Unusual Lionel Car

[Anonymous]

Can anybody tell me why this car has a coupler on both sides of the trucks?
I have never seen this before.

[ben10ben]

It looks to me like it's a Scout car that's been converted to standard couplers. In the late '40s and early '50s, the pieces designated as "Scouts" had couplers that weren't compatible with the standard coupler. The standard procedure, according to the service manual, for those desiring compatibility with the regular line was to do as the photo shows. That is to turn the Scout truck around so that the coupler was under the car, and install a coupler plate as was used on all other trucks(held in place by tabs wrapped around the axles).

[choochin3]

Hi guys,
Those trucks look like the timken roller bearing style.
Used by Lionel from 1957-69.
It appears that your car originally has 1 operaing & 1 dummy plastic couplers.
The previous owner probably wanted 2 operating couplers for switching.
So he used older coupler assemblys and crimped them to the axles.
Hope this helps.

Carl T.

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ben10ben

It looks to me like it's a Scout car that's been converted to standard couplers. In the late '40s and early '50s, the pieces designated as "Scouts" had couplers that weren't compatible with the standard coupler. The standard procedure, according to the service manual, for those desiring compatibility with the regular line was to do as the photo shows. That is to turn the Scout truck around so that the coupler was under the car, and install a coupler plate as was used on all other trucks(held in place by tabs wrapped around the axles).

Ben has this one pretty well pegged, but I'm not sure if scout couplers made it into the 50's at all. I think I saw somewhere in a repair manual that the recommended practice for conversion of a scout coupler was to take a pair of lineman's pliers and lop off the scout before applying the replacement.

I'm not sure if the Frisco boxcar came with scout couplers. It is possible that the body and frame were put together at a later date.

[choochin3]

If you look close the car has 4 knuckle couplers.
Not 2 knuckles & 2 scout type.
Just an observation.

Carl T.