Creepy 1950s HO Steam Locomotives Found in Box - Train Shop

Every few months I usually end up making a trip up to Larkspur line model train store and I was really looking forward to this visit since the store has recently acquired several large lots, most of which is still packed away. The store owner let me look through the boxes and I ended up finding a bunch broken locomotives. The last box I opened was certainly the most interesting as it contained around eight brass locos in various states of completion. The one I was most interested in had all the parts but is in somewhat rough condition giving a bit of an almost creepy look. Despite being made in the 1950s, it was the only locomotive out of everything I bought which actually still ran.

[CR]

1:09 the chassis with Kato on the tank would be Atlas RS11/RS3. The shell though is Canadian RS18, my guess is maybe someone filled in the number board notches on the Atlas shell, or used a conversion kit.

1:20 the BB SW7 has a Kaslo (could be wrong on the maker) conversion kit with the Canadian number boards on the hood.

2:10 the Lionel GP30 is the Kader-made one that later would be a Bachmann piece.

3:05 the Champion car was made by Cox

4:20 the Rivarossi Hudson looks like it has the wrong tender with it, I see the top of a B&O Vanderbilt from a 2-10-2. If it was cheap I'd have bought the whole thing just for the tender.

5:20 looks like a box of all Varney, I would likely have bought the whole works. The one with the odd motor I think Varney called the V4, with the long snout on it.

The Daylight is the same deal as the GP30. Made by Kader for Lionel. Lionel was famous for having other people make their HO trains, and they contracted with Kader to make some things in the 1970s. When Lionel quit, the items went to Bachmann. I'm not sure the full history but I believe currently Kader owns Bachmann and produces all of their models.

9:10-ish. That's absolutely a Varney. $50 CAD probably isn't bad for what's there, the tenders I have sold for $20-$30 USD alone. It's missing a trailing truck but I'm sure you can find one. The bronze boiler dates it to post-WWII, they sold them through most of the 1950s.

Yes, those early Kader drives are pretty common for zincpest.

The story on the Life-Like is that was a Penn Line shell. Varney got it when they bought out Penn Line in 1964, but only four years later they were bought out by Life-Like and the die-cast things were sold to Bowser. It was sold for at least 25 years as a Life-Like engine, with several drive variations.

[sukhdeepubhi]

Awesome trip to Larkspur lines!! Wish I lived closer so I could visit. Thanks for the clip.

[frugalterrier]

Hi Harrison, I enjoyed this video so much that I visited the store and ended up buying three of the locomotives (4-8-2, 2-8-2, and a 4-6-2) and two tenders. Then I found a bin with lots of brass detail parts. Love those old steamers!

[frankmarkovcijr]

Gordon Varney died in 1968 his train line got divided between life like and Bowser, he made great stuff.

[davidjohnson]

VERY FUN watching. Please share the in-depth repair videos like you've done for other locos. I really love seeing that. Best wishes and thanks for doing all this. I love the steam locos, not so much the diesels but I still watch since you have great skills with troubleshooting and repair. Thanks and best wishes to you!

[edwarddavis]

Thank You Harrison! It was worth the wait to see this haul. Although, I do get jealous of all the model train stores you have in Canada. I still enjoy seeing you checking out your shops. Keep up the awesome job!

[harperlarry]

Looking forward to seeing what it takes to get that last locomotive running better. Nice find!!

[wowdad]

Cool video. Waiting for the repair video.

[AmtrakGenesis]

Bro, that Daylight GS class you found in all black for $40 I think, I would have gone bonkers! I have been looking for a daylight locomotive for long for a good price. Man I wish I was you.

[jefflynnalex]

Everything in the box with the "Creepy" locomotive is Varney. In the extreme lower right there might be a Mantua shell. Anyway, Varneys of that era sometimes had a "V" cast into the boiler side near the front...where the builders plate normally is. And, yes, that is a Lindsay designed 7 pole Varney super motor.

[qwincyq]

Now I know I have to get to Merrickville. So good you made a deal with Jeff to fix those locos.

[MygrandpasTrain]

I think my favorite videos of yours are touring the train stores and finding things like you got today. I'd love to find a Varney with the 7 pole super motor, or any Varney steamer really! That should make a great running engine

[Sergio_Hattifnatt]

When i was a little kid, my dad buys a lot of scale trains to me. It was early 90-s, and the trains was made by German company named "Pico". They were awesome, highly detailed, and very well made... But, because of my age, i've played with it like with simple toys, not like with expensive scale models, and pretty soon all beautiful locomotives, cars and tracks were destroyed by me and my younger brothers. Faster than i grew up... Today im almost 40 y.o. im watching your videos and, like, feel very sorry about my railroad and stuff... Almost crying...

[lucase.garcia]

Things that people normally throw away, become a treasure and something fun if one manages to repair them. It gives an immense added value to the final result.
With one of those rusty locomotives I would make a kind of ghost engine or something.

[MattKonsol]

That’s some pretty bizarre ho scale steam locomotives including that Lionel gs4 Canadian national 4-8-4 to me it’s unusual I would agree on it.

[joallawestervelt]

I cannot wait for you to work on the creepy locomotive and the other one you bought. Lots of projects for sure. That is so cool that you are going to work on all those others and take them back to the store for them to be available to other people. Such a great Good Samaritan, act of kindness. But I am not surprised. Thank you for being you. 💕😊💕

[SmouseHouseHobbies]

Great video and nice pick ups, thanks for sharing

[dandeorzio]

Looking forward to seeing the repair videos for this bunch.

[Top-Trains-]

Great lot smt I'm a big fan of that diecast locomotive you got really really cool btw of course you're going to restore all of the locomotives you got in the Lot cuz if you got to restore your grandmother's Hiawatha then you could clearly restore these locomotives. Have a good day SMT

[casstelles]

The Varney Berk is a neat engine for a project. All you need to find is a trailing truck to make it complete.