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The “PHANTOM SWITCHER”
Madison Car with Operating Man
Madison Hardware Madison Cars Lettered “PENNSYLVANIA”
No. 2429 Livingston Passenger Car with Red Letters & Red Stripe
No. 2429 Livingston Passenger Car with Black Letters & Red Stripe
No. 2465 with ladders & full railing as shown in 1946 Catalog
Electronic Set and Cars Notes and History
No. 4420 Electronic Set Work Caboose Mock-up
No. 4462 Electronic Set Gondola Mock-up
No. 4465 Electronic Set Tank Car Mock-up
No. 6017 ? Black SP Caboose
No. 6121 Sheet Metal Flat with decaled “LIONEL” in black
No. 6464-275 State of Maine, but with BAR only, and no number.
No. 6464 – 400 Type IIb BLT 5 – 54 with orange round decal without white
No. 6464-475 B&M Type IV medium blue unpainted shell, with unpainted medium yellow Multi Block doors.
No. 6464 – 900 WITH RED BRAKE WHEEL ?
LEHIGH VALLEY OPERATING HOPPER
A Different Smoking Caboose
THE “PHANTOM SWITCHER”
In the photograph above of the Lionel show room layout just to the right of the turntable there is a white switcher shown which collectors refer to as the “PHANTOM SWITCHER”. The original “Phantom” loco has never surfaced. The one shown below is something to think about.
Courtesy of “The MacNair Collection”
Madison Car with Operating Man
The following heavy weight passenger car with added features is summited by Russ McNair.
I call it the “Mystery Madison Man”. I picked this car up at York some years ago. Since that time I have shared it with a number of serious postwar collectors. So far, no one has been able to come up with a reasonable explanation for its existence.
The way it works is that when you push the unload button on a RCS or UCS track, the conductor emerges from the vestibule door. The door is not hinged like normal Madison Car doors, but slides sideways into the car. The action is achieved by the use of a solenoid that is similar to the solenoid on an early milk car. The door and solenoid mechanism are housed in a metal enclosure that fits into the car. The inside of the car had to be modified to accommodate the housing. The figure is similar to a Walters figure of the period. Note the unique truck and pick-up under the operating door.
Everything looks very professional.
Here is the mystery:
Was this car created by a very talented model hobbyist?
Was is offered as an aftermarket kit by some manufacturer?
Was someone at Lionel just playing around experimenting with a possible future product?
I would welcome any ideas. Russ
Madison Hardware Madison Cars Lettered “PENNSYLVANIA”
2625 Side 1
2625 Side 2
2627 Side 1
2627 Side 2
2628 Side 1
2628 Side 2
These are Postwar Madison cars re-lettered by Madison Hardware and sold in the store and by Mail-Order.
courtesy of the Tom Dennison collection
No. 2429 Livingston Passenger Car with Red Letters & Red Stripe
Possible Dealer Replacement Shell
Damaged
Courtesy of the Leverich Collection
No. 2429 Livingston Passenger Car with Red Letters & Red Stripe
Side 1
Side 2
Courtesy of the Worner Collection
No. 2465 with ladders & full railing as shown in 1946 Catalog
Lionel apparently planned to make the 2465 this way
Note Ladder and fully wrapped-around railing
Mock-Up courtesy of The Leverich Collection
Electronic Set and Cars Notes and History
The above article from Science Illustrated July 1946 shed some additional light on what Lionel was thinking as early as 1934 !. It was clear from looking at many of the earliest Postwar cars that Lionel designed them with provision for the Electronic receiver which mounted with two screws.
The above picture shows a casting which was used for several early postwar cars which included the 2411, 2419 and 2420 with the provision for mounting the receiver. Clearly, Lionel could also have made electronic versions of the Merchandise Car and the 3451 Log Car. Strangely, the 1950 Advance Catalog showed two “Add-on” cars which both would have required significant changes to the tooling to mount the receiver as shown below:
Below are some of my “mock-ups” of what might have been. -Lyle Leverich
No. 4420 Electronic Set Work Caboose Mock-up
The trucks should not have shoes, but I did not want to remove them.
Note that the receiver mounts perfectly on the two bosses on the bottom of the frame
Courtesy of The Leverich Collection
No. 4462 Electronic Set Gondola Mock-up
Note that the small hole plugs were drilled out and spaced for the Electronic receiver
Courtesy of The Leverich Collection
No. 4465 Electronic Set Tank Car Mock-up
Note Ladders and wrap-around railing and the Electronic receiver inside tank
Holes for wires and bracket existed in original 2456 frame.
Grommets and Ladders are original postwar parts.
Courtesy of The Leverich Collection
No. 6017 ? Black SP Caboose
Galvanized tab frame,dummy coupler, Type 2
May be a stripped, painted shell but although there are scratches on the sides it does not appear to have ever been heat stamped
6121 Sheet Metal Flat with decaled “LIONEL” in black
No numbered car painted light gray
2 Inch long “LIONEL” decaled in BLACK Serif letters on sides
(all Gray 6111/6121 had WHITE letters
Blackened steel supports
Bar end magnetic trucks riveted to frame
Load is three pipes
sides
Closeups of side lettering
Note the decals edges
Top View
Bottom view
Note “THE LIONEL CORPORATION” & data stamped into the sheet metal
No. 6464-275 State of Maine, but with BAR only, and no number.
It is possible a person could take a body shell off a 3494 BAR No Number and install it on a non-operating frame to create this … but the 3494 BAR has enough value in it’s own, why destroy it? Many collectors believe Lionel shipped out some of these no number shells as 6464 non-operating cars.
Courtesy of “The Worner Collection”
No. 6464 – 400 Type IIb BLT 5 – 54 with orange round decal without white
Here are photos of my 6464-400 Type IIb BLT 5-54 where the round decal has no white … all orange instead. The exterior shows a very dark navy blue unpainted plastic. Could this have been caused by some environmental factors? And yet the white lettering is still bright white. The round decal does not have the normal white ring and central white shape; instead the decal is all orange.
Have other collectors reported these? If environmental factors turned the shell to dark navy, and turned the white on the decal to orange (without affecting the bright white lettering), what could those environmental factors be?
Gerry Worner
No. 6464-475 B&M Type IV medium blue unpainted shell, with unpainted medium yellow Multi Block doors.
It is believed these came from Madison Hardware when they installed various colors of doors on incomplete 6464 bodies.
Courtesy of “The Worner Collection”
No. 6464 – 900 WITH RED BRAKE WHEEL ?
Here is a photo of my 6464-900 Type IV, with a metal brake wheel, painted red, attached with a normal black brake wheel stud. Other collectors report having seen these red brake wheels rarely, on 6464-900s.
Did Lionel use red brake wheels on any other rolling stock? How did these come to be used on some 6464-900s?
another find Type IV 6464-75 green Rock Island from 1969 … with a RED brakewheel
Gerry Worner
LEHIGH VALLEY OPERATING HOPPER
Before the No. 3456 N & W OPERATING HOPPER was ready Lionel used what was available to create an operating hopper for experimentation and for artist models, as seen above in the catalog illustration. H0151
all parts are from LIONEL production, the hatch covers, base plate and plunger
Here is a different smoking caboose, clearly custom made
Note the hole through the smoke stack
Note modification to the bottom
Apparently the smoke unit was installed in the clear window shell
Courtesy of the “Rindone Collection”