You're gorgeous! Your favorite Lionels

Classic Toy Trains Forum
1

We haven’t done this in a while so I figured I’d start a “Favorite Lionel Trains” thread. I thought about creating 2 separate threads as “You’re Gorgeous” and “You UGLY!” but I just combined them instead.

This is just for fun, it’s not a competition. I stuck to 20th century Lionel production and tried my best to include only cataloged items on my list. You can add other areas if you like and you can explain your choices as much or as little as you want to. If you have pics, great! If not, that’s great too!

This may seem like old hat, but I was surprised at how much my own preferences have changed since the last time I participated in a thread like this. So yours may have changed too! [:D] By the way you don’t have to own an example of your choices either! [;)] Without further ado, here we go!

Prewar Standard Gauge

  • Steam: 385E first version with Lionel tender
  • Electric: 381E
  • Freight: 515 tank car in terra cotta
  • Passenger: 424, 425, 426 Stephen Girard
  • Accessory: 300 Helgate

Prewar O gauge

  • Steam: 262/262T with orange stripes
  • Electric: 253 terra cotta and maroon
  • Freight: 653 hopper in Stephen Girard green
  • Passenger: 1700E Lionel Jr. streamliner
  • Accessory: 313 bascule bridge
  • Catalog cover: 1926

Least favorite prewar items

  • I couldn’t come up with any personal choices for my own list. If I have to say one thing, I’d say that Lionel came out with gorgeous scale and semi-scale cast locomotives in the prewar era and their appearance was instantly comp
2

OK, here we go!

My list of favorites isn’t going to be as elaborate as Becky’s, I’m an operator, not strictly a collector, however if I like it, I buy it. And these are all favorites, if I don’t like it I ignore it.

Pre-War Standard Gauge

The Blue Comet Set, locomotive and cars. What can I say? An absolute masterpiece of the toymakers art. Don’t own one, unless I hit the lottery I never will, although I did see one at an antique show several years back. I was stunned at the size of it, photographs and videos don’t do it justice, you have to see one up close and personal. Tinplate collector John Potter hit the nail on the head when he said a kid that got one of these for Christmas back in the 30’s must have had a heart attack when he saw it under the tree! And remember, that set was $75 in 1939. That same $75 would have gotten you a Winchester 30-30 rifle and a Colt .38 revolver, and you would have had change coming!

Pre-War “O”

What else, the “Baby Blue Comet!” Don’t own one of those either.

Post-War

Now we’re talkin’! Steam, steam, steam! And these I own!

The 221 “Baby Dreyfuss.” Lucked into this one at a hobby shop in Florida, Metro Trains and Hobbies, Fort Meyers. 1946 production and cute as a button! Looks great with four “O-Line” NYC streamline cars.

The 2055 Hudson. Elegant, the best way I can describe it.

The 2056 Hudson. I call this one “The Bruiser,” it’ll pull tree stumps out of the ground!

The 736 Berkshire. What can we say? Got one last year and it’s all it’s cracked up to be. Another great puller and produced the same year I was, 1953.

The 2018 2-6-4. A sentimental favorite, my childhood Lionel steamer. Take care of it as you should and it just runs and runs and

3

Favorite

Prewar

262 with 262T ( I have freight cars for this and passenger cars niether make this a complete set ( wrong cars)

Post war

has to be my 2572 set ( 2359 B&M GP-9, 6544,3830,6448,3519,& 3535

Modern

Paul Revere set ( Yes B&M 2346 remake [:D] )

Least like

Prewar

probably my 258 and it cars

Postwar

Any scout engine

Modern

Anything I can’t afford [(-D]

4

This is a fun topic !

Faves :

the 681, and all turbines for that matter.

the 2046, ( love those big chunky drive wheels , and the size and heft of this engine )

all Hudsons

all prairies ( I have 224e, 2026, and 2025s)

the 2025’s are especially nice. Hefty, and smooth running.

the 2037 is a bit of an ugly duckling ( That was my first impression, but it grows on you ). But it pulls very well.

Oh, and the big Berkshire. I have 726 rr. How could I forget that ? A sure sign you have too much stuff.

least faves?

none.

love ’ em all !

Paul

5

I always thought the E33 electrics were ugly.

I don’t think anyone likes the cheap steam engines Lionel made. Marx had nicer ones and they ran forever.

Most everything else I liked. Of course my Christmas gift sets with a 2025 and another the NYC F3s.

S.J.

6

Of course everybody is intitled to their own favorites and un-favorites. I find some of Becky’s unfavorite postwar items to be interesting:

221 Santa Fe in olive - I guess I wouldn’t pick it as a favorite either, but it is scarce.

462 Derick platform - I agree that it is not a very good accessory. I had a really nice boxed one years ago, but I did not hang onto it. I must not have liked it either. In retrospect, I do wish I held onto it. But there were no guides back then, and I didn’t know how scarce it was. A number of things like that passed through my hands.

6110 “scout” - I actually like this engine for it’s uniqueness. No other Lionel locomotive was made with it’s odd smoke arrangement. When I was a kid I was given a second hand one by it’s original owner. It was the first die cast metal steam engine I owned. (maybe that’s the real reason why I like it)

I’d have to think a whole bunch to pick out my favorites in so many catagories. That might be fun. For now, I can write my single favorite piece of all Lionel electric trains, regardless of era:

The 1946 smoke bulb version of the 726 Berkshire with the 2426 tender.

7

One of my pre war favorites is the 224E steam engine, it’s a 2-6-2 with a 4 axle tender. Also have the 3 passenger cars that came with it in a set; two 2460 & a 2461.

My least favorite steam engine is the 235 from the 1960’s as it has a very difficult motor to service other then brush replacement. Also the center roller wheels wear out after many years and are difficult to replace.

Lee Fritz

8

Hi everyone,

I’m also enjoying this thread, especially because I spent much of the past couple of years evaluating every item in Lionel’s postwar line when doing the research for my brand-new book, “Collectible Lionel Classics: Treasures from the Postwar Era.”

In this 128-book softcover book, I have newly written essays with photos and graphics about 100 great yet affordable steam and diesel engines, motorized units, rolling stock, and accessories. You will get a solid appreciation for what Lionel sought to accomplish during the critical years after World War II.

You can order the book from Kalmbach Publishing Co. by going to our website: www.KalmbachHobbyStore.com or by calling 1-800-533-6644. Let me know what you think of my selections.

Roger Carp

Senior editor

Classic Toy Trains

9

My favorite pre war loco’s are the 224e and 1666

Favorite post war steam are any turbines but especially the 671rr and the 736 Berk

Favorite Diesel 2343

Favorite electric Milwaukee Rd 2351

10

I’m waiting for my copy at the moment so I’ve been re-reading the SIP’s. It was the article on the top F3 sets in 2005’s “All Star” that made me think of doing this. [:D]

11

I might add that some of the low end Lionel stuff has a sort of “Funky Charm” to them, similar to Marx. And I like Marx, too. Don’t get me started on that. It’s all about the fun. I have a cheap 246 that is all plastic, feels like it weighs about 2 ounces, and I love the simplicity of it ! Just running trains, no fooling around ! The 1688e started out as a low end o-27, but she’s a beauty ! But my favorites will always be the engines you have to pick up with 2 hands !

Paul

12

Definitely a plus one for the Blue Comet. What a sight that must have been under a Christmas tree. Back in January I had very serious spine surgery and was in pretty bad shape. To make me feel better my wife said it was OK to but one train of whatever I liked. I didn’t think twice. I’ll be paying for it for the next year but it is worth every penny.

13

Anyone else? Don’t be shy folks, there’s no right or wrong here.

14

As a kid growing up in the 1950’s on Chicago’s South Side, living halfway between Rock Island’s mainline on the east and Rock Island’s Beverly Branch on the west, my favorite diesel was their RS3 in red, black and white, with the white “wings” on the ends. I didn’t have access to Lionel catalogs at that time, but the 1955 Montgomery Ward Christmas wish book showed a set with Lionel’s 2328 Burlington GP7. To my 7-year-old mind, it was a close-enough match, and I had to have it, and was lucky enough to receive it that Christmas. I learned more than 30 years later that my father couldn’t afford the whole price of the $40 set, so my maternal grandfather chipped in half. That explained why he came over to our house on Christmas Eve to watch me excitedly open it.

15

for me the Prewar 225E in gunmetal is hard to beat. Postwar would be the 675,2056, and 736 are tops for steam. any Brunswick Green 5 stripe GG1 electric is a beauty.

16

Hi to the reader called bridgeengineer, I would like to learn more about your childhood train and your memories of it.

Please contact me at Classic Toy Trains: 262-796-8776 ext. 253.

Thanks,

Roger Carp

Senior editor

17

When I checked gorgeous in my Webster’s, it was defined as the LCCA’s General/Texas 2-pack, commorating the Great Locomotive chase’s 150th.

You can look it up if you want…

18

I just tried man, went to the LCCA 'site and no luck. Could you help us out with a link if you have one, or tell us where to start looking?

BTW, I’ve got the MTH “General” and “Texas” (Cool engines, got 'em cheap, too!) but of course they’re beyond the scope of discussion here.

19

They don’t have to be! [:D] The object here is fun! [:D]

20

Really? I took the “Lionel” in the title quite seriously, but if you’re tearing the lid off Becky…

I’ll have to think about this one overnite. More anon.

OK, pickin’ it up again.

I’ve got five MTH 4-4-0’s, love ‘em all and have had no problems. The "General’, the “Texas”, the UP 119, the B&O 231, and the USMRR “General Haupt.” All beautiful locomotives and great runners. Why five? They were on sale! Well all right, I didn’t get 'em all at once but it’s an illustration it sure pays to keep your eyes open. Three from an antique shop, one from an antique show, and one from a train show, and none more than $150. Used? Probably, but you sure couldn’t tell by looking at them.

I’ve always loved 19th Century steamers, the way they looked and especially the way they were decorated, more like works of art than machines. But then, there was an expression in use back in those days that might explain it…

“What works well, looks well, because beauty and utility are one in the mind of God!”

Isn’t that something?