What engine would these cars have been sold with? The one’s I’m refering to have box couplers, which I would assume means late 30’s production. Thanks for any help you can give.
I’m assuming you’re referring to the red 600-601-602 cars that are lighted, have 4 wheel trucks, box couplers, nickel journals and steps.
Depending on the year they were made (1936-37), the engines that came in catalogued sets are as follows;
238E with 265W tender, both in gunmetal gray, set 298W, 1936-37
249E with 265W Tender in gunmetal gray, set 236W, 1937
249E with 265T Tender in gunmetal gray, set 236E, 1937
265E(with firebox doors inside cab) with 265W tender in gunmetal gray, set 233W, 1937
265E(with firebox doors inside cab) with 265T tender in gunmetal gray, set 233E, 1937
Hope this helps,
Tim
Tim,
Yes, that was exactly the information I was looking for. Thank You!
Are there any on-line sources that give pre-war Lionel set details?
No, nothing online, except for this forum 
The best source for sets is the Greenberg guide to prewar sets. But it’s been out of print for some time and pristine copies cost about the same as some of my smaller prewar train sets. But i like to collect sets that would have been sold. And i can rarely afford boxed sets so I try to gather sets from individual components. It can be a bit of a challenge to do it by the book as truck types, or couplers would change often, so to get the exact correct configurations take squite a while to find.
Good hunting.
Tim