cheap post-war?

[Lionel 773 hudson]

I am looking for the worlds cheapest post-war. Not the scouts or post-1957 trains. I am looking for the cheapeast locos and cars from lionel when it was putting out the trains made mostly of meatle. So what are they and what they cost. Thanks!

[rtraincollector]

I believe the 1130 came with either plastic body or die cast body depending which version you got. my book says 48-90 for metal body. I had two of these back a few years ago both ran great both had the 1130T tender I added a Williams whistle/bell unit for like $30.00 to one of them. As a whole they were good engines

[Dub]

The 6111 or 6121 flatcar with logs or pipes. The Plastic orange Babe Ruth boxcar.The ordinary caboose. These three come to mind. Of course any car in a well used condition with rust or chipping paint will fit. Gee, visit one train show and you will get the idea.

Overall, Postwar items are a bargain.If you can live with the condition you can get them as cheap as you want. A little patience never hurt the pocketbook.

[cwburfle]

You could look for the engines that were genuinely called scouts by Lionel. I can think of two, one of which has two major variations:
6110 - has no light, has smoke, driven by air entering a hole in the bolier front
1110 - has no light, no smoke, with the air hole required by the 6110
1110 - has no light, no smoke, no air hole

Since you seem to be fairly new to the hobby, you may not be familar with Lionel Scouts. True Lionel Scout sets had a special coupler that did not mate with normal Lionel couplers. The trucks had sheet metal frames with plastic sides. The coupler head was a spring loaded piece of plastic. Uncoupling was done manually by a special piece of track that had a cam mounted on it. When the owner pressed down on the cam lever, it raised the diamond shaped cam, which forced the couplers apart. Lionel sold conversion couplers to change these cars to regular couplers, so the cars can be found with the original couplers, conversion couplers only, or both. Lionel only made a caboose, boxcar, tank car, gondola, and tender with these couplers. The tender can be sheet metal or plastic. I don't think there are any variations on the caboose or tank. The gondola comes in a few colors. The boxcar may have some variations in the lettering style.

[rtraincollector]

Lionel 773 hudson

I am looking for the worlds cheapest post-war. Not the scouts or post-1957 trains. I am looking for the cheapeast locos and cars from lionel when it was putting out the trains made mostly of meatle. So what are they and what they cost. Thanks!

I believe you all missed his target as he stated he didn't want a scout engine and mostly metal. and heres where he gets hard prior to 1957 and cheap. thats why Iwent witht he 1130 and the one went witht he metal flat cars other than that to get all metal I think he needs to go prewar oh yes theres that one caboose can't think of the number but its PA. caboose thats all metal also.

Acually if you got Ebay most sellers will say nothing if plastic usually and die-cast if metal. and for cars sorry most are plastic they may have a metal frame but the rest of it is plastic other than mentioned above. Yes trucks are metal on most the older ones but even after a point the post-war trains even they had plastic trucks I believe but there after the 1957 period you want.

Just a question why you pick 1957 as post war trains ended in 1969?

[jwse30]

 I don't know if it was made prior to 1957 or not, but I think for the engines the 2016,  2018, 2026, 2036, or 2037 would be about as cheap as one can get.

As for the cars, here's my opinion (some versions might not be prior to 1957):

Tank car: 6465 Sunoco

Hopper: most any LV 

Gondola: most any 

Boxcar: 6014 Baby Ruth or Frisco

Flatcar: most any that's missing its load

Caboose: 6017 

I would think that any of these cars would sell for no more than $10 in operating condition.

 

J White

[EIS2]

Looking for the cheapest postwar is rather odd for a guy whose moniker is 'Lionel 773 Hudson'.

Earl

[PostwarMan07]

I found an excellent 3464 nyc operating boxcar for $12 including shipping on ebay.  You can always find a 6456 maroon or black LV hopper for around $10 along with the black NYC gondola for a similar price.   Ive also seen a 6457 caboose go for around $20 many times.  If you want a little color in your train, a nice yellow 6656 stock car wont cost you more than $20 as well.

As far as engines go the 1110 and 2034 seem to be pretty good scouts from the early postwar years ( I owned a 2034 for a while and liked how it ran).  If you want to go a little higher quality, you cant beat a 2025 or 2026 that can be found in good condition at 50 to 70 bucks if you look a little.

[lionelsoni]

Earl, at $50, the cheapest locomotive I have ever bought is a 1950 773.

[Lionel 773 hudson]

   "Just a question why you pick 1957 as post war trains ended in 1969?"     It was the year that supper 0 came out (not to offend anyone who likes it) I love the tin plate track with scail looking trains.  I like the late pre-war scail looking trains too but most cost more than I can pay $70 to $80, and my laout is supposed to look like what a kid would have made about 1955.  My favorite loco is the lionel 773 hudson.

[rtraincollector]

just looking at some of my pw trains and the 1655 (2-4-2)comes with a 6654w tender and books about $60 at tops on ebay 1948-49 and a 2026 (2-6-4) with a 6466w tender 1948-49,1951-53 its also in your range but about the top end Both nice examples of what you want and are not scouts engines.

oh my favorite in steam pw is the 681 S2 turbine something about that 6-8-6 gets my attention lol

[ADCX Rob]

 1654/1655.

Rob

[cwburfle]

Th 1654 has a design flaw that makes it an undesirable engine for many

 people. The gear wheels on the 1654 have gears whose teeth are too close to the rim. This causes the wheel to bump over switches and uncoupling track magnets. Lionel redesigned the motor, along with a few other changesm and renumbered the engine 1655,

[ezmike]

 We all remember Bob Nelson's $50 773 story, don't we? It is the post war Lionel fan's dream come true.

I tell it every chance I get. Kind of living through Bob.

 

Mike

[Frank53]

jwse30

Tank car: 6465 Sunoco

Hopper: most any LV 

Gondola: most any 

Boxcar: 6014 Baby Ruth or Frisco

Flatcar: most any that's missing its load

Caboose: 6017

That's a reasonable list and while some may vary by a couple of bucks, you can assemble a 'prototypical post war set' for very little money. I purchased this 2037 last year for $30.00 and two bottles of beer. It runs smooth and nearly silent and smokes like a madman.

[Anonymous]

Buying PW Lionel items cheap is one of those things that you need to be in the right place at the right time, or have a source that most people would pass by. I haven't been quite as lucky as Frank53, but I have bought a number of clean PW items at great (way below book value) prices. For example, I got a mint example of a 3456 hopper for only $25.  However, I won't give away any more details on my source.