there at least a couple of times a month. But, if you don't mind corresponding via snail mail or telephone, Ron (the owner of London Bridge Toys) is very knowledgable on the LV. The link to their website is below. London Bridge Collector's Toys, Ltd. home page Dan S.
Hello Dan, Thanks for the info, I am a Lehigh Valley fan as you know, and I am always happy about the waggons that I catched from you. I think I will sent fax, hope to get some pictures from the decals before, some LV passenger cars, that would be great. I have in LV always the Freudenreich ALCO Charcoal set and two F7 from MTL. SW1 not yet, but perhaps from Lajos newly found treasure. LV and WSLCO (just ordered this beautiful video "Slim Gauge Logging in Tuolumne County") are my main interest in US railroads. And of cause the Elevated.
Armand, Dan is right these decals are an exclusive from London Bridge, he had the art work done from his collection of LV data. He is however not internet proficient, if there is anything I can do let me know. JD
Thanks to offer your help. I will try to join him first. Perhaps he has some pictures about the decals. Without picture is very difficult to know what he sell.
I talked with Ron today, he said the decal set is the same one that it is in HO and N scale #4197 from Microscale
Hello Ron, welcome and good to have you here. I was looking at your decals on Microscale (4197), H0 Version. They are basicly yellow in color and I found some LV passenger cars but mostly with white labels on brown background. Do you have somewhere some old pictures or a link to the look of the passenger car about we speaking ?
Armand, The color of the decals is technically "dulux gold". With the exception of their "name trains" (the Black Diamond, etc) this lettering was used in almost all of the Valley's passenger cars. Pre 1939 cars were pullman green and post 1945 cars were cornell red. The name trains had white lettering and more intricate schemes. The decal sets from London Bridge include diagrams for decal placement. As far as photos go, I am sure that Ron has some. Dan S.
Thanks Dan, I understand that it will be possible to make from the 81438 Märklin "Illinois" an LV train. Anyway LV was also using Tenwheeler and the basic color from the waggons is there. Possible to cut of on both sides the Chaplin hat, platforms and so on, making them shorter and more near to the real thing. I think that the result could be acceptable.
Dan, I think you know who I am. It seems a shame that lvron can't come on board Trainboard. There seems to be someone out in cyberspace who doesn't want his input. He is "Uncle Guido" to Joe D'amato and uncle Ron or Uncle Paul to others. Even though he is old and his legs are "gone" he is still the MAN when it comes to Z scale. He could give quite a ride to the geeks on a trolley car 1 to 1 scale in Maine. Garlic and Cornell Red forever.
Old Ron is still vertcal and running 1 to 1 scale trolley cars in Maine. Have a lot of New Z scale news, if the geeks let me post them. Best, lvron Black Diamonds and Cornell Red forever.
Dear Armand, The Lehigh Valley did indeed have ten-wheelers around the turn of the century and on into the 1940's. They were the class J on the Valley and most were numbered in the 1125-1165 range. They were all black with "Lehigh Valley" in white letters on the tender. The engine number was below the cab window and on the front underneath the headlight. Microscale's caboose decals in N scale would be correct using the smallest letters. Your Marklin Illinois Central would be a close match, but certainly I would not shorten the cars. The decal set offered by London Bridge(if you could ever get a hold of them) would fit the letterboards using the smaller letters. Car numbers would range from 200-400's. They were Pullman Green. Hope this helps -lvdonna. Cornell Red is the prettiest color in the rainbow.
Thanks for your comments, I wanted just to explicate why I dont like the Märklin roof with this extended flat parts on the roof and snipp... Just compare both pictures, and you see that it would be better to proceed with some modifications. I suspect that some coach was shorter when you look behind some trains, but unfortunatly most photos are from the steamers, very few from the passenger coaches.
Armand, The Marklin Casey Jones and other "Old Timer" passenger cars are from an earlier era in American railroading. Marklin's cars are fairly true to the prototype (with the normal Marklin exceptions, i.e. truck spacing, etc). The Hallmark Freedom Train ornaments are a much better starting point for Heavyweight cars (your top picture). I'm sure there are still a few on ebay somewhere. Dan S.
Hi Armand, Dan is right, the Hallmark cars could give you the needed roof lines. You can probably find these on Ebay. Of course there would be alot of splicing and filing, but it would be worth it. Your photo shows the correct rook ends. Perhaps developing a jig for the cutting would make the job go faster. If "Whats-his-name" (lv ron) could get his act together and figure out how to contact you there might be other possibilities. Donna - Where the sun is always Cornell Red.
