Can you ID a ZW model R from the outside? Greenberg's shows the escutcheon and nameplate combined (ZW-181) on the model R and the older ZW has an escutcheon (ZW-20) and a nameplate (ZW-21).
That noted, mine has the combined nameplate, but 6 volt bulbs inside & the throttle arm voltage controls look like the older type, too. Maybe someone replaced the transformer cover on an older ZW with one from a model R?
I'm looking for another ZW & hope to get the newer one. There is no outlet within 350 miles of where I live, so I'm wondering what to look for, or ask about, at auction sites.
wyomingscout
First, understand that the Greenberg service manual reprints include only the earliest and latest ZW versions. (This is also true of other abridged versions of the service manual and the Olsen site.) There are several intermediate variations. The separate information plate on the back was used only in 1948 & 49; starting in 1950, the specifications/info were included on the top plate with the "L" escutcheon. Your ZW is one of the many, many made between 1950 and the application of the "Model R" designation (signified by the move from 6V to 18V pilot lights).
The most important single change between 1950 and whenever is that at some point (unclear just when), Lionel started riveting the laminations. Many people seem to have gotten the idea that riveted laminations signifiy a "Model R", but that's not the case. Many, many ZWs were made with riveted laminations and the 6V pilot lights. (I have one that Santa brought in 1958.) I'd guess that this is the most common ZW variation by far. The Model R came later; just when hasn't been pinned down, but I'd say probably in 1961. (I can't prove it, though.)
There is external identification of (some/most/all?) Model Rs. ZW - Model R is rubber-stamped on the underside of the bottom plate. I've seen two variations of this stamp. Also, a few had heat-stamping on the back, under the terminals -- MODEL R in the same type and size as the COMMON and the U-A-B-C-D letters. I've always assumed that the rubber stamping came first, and then they decided to use heat-stamping, but I imagine it could have been the other way around. I don't know whether every ZW-R was marked or not. (This is a question for research.)
So, in answer to your question, no one switched the top -- you've got a common version of the ZW.
Martin
Why 1961?
Greenberg's guide to Lionel paper (1990) has a section listing instruction sheets. The ZW sheet part number (the old Lionel Corp. had a part number for everything) is ZW-134. This was first issued in 1948, and again 16 times (dated) through 8-59. Then, in 1-61 comes a new part number for the sheet: ZW-251.
Why, after all those years over and over again re-issuing ZW-134, is there finally a change in number? My guess is that this is when the Model R designation was introduced. (Though the ZW-251 does not actually mention "Model R", it does specify the 18V 1445 replacement lamp for the pilot lights.)
To firmly establish the date would take a real research effort probably over a matter of years -- going repeatedly to York and looking at ZWs, looking at boxes, checking the bulbs, and so forth, to find a few that can clearly be dated, and then finally to pin down the year the "Model R" designation was applied. My money's on 1961.
I think it was Joe Algozzoni (sp?) who quite a few years ago in CTT recounted a story something like this (I'm going from memory): At the time, the conventional wisdom was that the change from staple-end to bar-end trucks came with the 1953 line. He believed that it actually ocurred during the 1952 year. A friend told him of an elderly lady who had some trains she wanted to sell. He went over and the lady took him to a bedroom closet where up on the shelf was a boxed Lionel set. Upon examination, it was in absolutely perfect shape. She said that her husband had bought it for Christmas of 1952, set it up that one year, and then put it away. It had been on that shelf untouched for 30 years (or whatever). When Algozzoni quizzed her a bit about whether she was completely clear on when it was bought, she went over to a desk and produced the original sales slip froom some elctric supply company or whatever . . . 1 Lionel set #1435WS -- $39.95 (or whatever), dated November 23, 1952 or something. She said the train had never been repaired, never off the shelf, so Algozzoni could reasonably and safely conclude that this train was absolutely as it came from the factory. And there were cars in the set with staple-end and bar-end trucks -- and one car with one of each, thus establishing quite clearly that the changeover had indeed occurred during 1952.
Somebody would need to track down ZWs with provable histories to establish once and for all the dates of the various changes.
martinden,
Thanks for the information. I'll assume mine isn't as old as I thought! Too bad Greenberg's didn't mention the rubber stamping on the bottom of the model Rs.
The Lionel service manual pages for the ZW model "R" is dated 9-61. It states:
Model R refers specifically to transformer in which the 6-volt pilot lamps used in previous models were replaced with 18-volt lamps, eliminating the the use of a series resistor.
Thanks. Greenberg's abridged version of the service manual shows the wording, but the pages aren't dated.
martinden Thanks. Greenberg's abridged version of the service manual shows the wording, but the pages aren't dated. Martin
As Martin wrote, the Aurotec and Greenberg reprints of the service manual are abridged. The parts lists at the end of each item are not included. Nor are all the page revisitions. Still, they are a great resource.
The scans that Olsens has so thoughtfully provided do include the date.
Both of my R units have ZW (R) stenciled on the bottom. As mentioned, the easiest way it to see what voltage bulb is used if that's not there.
I've looked at the Olsen pages dozens of times and never noticed the presence of the dates. Just goes to show how unobservant some people can be!
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