Just purchased a 1531W set with box. What hopper came with this set? The one that I got with the set is a 6436, a book lists a 6456. Both hoppers were made in 1955. The box I recieved is the same stlye as the others in the set, as far as markings and coloring (discoloring), so I assume they are from the same set.
Also the box is just marked 1955 outfit. Did Lionel mark these boxes with 1531W and the contents or was this just a generic box for the year?
Seeing it is Saturday, justing bumping it up to see if anyone has an answer!
OK, I’ll take a stab at this. But note that I’m not pretending to be an expert, and I have no independent or first-hand knowledge about this set …
I’ve wondered about this hopper question ever since I got a copy of David Doyle’s Standard Catalog of postwar Lionel sets. The text of Doyle’s book lists a 6456 or a 6456-25 (signifying the gray version), but the picture shows a 6436. Paul Ambrose’s Greenberg guide to postwar sets says 6456; the 1955 catalog clearly illustrates a 6456. (But, of course, the catalogs don’t always show what was actually produced or included with a set.)
Sooo … My guess is that what you have is not actually a 1531W, but an uncataloged variation based on the 1531W and created for a particular customer (retailer). I checked The Toy Train Department, which is a book reprinting actual pages of trains in the Sears catalogs from the 1950s and '60s. In 1955, Sears offered a set similar to the 1531W, but with an operating boxcar substituted for the 6462 gondola. (The hopper is pictured as a 6456, FWIW.) Based on the illustration and description, the Sears outfit is otherwise identical to the 1531W. So I suspect that your set was put together for a particular store (or, probably, a chain) to sell. This was exactly the period when Lionel was actively encouraging individual retailers to create “special” sets by substituting components, and for 1955 Lionel cooked up a dual numbering system for sets explicitly intended to confuse customers about what they were looking at. (Making it harder to compare prices between traditional Lionel dealers and the various discount stores that also sold Lionel.) It seems quite plausible that they would have created this distinctive set for a significant customer (beyond super-important Sears). Now, why they chose to substitute the 6436 for the 6456 is unclear – mayb
Thanks for the info! The set box just says 1955 outfit on the side and has 55-23 on the inside flaps. No other store markings on it except the price was written on the side…$39.95