Author: Terry

The 2452 gondola was Lionel’s first plastic bodied train. The 2954 semi scale boxcar and the Madison cars introduced in 1940 were made of Bakalite. Bakalite is molded from granulated material. The material is compressed and heated to form the car.

The 2452 is made of a dense styrene plastic. Styrene is molded by forcing liquid material into a mold.

Anyway, the 2452 gondola comes in two basic versions. The O gauge 2452 has brakewheels and came with wooden barrels. The 0-27 gauge 2452X has no brakewheels, and didn’t come with barrels.

There are a lot of different versions of this car having to do with the mold – earliest bodies have three round holes in the floor, while later bodies have a large rectangular hole. The holes are for the electronic receiver used on the 4452 gondola.

There is also a lettering variation. The G27 is either small or large. Large is later. None of the variations mentioned above effect the value of the car.

There is another variation that does effect the value. The trucks. The 1945 cars come with flying shoe trucks. The pick up for the uncoupler is open. Later cars have a metal plate under the entire truck to provide support for the shoe.

Two versions of flying shoe trucks were made. The earliest versions have wheels with spirals on the backs – “Whirley wheels,” while later flying shoe trucks have plain backs. Plain backs are shown above.

Flying shoe trucks double the value of this car. A 2452 with whirley wheels can bring 4 times the value of a standard gondola.

Lionel introduced the 2411 flat car in 1946 as the “Big Inch Pipe Car.” It came with 3 blackened steel pipes. These pipes are hard to find today and are worth more than the flatcar.

In 1947 and 1948 the 2411 came with wood logs. These are the same logs used on the 164 log loader.

The 2411 flatcar is very common. It’s all metal and looks great with any train. In 1949 the trucks were changed to the new magnetic type and the 2411 was renumbered to the 6411.

Lionel made the 2359 Boston and Maine GP-9 in 1961 and 62. There are no variations of this loco.

As a side note, the difference between a GP-7 and a GP-9 is the addition of a dynamic brake to the top of the cab.

In 1965 the B&M diesel loco reappeared in the catalog as the 2346 loco. The 2346 Boston and Maine GP-9 was cataloged in 1965 and 66.

Both versions are equally available today and neither commands a premium.

Lionel introduced the 2339 Milwaukee geep in 1955. The first versions came with an orange cab. Later versions came with a black cab as shown above.

I think the orange cab versions come in boxes marked 2338X. The orange cab is worth considerably more than the black cab.

Lionel made two versions of the Wabash geep.

The Lionel 2339 Wabash GP-7 was cataloged in 1957 only. It was an O gauge engine and was available in sets or by itself.

The 2337 GP-7 was made in 1958, and cataloged as an 0-27 loco. Most 0-27 locos only came in sets, and 0-27 sets came with track and transformer.

The two engines are identical except for the number on the hood. Neither version is harder to find, but the 2339 is slightly more desirable than the 2337.

The Lionel 2328 Burlington GP-7 was offered in 1955 and 1956. This is one of the most common of the Lionel geeps.

There are no variations of the 2328.

The aluminum paint Lionel used in the postwar period is water based, and cannot be cleaned. A 2328 Burlington like the one shown above will sell for $50-70 because the paint is faded. An unfaded and uncleaned loco will sell for 5-8 times as much.

Lionel introduced the 197 radar antenna in 1958. It was offered again in 1959 and then canceled. It was made with gray or orange base. The orange base is harder to find. The gray base is shown above.

The rotating antenna and the guardrails are usually broken. Replacement parts are available.

The 197 radar tower has been reissued by both Lionel and MTH.

This is a 1958 Marx 52960 army set. (The set box is dated August 1958 on the bottom.) The Army sets are quite desirable. The plastic ones don’t have as big a following as the earlier tin lithographed sets, but are still among the most desirable of the plastic Marx trains.

This is a less desirable set because it doesn’t have a green engine or tender, but the set contains some desirable cars.

The loco is just a common 666 with an even commoner Santa Fe tender. The caboose is a deluxe Santa Fe work caboose with search light. The Erie automatic electric log dump car is a neat operating car but has no place in an Army set.

The 2858 boxcar and 2824 rocket launcher are desirable cars. I’ve included individual photos below.

The Marx 2858 United States Army Bureau Of Ordinance boxcar is the most desirable plastic Marx military car. Just drab olive green with white lettering. It does have a sliding door though.

The Marx 2824 Army Rocket Launcher Flat is an action car. There should be three rockets with the car shown above, but they’ve gotten lost somewhere over the past 50 years. There should also be a green man on the right side of the car, but he went AWOL.

The Marx 2246 Army Flatcar came with silver plastic trucks or jeeps. These are missing from the car shown above. They were probably driven off by the man missing from the rocket flat car and his drinking buddies.

This set is very desirable because of the boxcar. Any Marx collector would be excited to get a set like this.