OldBogie posted:The strange thing to my mind is that Lionel was always so particular about engine numbers and their included design. So why did they make a change from a 2-6-2 to a 2-6-4 while retaining the number of the 2-6-2.
Bogie
I can guess: they eliminated the die-cast outboard-bearing trailing truck to cut costs, but to avoid having it look too sparse back there they improvised the cheap basic 4-wheel trailing truck. Why they didn't change the number? Maybe so they could phase in the different loco version more easily. Later on, postwar Lionel would often make trivial changes to some items and change the number and boast that it was "new" in the latest catalog.
I think I've heard that one set of the different-sized wheels in the basic 4-wheel loco trailing truck was overstock from prewar items but I don't know if that part is true.
Leave it to Lionel to make a 2-6-4 version of a Pennsy K-4 Pacific. 4-wheel pilot trucks won't fit on O27 locos without serious compromises to dimensions of cylinders, wheels, etc.
Lionel 2035 "K4 Pacific", photo from internet
