C liner question

[seeseerider]

Hi all,

 

any C Liner experts here?
 

I’m trying to decide which variant from Lionel’s new catalogue to order. For the CPA-24-5 model, in real life, I’ve seen photos of the same exact engine with and without handrails above the marker lights and number boards on the nose, and also with or without handle bar ‘eye brows’ above the cab windows. Does anyone know when these were fitted/removed? My sense is they were added to only some examples sometime midway in their lives.

 

I’m leaning towards the NYC.

 

which are you ordering?

[mdvle]

Not a C-Liner expert, but some general observations.

 

First, there were 2 manufactures of the C-Liners - Fairbanks-Morse (F-M) in the US and Canadian Locomotive Company (CLC) in Canada so there is the potential for detail differences between the 2 of them.

 

Then, as several online presentations of other locos have shown, the transition era is a minefield for details and thus if you care about it you really need to try and match specific photos for the unit/year you want.  The railroads were still thinking like they did with steam locos, and frequently ordered specific variations for their railroad.  Then, as they got more familiarity with running diesels, they made modifications to suit what they were learning - and these modifications may or may not have been applied to the entire fleet and could have taken years to be done.

 

 

[seeseerider]

33 minutes ago, mdvle said:

Not a C-Liner expert, but some general observations.

 

Thanks for your input. Yeah, what you say makes sense. 

 

This is the kind of detail I enjoy researching, usually as part of deciding which version of a model to order. In the US O scale world one must keep an open mind with these things, but I still like to try and pick the most accurate example on offer - that also is hopefully of a railroad I like. All good fun.
 

I think Lionel’s new offering for the NYC is good for the prototype as delivered. However only for up to approx 1956(?) when the engines were replaced with EMD types.

 

I have a couple weeks left to decide before the pre-orders deadline.
 

 

[barkingdigger]

During the C-liner era there were progressive changes to health & safety rules that led to a gradual increase in added handrails etc, and these varied from one road to another both in time and style, so you need to pick a photo to model.  (I think they left the factory "smooth" at first, with only the vertical grabs either side of the doors...)  If you want a later timeframe then look at the Long Island units, as they lasted about a decade longer than C-liners on the bigger roads - it was a lot to do with maintenance of the complicated O-P engine coupled with the way bigger companies sidelined non-standard equipment as their fleets became dominated by EMD and GE products.