Yes, it's been a long time coming. I got the first offering immediately. Then life got in the way and I left the hobby for awhile. Years later, I discovered there'd been a second car! Oooooo. So, I started hitting ebay to see if there were any for sale there. As it turned out, there were plenty. I bid $5.00 on one, and that turned out to be the winning bid. The shipping charge was $9.00, so my total ended up being $14.00. That seemed like a good deal for Barrel Ramp car with die-cast sprung trucks and a load of stained barrels!
Now I can run it proudly with its brother the clown car---the complete Kid's Club set!
My next quest is to complete my Crayola set with the separate sale offering of a green topped boxcar!
(Okay, so I'm not a vintage collector like many of you....but I still have fun in my little quests! LOL)
Have any of you completed a specific type of collection after years of searching?
Only one. But that's because there's only ever been one! After discovering this car existed, nearly 2 decades after they were made and the event they commemorated, I started looking for a 1982 World's Fair boxcar. Why I wanted one is because I went to that fair when I was 12 though I don't remember seeing any 6464 type boxcars at any of the souvenir stands! I finally got one about a month ago and now have something to go along with my postcards, photos, guidebook, super 8 movies and assorted fair knicknacks. So, there you go! A complete collection of Lionel world's fair boxcars!
OK, I know that's pretty pathetic! I do collect Lionel scouts (both actual scout set items and "scout type" 2-4-2 locos and cars). I also collect Plasticville, especially churches. But as in all things I can collect, I only have low price range examples that most wouldn't consider collectable. Oh well. One of these days.
Becky
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
Scout collection. Beautiful. Except for family heirlooms, my collection is 1968-78 Lionel, and the odd "gotta-have"
A complete World's Fair set! Nice!
My dad bought a Lionel set back in the early 60s (I believe) that started my interest in trains. I was born in 1959 and my dad had that set ever since I can remember. It was a boxed set with the engine #233 and tender (233w or 234w...I'd have to look at it again), Cities Service two-dome tank car, Lionel Lines Barrel Ramp car (with barrels), Black Lehigh Valley Hopper, Blue New York Central (I think) gondola, and Lionel Lines brown caboose. Back in the 70s, our basement flooded. All of us thought the trains would be ruined. However once dried, everything still worked. The set box was ruined and had to be thrown out then. I remember the engine and tender had their own boxes while the rolling stock all fit in their own compartments. I've tried to identify the set in various guides over the years, but the closest one to mine I've seen has a red Lehigh Valley hopper. (I'd be very appreciative if anyone can help me identify my set.) The set had a transformer (1073 I think) and track. We also had telephone poles, a pair of manual switches, a manumatic uncoupler, and a bunch of signs. I can't remember if those came with the set though. My dad used to frequent a Spiegel catalog store and a 4-story (plus basement) Goldblatt's (or Goldblatt Bros.) store. I think he may have bought the train set from one of those, but I'm not sure.
In the late 70s, my dad started taking us to flea markets in the Chicago area on Sundays. It was at one of those that I found a locomotive that looked exactly like my #233, but was made out of die-cast metal with the #239. I bought it, but it didn't have a tender. I never knew what tender it should have been paired with. When I went to a train meet later, I bought an odd-looking slope-back tender without a whistle to be used as #239's pair.
So ms Penny/Becky, do you have #233 and #239 in your collection? If so, what tender is paired up with your #239? I used to put both engines face-to-face and turn on the power to see which one was stronger. #239 was heavier, so usually stood its ground without moving its wheels. #233 would occasionally be able to push #239 a little bit, but it's wheels spun quite a bit. They were usually very evenly matched.
tinplatacis Scout collection. Beautiful. Except for family heirlooms, my collection is 1968-78 Lionel, and the odd "gotta-have"
I don't have either the 233 or the 239 but the book (Standard Catalog of Lionel Trains 1945-1969 by David Doyle) says the 233 came with the 233W Santa Fe style whistle tender and the 239 came with either the 234W Santa Fe whistle or the 242T short streamlined tender.
My collection is pretty small so far. I started with a 237, set no 3726/19437 from J.C. Penney's. My half-sister bought it for our dad in 1965(?) since he'd always loved trains and never had a set. It came with a short streamlined tender, either the 242T or the 1060T but I can't tell the difference to tell you which one it had. The 237 was equipped with the notorious "scout" motor which is practically impossible to fix so mine's a wreck. Although it's a nice wreck!
So far, I only have the 237, a 246, an 1110 and a 1654 as far as 2-4-2 locos go. The 1110 didn't come with the tender and since I haven't found any 1000 series cars yet I've also neglected the true "Lionel Scout" 1001T tenders. But those items, the tender and the 1007 cab, 1002 gon, X1004 box and 1005 tank cars are at the top of my wish list. Then I'll finally have a true "scout set" for my 1110 to pull. (Trying to find a complete set I can afford.)
What I have are the 6059 M&StL and numerous other "SP style/scout style/traditional size" cabooses. 6402 flatcar with orange cable reels. Green 6142 gondola with unmarked canisters which I called "bottles". (Strangely enough there was a cylindrical Lego piece I also called a "bottle".) A 6176 black LV hopper type IX. An X6004 Baby Ruth, a 6014 Frisco and a 6014 Bosco "plug door" boxcar. And last and probably least is a Sunoco 2 dome tank car that had lost most of it's decals but I assume it's a 6465 because of it's magnetic couplers. And that's all the postwar "scouts" I have so far.
However, I have (and have had) several MPC and modern era versions of those cars. Which includes a Conrail plugdoor boxcar that became the shell of a home made boxcab electric, 3 cabooses that became european style passenger cars and several gondolas that got painted gray. But I don't really count that stuff since none of it is in original condition anymore. I can also strike an Alaska RR (1990's production) tancar that sacrificed it's dome top to replace the one that was missing from my 9151 Shell tanker. I like the "scout" cars because I only have a 4 by 6 layout at present and those short cars make a loco like a 2018 2-6-4 look like a Big Boy!
I also lump Marx plastic cars with tilt couplers (and a few other things) into the same category. While they're obviously not Lionel Scouts, the 666 and it's Southern Pacific tender, Santa Fe stockcar , Cities Service tankcar and SP caboose fit right in along side the Lionel equipment. I was lucky enough to get that whole set for 30 bucks last January and it runs great! So maybe it's not entirely accurate to say I "collect scouts", at least not yet.
One goal I set for myself is to try to have at least one of each kind of freight rolling stock Lionel has produced since the postwar era (not counting any scale items, motorized units, nor passenger cars). The flat cars with simple loads like single cars, trucks, bulldozers, etc. count as one type (in my opinion). For flatcars, I'd like at least one of each kind of plastic snapped/screwed/bolted on piece like the RADAR car or the operating hydraulic maintenance car.
To that end I have at least one of each of the following:
mint car
aquarium car
Johnny Lightning car
gondola w/canisters and covers
short gondola with canisters
fire ladder car
hand car
hopper
covered hopper
TV car
RADAR car
balloon car
generator car
small box car (doors molded in)
9700 box car
6464 box car
chicken car
operating pig car
SP-type caboose
bay window caboose
track maintenance car
coal dump car
log dump car
vat car
animated gondola crate car w/hobo & ? (conductor/policeman)
operating hydraulic maintenance box car w/hobo & cop (men swap places on top of platform)
giraffe car/elephant car
operating box car Yosemite Sam vs. Bugs Bunny/Cop vs. Outlaw
bobbing horse car
barrel ramp car
ToFC (both single long trailer and double short trailers)
TTAX/TTUX spine car (I can't remember what Lionel calls theirs...or if they have both.)
operating missile box car
exploding box car
submarine box car
searchlight car
================================
Want List
satellite car
helicopter car (I have the HO version, but not the original O gauge one.)
depressed center flat car
Pennsylvania-style lighted caboose
crane car w/boom
work caboose
tool car
operating hopper
9200 box car
9400 box car
top and bottom door stock car
operating merchandise car
jet snow blower
culvert gondola
operating barrel gondola
operating milk car
operating horse car w/corral
Buchyrus crane car
Evans boat/car loader
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I'm sure I've missed a few, but these are the ones that came to mind immediately.
When you say "Pennsylvania-style lighted caboose" are you referring to the N5c porthole caboose? I've always thought those were Lionel's best proportioned cabii. ZSo far I have 2, both from the MPC era. The Frisco 1776 and the CN.
That's exactly what I meant. I've always liked their look quite a bit. The round windows are a nice touch.
I don't know if I'll ever be able to complete my collection of one of each type, but it's given me an incentive to do a bit of research to find which variation of each type I feel is most desirable. I think some railroad livery's paint schemes fit certain types of cars better than others. I used to like running trains with mainly only one railroad's cars......such as all-Santa Fe or all C & O. Now I like mixing them up. I wouldn't want to have unmatching loco/tender/caboose combinations though....I'm not THAT crazy!
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