lionel clear body sante fe

[Anonymous]

Hi there

i am new to this site but when i was a child i was given to by a deceased family member a collection of all original lionel trains. There is one train i cant seem to find nay info about and i was wondering if anyone knew anything about it. Its a 2333 sante fe clear body dummy car and engine. Both of these care have 2333 on the plastic clear body and 2333-20 labeled on the grat bottom of the car. If anyone has any info about what its worth or where ican find more info about it it would be greatl appreciated. thank u

[Chris F]

Classic Toy Trains, Feb. 1990, has a sidebar on clear-body F-3's. According to the information there, about 100 units were produced for the 1949 New York Toy Fair and were used by sales people and large customers to display the inner workings of the units.

If you have an authentic clear-body F-3, it would be worth thousands of dollars. Once your heartbeat slows down (!), consider that the age and rarity of these units means so few are sold that no market price can be established. There is also the possiblity that some clear shells were painted and sold as standard production (comments invited). If there are any traces of paint on the shells, their value would be significantly less. You can bet that any collector would examine the pieces closely before laying out the money required to buy them.

Your first step is to get the units authenticated by an expert collector. If they were mine, I'd try to find Joe Algozzini, who frequently has (had?) selling tables in the main hall at the Great American Train Show in Wheaton, Illinois. Joe wrote the main article on F-3's in the Feb. 1990 CTT.

If the units are authentic, the next step is to get them insured!