The Rio Grande is REAL GRAND!

e*Train Issue: Apr 2008 | Posted in: 1970-now Modern Era, Collecting

By Mike Stella

I think Lionel applied one of the prettiest paint schemes to their F3s when they chose the black striped Rio Grande. I added a Post-War “A” unit only to my collection decades ago and then searched long and hard in pre-Internet days to find a single “B” unit to complete the pair.

I was excited when Lionel MPC decided to reissue the Rio Grande F3s in their 1974 Service Station Special with a nice freight consist that included the #9739 Rio Grande 6464 style boxcar. I purchased my set in 1974 for a retail cost of less than $100 and over the past 33 years (Can you believe it’s been 33 YEARS?) I’ve continued to add some very special Rio Grande boxcars to make a great looking unit train. Some have been well documented and others have not. Some are easy to “fake” and others are not. Overall, I think the resulting Rio Grande freight train is Real Grand. I like it!

Both the TCA and the LCCA over stamped the #9739 boxcar to create a commemorative car for different events and these are fun to track down and add to your boxcar collection. Lionel once again “created” collectable variations by forgetting to paint, by changing the color of paint, and sometimes by missing certain graphics. I have replaced all the plastic trucks on the freight cars with sprung die-cast trucks which give them a hefty feel. I also changed the frame on the matching Rio Grande caboose to add a coupler on the rear as well as die-cast trucks. This edition of my completed Rio Grande freight rates a special place on my MPC display wall. The bright yellow color seems to light up the area by itself. As always, Happy Collecting to all.

**Overall shot of my really grand Rio Grande freight**.

**The regular #9739 boxcar and a VHTF variation missing the black stripe**.

**An over-stamped car from the LCCA and a “rare” YELLOW ROOF” variation**.

**A “Yellow Door” instead of Silver and the TCA North Texas Chapter over-stamp**.

**A boxcar with a Black Door and another with a Black Door AND Black Roof!**

**A great looking MPC Caboose made better on a two coupler frame with die-cast trucks**.

Shop Amazon and Help TCA

TCA members who shop at Amazon.com can have each of their normal purchases generate a modest payment to TCA! And it won’t cost you anything!

The Train Collectors Association is now a participant with AmazonSmile, which is a special website operated by Amazon that lets customers enjoy the same wide selection of products, low prices and convenient shopping features as on Amazon.com.

The difference is that when customers shop at AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com), the AmazonSmile Foundation donates 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to the charitable organizations selected by customers.

The process is simple. Just search for and select Train Collectors Association when you sign up and shop at smile.amazon.com.

You use your regular Amazon.com username and password, but when you log in to smile.amazon.com, you’ll see that you are supporting TCA with your purchases:

Note that if you just log in to the regular amazon.com, this benefit does not operate.

There are no costs to either you or TCA, but TCA benefits!

This is a great way for TCA to earn extra cash to offset costs, so sign up today to help support TCA.

* Note: TCA is not a party to any of your Amazon transactions, and does not endorse any products or vendors.

Helping TCA with your ebay purchases when you use PayPal

If you’re an ebay user and have a PayPal account you use to make payments, you can designate a donation for TCA when you’re checking out — any amount, small or large.
If you’re a regular seller on ebay, you can pre-designate a percentage of your sales to be donated automatically in your name to TCA as long as the purchaser pays with their PayPal account.

In both cases, you will receive a donation receipt from the PayPal Giving Fund, and enjoy applicable tax advantages.

How to do it:

Click on the image above, or use this link. This will take you to ebay, where you will see the following page (log in to ebay if you are not already):

This offers TCA as an option. Click on the “Add to My Charities” button where indicated with the red arrow. Thereafter, when you make a purchase, at checkout you will be offered the option to make a donation to TCA in any amount of your choosing. Small amounts add up, larger ones are great! It’s always up to you!

The option will appear at the lower part of your checkout page, something like this:

If you’re a regular seller on ebay, you can allocate a portion of your sales proceeds to be donated to TCA. Look at the green arrow marked “Optional” above to see how to do it. Details on how ebay calculates the donation may be read here. This is a wonderful way to share the financial benefits of your hobby with the organization that promotes it!

An added benefit to TCA is that these donations are not subject to normal processing fees, so that makes your donation work harder!

* Note. TCA is not a party to any of your eBay transactions, and does not endorse any products or vendors. PayPal issues the receipts to you for your donation, not TCA.

The Rio Grande is REAL GRAND!

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