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I have a request for some of the Lionel guys.
In 1949 at the tender age of 6 my dad bought us an O gauge Lionel set for Christmas. It was not an inexpensive set. It came with an operating log car, operating milk car,and several other cars that I can't remember.
It was the full "O" with the tall track and bigger radius curves. It had a crossing gate and there were 2 remote switches, which might have come separately. The caboose was one of the PRR style.
It had a big steam locomotive with smoke and whistle and magnetraction. I can't remember the wheel arrangement.
Now I'm sure it was a standard set and I would like to see what was available so I could perhaps duplicate it for a Christmas train in the next few years.
Can anyone be of some help?
Charlie
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I don't have a copy of it, but there was a book titled "The Toy Train Department" that was a reprint of the toy train section of all the postwar era Christmas catalogs. That would be a good place to start, to see if anything there spurs any memories. The ISBN is 1887790004 and author is Thomas Holland. With some luck, maybe it's in your public library. (That's where I found out about it.)
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Thanks Dave
I'll have a look. I remember a lot about that train but can't remember the exact locomotive that was on it. I'm pretty sure It will come to me. I talked my dad into selling it around 1955 because I wanted an American Flyer with 2 real rails. It too is long gone.
Charlie
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I just thought of a couple more possibilities. The Standard Catalog of Lionel Postwar Trains by David Doyle (it should be available in most bookstores still) has pictures of pretty much every postwar steamer configuration Lionel made in there. That may help you identify the loco. Doyle also did a catalog of postwar Lionel sets, if you want to try to identify the set itself. I had forgotten about that book. The ISBN on Doyle's set book is 0896894444 and the ISBN on the train book is 0896893782. Used copies of both are inexpensive on Amazon right now, if you don't want to drive around looking for them.
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What I think is a great deal and can help you research this is a CD by John Holtmann Which has all of the Lionel catalogs from 1945 to 1969 on it. I have it and it is neat. Here is the web site.
http://www.hslinc.com/
Hope this helps. BTW he has another from 1970 to 1995 and is working on a prewar CD.
John
Any day I can run my O gauge trains or ride the full sized ones is a great day.
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Thanks for the link. Those look like they will be great reference manuals. I'll get one in the very near future.
Charlie
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In the 1948 Lionel catalogue I found:
No. 2141WS Four-Car freight set: $58.75.
671 Loco w/ 2671W Pennsylvania tender
3451 Operating Lumber Car (Log Car)
3462 Operating Milk car
2456 Hopper Car (Lehigh Valley)
2357 Illuminated caboose (SP)
No. 1449WS 'O27' Lionel five-car freight outfit: $65.
2020 Loco w/ 6020W tender
3462 Automatic Milk car
6411 Flat car w/ logs
3459 Automatic Ore Dump car
6357 Illuminated caboose
1033 Transformer
Not listed, but shown in the picture is a Sunoco Tank car.
Hope this helps.
Kurt
