Can anyone come up with a Pre-war Lionel set number that would have included a #224E Loco, a 2666T tender and 2 brown2442s, and a brown 2443?
-Thanks in advance
-B in B
Hi,
224E’s were made with the “E” on the name plate until about 1940, ie somewhere in 1940/41 they dropped the “E” from the nameplate and the engines were 224’s. The postware 224’s are distiguished by a curved rear cab floor and a postware style drawbar. (The exception being the 1945 christmas set which had a unique variation all its own)
Anyway, the 2666(W) tender was found in sets that included engines such as 1666, 229, 1664 and maybe a few others as uncatologed offerings. The 224(E) engins of the prewar era should have come with either a 2689(W) tender (sheetmetal-1938 in gunmetal grey)or the 2224(W) tender with a diecast metal shell (1939-40) or a plastic shell (1941-42) It should be noted that the later plastic shell version is the same exact shell as the 2666 uses and teh same a the postwar 2466 and 6466 etc.
The passenger cars you have are postwar cars from 1946/47, prewar versions were numbered 2642/43 and have the numbers and pullman stamped on the window insert which shows through openings in the shell as oposed to being stamped on the shell.
Interestingly the prewar 224 would hauled 2642/43 cars and the postwar would have hauled 2442/43. Should have been the 224E to haul 2640/41 in two tone green based on the catologes I have.
You may have a postwar engine and cars and a wrong tender. Do they all have matching trucks and couplers? Are they postwar knuckles or the prewar box couplers with sheetmetal trucks and wheels?
I think you have the wrong tender for your 224E loco, should be a 2224; three variations listed in Greenbergs, black plastic, black die-cast or gun-metal die cast. The other tender listed is a 2689 gun-metal. It may be possible for more trender variations but Greenberg’s price guide don’t list them.
The 2442’s, & 2443 do they have white or silver lettering? The silver lettering is worth a few dollars more. Also these are post war passenger cars, 46 to 48, NOT pre war as you have guessed.
My 2640’s & 2641’s are one shade of green(same color green on roof as sides of cars)with yellow window trim, again Greenberg’s price guide don’t mention about yellow window trim. I know the colors are correct as my dad was too cheap to have something repainted or to have it worked on by somebody else, this set was my dad’s then was given to me. I have only repaired the truck assemblies or replaced a light bulb in these cars.
If somebody put this together as a set you have a mixed set of pre & post war units, not a factory authorized set. The 224E was only pre war!
Lee F.
All right, I screwed this all up. I got myself confused and typed down the wrong #'s. I have a 224E Loco, a 2666t tender in black plastic, the cars are brown & are #'s 2642 & 2643. All have pre-war “box” couplers. Sorry about the misinformation.
-B in B
What you have is Set no 140 from 41/42. Don’t be concerned with the presence of the 2666t instead of the 2224. It is the same tender, just a different number stamped on the base. Lionel often used up inventory in this way, especially in the early years of the war, before production ceased. Enjoy the set.
Good deal and nice set to have. It is definitely true that Lionel “used up inventory” in that era, after all they were only selling toys. When they were out of a part or car they would often sub in a similar useabe part to make a set complete so they could ship a run of sets. Also, when there were design changes the switchover points become very blurry indeed eg. 224E to 224 plates and 2224 diecast to plastic shell tenders. Even the change from gunmetal to black and the switch from sheetmetal 2689 tenders to diecast shell tenders created some hard to find variations in the gunmetal 2224 diecast tender.
Bottom line is that they are all very cool trains and are meant to be enjoyed!! Have fun.