Lionel 9700 Red Southern boxcar

Maybe I can help.  Years ago I worked at a hobby shop and we had a sheet of the green dot stickers in a parts bin.  Took us a while to figure out exactly what they were for.  24 on the sheet if I remember right.

 

I've seen dozens of these cars over the years, and I do not recall any with a painted dot.  If they are out there i doubt Lionel made more than a handful; that little dot would have required its own paint mask and another step in the assembly process.  Perhaps a couple of preproduction samples and that's it. 

Turtle:

 

I have both of those two Southern box cars but I can’t remember if they have a green sticker, have the “o’ painted green or nothing at all.  Unfortunately they are packed in a box in the hardest-to-reach area under my layout.  I will try to get them out in the next few days and report back.

 

Bill

This was one of the first "add on" cars to my original train set.  My brother & I used to always see Southern boxcars on freights detouring through our neighborhood, so I had to have it!  My #9700 was bright red without the dot.  I also know that Lionel catalogued a tuscan red or brown Southern boxcar that did have the dot.  Not sure of the product number on that one.

 

Tommy MPC usually had excellent decoration, including some complex masking and decals.  I can't believe they expected dealers to stick these dots to the car!!

Tommy F and the other 9700 Southern red dot responders. Thanks for the replys-to me, learning about these past cars, rare or common-expensive or inexpensive, is much of the fun of this hobby-and clearly one man's junk is another man's treasure. I think that it is clear that Lionel did supply these stickies for the 9700 -and some may have put them on the 9711. Can we think of any train stores that may be in existence since 1970 that may have such a sheet? thanks, P Hering

Turtle,

 

I've collected and studied the MPC era extensively, and can say with reasonable certainty that the green dot stickers were NOT supplied by Lionel, and that there weren't any cars issued with them from the factory. Instead, the idea seemed to originate with the late Andy Kriswalus (Kris Model Trains), a large distributor of Lionel at the time.

 

I don't mean to diminish your enthusiasm for the cars (they're still fun to collect!) but the stickers were a post-production modification.

 

Regards,

Todd

A green dot in the O represented a green light in a trackside signal - "clear track ahead." A slogan on the car announced, Southern gives a green light to innovation

 

Ted, General Mills saved Lionel trains at the 11th hour. Those first years coming back from the brink were rough. Sticking a green dot on a car saved a paint mask and another production step, as Tommy F posted. Asking dealers to put those dots on the cars was legitimate at that time.

Todd's comments are "right on".  The dots were added to the cars by several(not many) early MPC venders.  The dots were on rolls of 450 Pres-a-ply signal dots made by Dennison Manufacturing.  I have a 9700 and 9711 "dotted" car for sale if anyone is interested.  Also have in my collection the remains of a package of the dots from an early collection purchase.

hold*on   please email me-I would like to purchase the 9700 with the green dot-and perhaps a few of the green dots so I could learn more about them-thanks hering7@aol.com

My car only has the dot on the side that was facing the box window. The other side never had it.