Today we have this gem to look at in American OO, a Long Island Scale Model Company (LIMCO or Limco) die cast PRR MP54 MU coach. It was introduced in 1936, and the company was active until at least 1938. An overview of Limco may be found here. To my mind this is the signature model of this pioneering OO manufacturer.

A MU car

Whomever ran Limco, besides being a Long Island resident and a very serious fan of OO scale, must also have been a fan of MU electric commuter equipment. Below is the model as seen in the catalog and also a finished model in the collection of Al Johnson. The open body would have had plenty of space for a big motor similar to the Midjet motor made by Mantua.

It is interesting to ponder their position in the OO world of 1936. Nason was on the market, but Lionel and Scale-Craft were not. Nason was all in for sand casting, which favored small production runs, but Limco opted for die casting, which has some very real tooling costs. This is some very visionary model making, certainly part of what made it seem like OO was a good bet to the folks at Lionel and Scale-Craft.

The sides, ends, and floor were die cast. Below are views of both ends. Note the porthole windows in the end castings.

In that last photo you can see the trucks on this model pretty well. I’m thinking those are Nason trucks rather than the originals, and the coupler is in the style of a Nason bronze coupler (according to the catalog the Limco coupler was die cast). The truck that was illustrated in the catalog is below.

All in all this is such a great find. These were produced for sure, but the quantity can’t have been very high, especially after Scale-Craft and Lionel came on the market. Thank you Al for sharing these photos.

They also made a trailer coach and a 64′ coach

Finally, worth mentioning as well that they listed in their catalog (and presumably produced) a matching trailer coach and a 64′ coach (all the models are 64′ long, nice and compact). Worth keeping your eyes peeled for.