#train set

Photographs of items posted in the order of acquisition.

And thats where this set comes in. This is the Union Pacific Famous American Railroad #2 set produced by Lionel in 1980. It was one of Lionel's more premium offerings back then and was the second set in the namesake Famous American Railroad series, then-paying tribute to still-operating lines in the US. It wasn't a set in the traditional sense of a master carton, separate boxes for all components and track & transformer. Everything was sold separately.

Note the transition of me photographing the equipment. I didn't have a care in the world back then, and you can slowly see me set up my "style" later on.

When I was in high school (around 2016), my Lionel collection wasn't big. I slowly wanted to get into collecting more items, and I believe the UP reefer above started the train rolling, so to speak. It was a slow, long arduous process. I could've gotten the entire components at once but it just never occurred to me to get it all. High school came and went, and so far the only UP FARR items i had were the reefer and the uncatalogued flat with two trailers. It wasnt until 2021 that I sourced more components. By this time, I was in college, however the O-Gauge collecting was starting to slow. Then, come 2023 and 2024 I snagged the tank car (peeling decals are sadly common even on NIB cars) and box car respectively from two train show visits. By this time, I was full-steam ahead on HO, having only gotten the FARR cars because they were there and it was another component not needed.

Then...about two months ago. I bit the bullet on the caboose, and a friend had the engine for sale. A ten year venture had finally come to a close.

The last time I actually ran one of my Lionels probably was in the 2022 or 2023 era, and the last time I ran some of my UP FARR stuff was undoubtedly sometime before 2020. It just hit me big time, the nostalgia wave. Sitting on the floor watching my trains go by at sorta breakneck speeds and remembering the good days (and not-so-good days) of high school and college. Lionel just has that vibe to it.