As far as my knowledge goes, after Lionel scored big with the first Century Club, it inspired them to make more modern updated versions of postwar classics.
The first official model in the line was the 2355 Western Pacific F-3 AA’s in 1998, which wasn’t exactly a good year in terms of quality control for Lionel. Most consumers complained about the sticker on the nose where it should’ve been a decal. Lionel fixed most of the issues with their second F-3 the following year - the 2245 Texas Special, which for a long time along with its matching passenger cars held a considerable value. Lionel made an assortment of other items that year as well, including the boat loader, the GN rotary snowplow and the inspection vehicle, and just kept piling the reissues on as the years went on.
The Southern F-3’s were cataloged in 2000, and just like the Texas Special were sold with a matching set of aluminum cars separately.
