I have recently acquired these three cars. Unfortunately, I purchased them one at a time from different sources. Not because I couldn’t find a complete set, mainly because complete sets in nice shape were commanding very high prices or because more and more sellers are breaking up sets and selling the cars one at a time. Sometimes this results in higher total price than the nice set sold as a set.
Anyway, the 2401 Hillside and the 2402 Chatham have blank window inserts and the 2400 Maplewood has silhouette inserts. Now according to Doyle’s latest guide, these cars had blank inserts so I’m guessing the Maplewood’s are repros. However, a reputable parts guy I know swears at some point they came both ways. I kind of like the look of the silhouetes but have nothing against the blanks either.
If you have an opinion either way please post it. Thanks
I have a well-worn set of these cars that I’m trying to restore. All the windows are clear, with no passengers. I also have the silver version of these cars, and they have the passengers. I prefer passengers. Nothing says postwar like little silhouette’s of people in passenger cars to me. I have no idea if the green versions came with passenger silhouettes’s or not, though. Anything is possible with postwar Lionel.
check postwarlionel.com. That should clear things up for you. Seems the later silver cars with the same names had the little people. I’d be happy to find either in nice condition; or alternatively, not so nice, if I could learn out how to restore them without much prior experience.
Greenberg’s Postwar guide (Paul Ambrose) agrees - the 2400/01/02 (1948-49) passengers cars had window inserts without silhouettes. The 2400-series passenger cars with silhouettes were the 2421/22/23 and 2481/82/83 cars, both introduced in 1950.
The guide also indicates that Madison cars from 1946-49 did not have window silhouettes, either, but the 1950 versions did.
It appears Lionel intended to start using the silhouette window stripes starting with 1950 production. However, the company certainly would have used the silhouette inserts in late 1949 product if they ran out of the non-silhouette inserts before using up the green bodies.
Thanks to all that have posted so far. That’s what I understand, no silhouettes in the 2400, 2401 or 2402. Silhouettes started in the 1950 silver versions. I guess it is possible that some were issued with silhouettes if Lionel ran out of the blanks in late 1949.
So, it looks like its up to me. Do I want to keep them looking like they did when they came out of the factory (maybe), no silhouettes or do I like the look of the little people. Either way I have to purchase something. Decisions, decisions…
There is no doubt that some owners of early cars switched the window inserts to the later silhouette type, so if you have to buy replacements, Get what YOU like.
I hear you, sometimes the side of me that strives for “things as they should be or were”, like keeping these cars the way they came out of the factory as opposed to what I like, gets in the way. When people ask me if I’m a collector I tell them “no”, I run or operate my trains, I don’t “collect” them for their worth or to display. (whether or not collecting them to operate is a version of being a “collector” or not is a discussion for another day) If this were true then putting silhouettes in the window should not be a big deal, right? But then there’s the “things as they should be or were” issue. Whew, I should take your advice and do what I want. The inserts will be repros anyway.
Come to think of it, I had to replace the inserts on my tinplate 6442 & 6443 passenger cars and went with the blanks and although they that’s how they came out of the factory, they do look a little odd running around the track with no people in them. I think I’ve mad a decision, silhouettes it is for these.