how many different types of cars and engines were produced by lionel?
thanks
stephen
Do you mean production items, oe special runs for dealer demo’s/gifts? Do you want to include the rheoscopic tank cars from a few years ago?
Hello Stephen!
I take it you are wondering how many different Items were produced by Lionel using Clear Plastic? I doubt anyone would know the exact figure in order to answer your question as pretty much all of the workers at Lionel who were privy to such information would be deceased by now. CTT once interviewed an older Lionel Employee who used to remember exact production numbers of the Train Sets, Engines,etc produced by Lionel in the old days & he even managed to save some of those old records after Lionel ceased production in New Jersey in 1969 after the General Mills Takeover. Anyway, The Records he saved were destroyed when his Basement flooded one year. This particular CTT Article was written about 8-10 years ago??? Perhaps someday something will turn up & your question can be answered for good. Take Care.
I have an orange Santa Fe 63132 (X3464) operating boxcar that was molded in clear. You can add operating boxcars to your list.
Not all of the clear shell models that show up were produced that way. Lionel often used up leftover clear plastic from previous runs of window pane castings to make shells that were to be painted. These runs were short, brief, and un-documented. Collectors got a hold of these pieces, removed the paint, and viola, a rare clear shell body.
it sounds like the clear bodys were never intended to be made that way.
ive seen tank cars, f3 engines and reproduction tenders. has anyone seen other cars like boxcars, flat cars, hoppers, gondolas or cabooses?
stephen
I have a 6454 SP boxcar molded in clear plastic. I bet it may have been a leftover body shell for a clear salesman sample of an operating car. Neat piece probably only worth a few dollars more if that.
I have a 3454 merchandise car that shows clear plastic where the silver paint has peeled off. I read once that early runs used clear plastic to show injection patterns/faults more easily than colored plastic. Sounds reasonable.
Basicly the only ones ever made for clear productions was ( I believe 2 years once in post war and then again recently .) The post war one was for dealers to show the working copondends the recent one was just a clear model lionel produce in quanity for the public as somethin different not sure how much it was a hit or not but would guess that either type of engine would be on the rare side.
Lionel made demo Santa Fe 2343s with clear plastic shells.
I have an clear shell Lionel Phantom Pratt Diesel 18860 which i dont think they made many of.
During the postwar period, Lionel made the clear shell F3’s as demonstrator pieces.
Many other pieces were molded in clear plastic and then painted.
I have at least one Lionel whistling mechanism with the plastic whistle chamber molded in clear plastic. It went inside a tender, so it did not need to be painted.
I have a 4454 electronic boxcar that was molded in clear plastic. I stripped the paint to make a conversation piece. I have also owned 2465 tanks molded in clear plastic and painted.
During the modern era, a clear plastic craze broke out. Some of the manufacturers of reproduction Lionel parts started making their products in clear plastic. There were clear helicopters, 1666T and 2671 (2046W) style tender shells. Probably other pieces too.
I am fairly certain that MTH got into the act too.
Modern Era Lionel made passenger and freight cars molded clear. I have some Modern Era Lionel F3 shells molded from clear plastic. I beleive the clear plastic F3’s were a production item too.
I’ve got a caboose that I discovered was molded in clear after stripping it for a re-paint. I don’t remember the number rignt how, though.