O22 Variations

Classic Toy Trains Forum
1

I bought a couple more O22 switches yesterday, and, while working on them, I got to thinking about all the variations of these that I’ve seen. I’ve never seen any sort of list of when the different variations of these were made, and wonder if any of you could point me to one(if such a list exists).

Anyway, here’s what I’ve seen

Baseplate screws:
1.Three hex headed screws, two on either side of the divering route, and one one the outer edge of the through route
2.Three flat-headed screws in the same arrangment as above
3.Two flat headed screws, one on the outer edge of the through route, the other in the center of the diverging route

Baseplate:
1.Paper liner under the baseplate
2.No paper liner under the baseplate

Name plate:

  1. Large sans-serif Lionel and all other words
  2. Bold Lionel with serifs, all other letters sans-serif, smaller, and darker than previous plate

Lamp Socket

  1. Bayonet socket
  2. Miniature screw socket(before 1950, I know)

711-216 Bracket
1.Black painted steel
2.Aluminum

Rail Mounting

  1. Aluminum “spacers” under the bent tabs on some rails
  2. No aluminum spacers, some tabs missing for easier assembly.

Most of the features overlap.

Any help would be appreciated.

2

What is a factory variation and what is the result of use? I have never seen a switch without the paper in the baseplate unless it was left out when someone put the baseplate back on, this was common. Rail Mounting, missing tabs and spacers are another example of outside intervention. Tabs doo brake off.

3

Let me elaborate on the missing tabs. The switch that this was on had obviously never been disassembled, as there were no markings to indicate that the tabs had been bent. When I removed the rail, the spots where the tabs should have been were smooth, not ragged as they would have been had the tab broken off. The tab was not there in the first place.

As for the paper, I have a set of like-new O22s from 1949 that had no paint loss around the screw holes, as well as unmarred hex headed screws on the base plate, indicating to me that they had never been removed. In my experience, even using the proper tools, it’s impossible to remove such hex headed screws without marring the paint at least slightly. When I removed the plate on one to fix a faulty solder joint, there was no paper present.

4

Check with one of the Lionel postwar parts dealers with ads in CTT.