The Old Man was a Streamliner hound from his youth, likely inflamed by a visit to the Century of Progress exposition in Chicago in 1934 when the UP brought in their M-10000 and the CB&Q introduced their Pioneer Zephyr. He asked for a Flyer Zephyr for Christmas that year, but a quite frugal Santa gave him a Hoge 900 instead. The combination of the two events sent him on a life-long search for Streamliners. His pride and joy was a contemporary Consoli Zephyr set made from bits manufactured by Western Coil before the war. We still have it, runs like a champ...it belongs to my daughter now.
I always liked the look of the last Lionel version of the Flying Yankee, painted in a subdued silver/steel instead of the garish chrome versions. That and the red painted shroud at the head end just made a nice train. Finding a "traditional" MTH version was tough, but we chased one down at Mario's back in the fall. It was my 2020 Christmas present from the family. Finally got it on a loop of track today and it ran, whistled, and lit up great (which is a rarity for me and new tinplate production). This is probably the last set I'll be buying, as I can't think of anything else I've just got to have.
Oh, and the Tiffany desk clock came back:
They threw in a new box and bag, two items that disappeared decades ago. New Swiss quartz movement, cleaned, polished up, I'm hoping it's good for another 30-40 years. I don't plan to be here the next time it needs service.
A couple examples of of the stylistic Streamline Moderne for the weekend.
Healey
And looked quite nice doing so.
