Author: Terry

I saw a building similar to this about 15 years ago. I’ve been looking for one since then. This is a small Japanese – it’s marked “Made In Japan” on the bottom – Christmas building. Probably from the 1930s.

It’s made of plaster of paris.

The one I saw years ago was about half the size of this one. This one is much more detailed. It has added window frames, doors, and clock.

It’s painted in the early Lionel colors meaning it was copied from a station Lionel made before 1935. In 1935 Lionel changed the color of the station to red and white and added train control to make the 116 station.

It has a small hole in the back so you can stick a Christmas tree light into it.

I’d like to get the smaller one.

There are all kinds of Japanese made Christmas buildings around. Some are paper or cardboard, some are composition, and some are plaster. These are commonly called Putz buildings.

Lionel added remote control couplers to the 814R reefer in 1938 to create the 2814R refrigerator car.

Two versions were made; both are shown on this page. The earlier white with blue roof is more common than the later rubber stamped car.

White with Blue Roof and Nickel plates 1938-40

2814R Flat white with tuscan roof and rubberstamped lettering.

Lionel introduced the 814R refrigerator car in 1929 in the ivory and peacock color scheme. Because this car was not made in 1926 no short wheel base cars exist.

In 1934 the color was changed to white with a light blue roof. The white and blue cars were made until 1940, when the flat white and tuscan cars replaced them. The first run of flat white cars had nickel plates- not shown, but I’ll add a picture as soon as I can buy or borrow one. The rest of the flat white/tuscan cars had rubberstamped lettering.

The flat white/tuscan 814R with nickel plates or with rubberstamped lettering is the hardest reefer to find. Both version of the flat white car are among the hardest Lionel 800 series cars. Personally, I think the one with nickel plates is harder because I have a rubber stamped one.

The other refrigerator cars are common with the exception of the cars from 1934 and 1935 with mixed trim.

While many collectors get excited about the aluminum frame cars, they are no more difficult to find than the earlier black frame cars.

Lionel 814R Ivory sides, peacock roof, black frame. Brass trim.

814R White, light blue, aluminum. Brass trim. 1935 notch car.

814R White, light blue, aluminum.

814R Flat white, tuscan, black. Rubberstamped lettering.

Lionel added remote control couplers to the reefer in 1938 and sold the resulting car as the 2814R

In 1938, Lionel added remote control couplers to the 813 stock car and introduced the 2813. The 2813 was made from 1938 through 1940, and came in cream and maroon only. The 2813 is not shown above but it looks the same as cream and maroon 813

The Lionel 813 Cattle car was introduced in 1926 in orange with a pea green roof.

In 1935, the color changed to cream and maroon. The cream and maroon car can be found with brass trim (harder to find) or with nickel trim.

In 1940, Lionel removed the nickel platesfrom the car and changed the color to tuscan with white rubber stamped lettering.The rubberstamped 813 is the hardest stock car to find; it is also one of the hardest regular production cars to find. Perhaps only 40-60 cars exist.

Here’s a guess as to why these cars are so hard to find: all of the cars I have examined-five- have holes in the ends. These holes are from the stamping dies, and correspond with where the embossed rivets should be. The rubber stamped cars are made of thinner galvanized metal, rather than the thicker tinplated metal used on the earlier cars.

I am guessing here, but perhaps the dies used to stamp the cars deformed the thinner metal of the car sides so that only a few of the stampings were useable? It would require a lot more pressure to stamp the slats in the car than to stamp rivet detail in the car ends.

Or, maybe Lionel had lots of cream and maroon cars in stock and didn’t start making tuscan cars until the war had started? I don’t know, but whatever the reason this is one rare car.

Some books say the rubber stamped 813 stock car is the rarest Lionel 800 series car. It’s not. The white/brown roof 814R reefer with nickel plates and the 816 black with rubber stamped lettering are both much harder to find.

The rest of the stock cars are easy to find with the orange and green car being really common. The 813 stockcar is the most commonly found short wheel base car. It is so common it won’t even bring a premium price over the normal wheelbase cars.

813 Orange sides, pea green roof, Brass trim.
This is a 1926 Short Wheel Base car.

813 Orange, pea green, brass.
Compare door handle on this car to larger handle on car above.

813 Cream, maroon, brass.
This is a 1935 car with mixed trim.

813 Tuscan, rubber stamped lettering.

In 1938, Lionel added remote control couplers to the 813 stock car and introduced the 2813.

Lionel’s 3814 merchandise car actually threw small crates out by remote control. The boxcar doesn’t work very well though. When it does work it throws the crates about a foot. That would have to be one very strong guy hidden in there to throw a crate 50 scale feet.The 3814 automatic merchandise car was one of the first remote control cars made by Lionel. It was cataloged from 1939 to 1942.

Two versions were made – the decaled version shown above and a rubber stamped version shown below.Original Lionel crates come in red or brown (shown) and have “Baby Ruth” embossed on them. Reproduction crates are available and do not have “Baby Ruth” on them. Collectors will pay $10-15 for the empty envelope the crates came in.

Rarity: While most collectors think the rubber stamped 3814 is harder to find, the decaled version is actually harder to find. The decaled version was made in 1939 only.

Lionel 3814 Tuscan. RS lettering.

Lionel introduced the 2814 Boxcar in 1938. It’s the same as the Lionel 814 boxcar but has automatic couplers. The 2814 was only made in two color variations. Both are shown on this page.

Rarity. The Cream and maroon 2814 from 1938-40 is much more common than the later rubber stamped car.

The Lionel 814 box car was introduced in 1926 and was cataloged through 1942. The 814 is not known to exist with rubber stamped lettering. The cream and orange cars can be found with peacock or pea green door guides. On all other cars the door guides match the roof.

In 1936, Lionel removed one of the stantions holding the brake wheel shaft from the car. The lower stantion was also removed the 813 cattle cars. All cars made after 1936 have only one stantion.

It is possible to make odd colored cars such as cream with brown roof by changing roofs.

The early short wheelbase car is the hardest to find. Next in rarity is the cream and maroon 814 . All other versions are quite common. Here are photos of the Lionel 814 Box Cars:

814Cream sides, orange roof, peacock door guides. This car has a large door handle.	814 Cream, orange, pea green doorguides. Small door handle.
814 Cream, orange.	814 Yellow, brown. Brass plates.
814 Yellow, brown. Nickel plates.	Two yellow/ brown cars. Early car on left with brass plates has 2 stantions on brake wheel. Later car on right has one.
814 Cream, maroon.

In 1938 Lionel added automatic couplers to this car and sold it as the 2814 Boxcar.