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Model manufacturers want to sell as many kits as possible, and
one way to do that is to paint and letter their locomotives and cars for roads
that never had them, hoping that fans of that railroad will buy them anyway. The
purpose of this page is to point out models for which there is no prototype.
Many model railroaders enjoy "freelancing" to some
extent or another, and it is not my purpose to criticize that creative aspect of
the hobby. If you want to paint a GP50 in LV colors, and run your pike as if the
LV had survived into the 1980s, that's fine - you know what aspects of the
layout are based on reality, and which on your own creative ideas. The purpose
of this page is to inform those looking for at least some degree of prototypical
accuracy which models are simply wrong. I'm not talking about counting rivets,
or even ribs on this page. We all have to accept some compromise from time to
time unless we have lots of time for kitbashing and scratchbuilding! Models
which are good enough to "stand in" for the prototype are listed on
the prototype pages. Only those that can not be listed on those pages because
there is no protoype will be found on this page!
Locomotives
IHC ALCO C415 in LV "yellow bird" scheme: IHC
#24008
The Valley never owned an ALCO C415 center cab locomotive. It's not clear what
paint scheme IHC is referring to. LV's ALCO C420s were delivered in the
"yellow jacket" scheme, and the LV's ALCO C628s were delivered in the
"snow bird" (or "white elephant") scheme, and neither of
these paint schemes was ever used on any other locomotive.
Box Cars
Todd's Trains N scale 50 ft double door boxcar: (LV 8500,
8512, 8537, 8574, 8599)
These 50' box cars are produced by InterMountain Railway for Todd's Trains. Body
is white, with black ends and a silver roof. Lettering is black with a red,
black and yellow Lehigh Valley flag herald. The actual prototype series LV 8500
- 8599 had end doors, and were never painted any color other than Freight Car
Red. Also, according the Rich Jahn, no LV box car ever had a silver painted
roof. White box cars were very rare on the
Valley, but manufacturers never tire of issuing their kits in this scheme!
Reefers
AHM HO scale mechanical reefer: 5425-05 (LV 8247)
LV 8200-8259 were outside post X58B box cars built by PRR, not mechanical
reefers. They were painted in a scheme similar to the AHM model, but that is the
closest this model comes to reality.
Hoppers
AHM HO scale 4 bay offset side hopper: 5460-14 (TLDX
2725)
This open hopper is painted in a scheme similar to that used for LV's PS-2 style
covered hoppers, but is a medium gray color. The Valley never owned any 4 bay
offset side hoppers, and never painted their open hoppers gray with a red flag.
The reporting mark is actually that of a TLDX PS-2 covered hopper, but not one
that was ever in LV colors.
Gondolas
Walthers HO scale 46 ft USRA steel gondola: 932-7458 (LV 21202) and
932-27458 (LV 21243 & 21268)
The Valley never owned any of these cars. According to Eric
Neubauer, up to 500 of them cars were assigned to the Valley by the USRA,
but never delivered. Had they actually seen service, they would have been
numbered as 32001 - 32500, not the numbers used by Walthers. Those numbers were
actually assigned to 55 ton 31'6" steel hoppers in series 21101-22100. The
Valley's gondola were all either 4 ft shorter or 6 ft longer than this car, so
while it might be a source for kitbashing, it is not even close as a stand-in
for other LV gondolas. The Walthers kit is quite accurate (see review
on Steam Era Freight Cars
site), but not in LV colors!
Covered Hoppers
Bachmann HO scale 56 ft Center Flow: #17527 (TLDX 2730 in LV
colors)
The Valley never owned nor leased any ACF type center flow hoppers. Nor was any
ever likely to have appeared in TLDX reporting marks, since Transport Leasing
Corporation was a subsidiary of Pullman-Standard, who built their own, different, design
of covered hopper! The paint scheme appears to be based on the real TLDX 2003 -
2017 and TLDX 2018 - 2027 series, but these were PS-2s. There actually was a TLDX 2730,
but it was a PS-2, and was not in LV colors! AHM also produced this same model.
Con-Cor PS-2: 009531 (LV 51023)
BevBel/Robin's Rails PS-2: 9994-2 (TLDX 2308 in LV colors)
These are both the old AHM kit, which represents an older, lower capacity
version of the PS-2 covered hopper. This type never appeared in LV colors, with
either LV or TLDX reporting marks! The real LV 51023 was built in Sayre shops
from old quad coal hopper parts, and the real TLDX 2308 was rented by another
railroad!
[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Modeling Steam Locomotives ] [ Modeling Diesel Locomotives ] [ Modeling Cabooses ] [ Modeling Freight Cars ] [ Modeling Passenger Equipment ] [ LVRR Equipment in Brass ] [ LV Fantasy Models ] [ Diesel Color Schemes ] [ Layouts Based on the LVRR ]
This page last updated on 03/14/2003
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