I was recently given some tinplate cars that a family member had found at a yard sale for really cheap. The lot included a 1679 Baby Ruth boxcar, 1680 Sunoco tanker, and a 1682 caboose. While my primary focus is not tinplate, it was very thoughtful and they compliment the tinplate that I have from my grandfather. Of my grandfather's, I have a 296 boxcab electric, 805 boxcar, a different style 1680 Sunoco tanker, and three 600 series cars which he painted blue in the 50s. (The family member who found the cars was the previous owner of the my grandfathers trains hence recognized the tinplate style of trains). I'm fortunate to also have a few other tinplate items from my other grandfather but I digress...
I'm curious as to what Lionel's relationship was with Sunoco and Baby Ruth. I'm aware of the lithographed cars from the prewar era, as well as the post-war 6004 boxcar. Did Lionel have a corporate relation with these companies? How were these companies chosen? I know sunoco was a big corporations/ house-hold-name back in the day; nonetheless why these and not other companies or road-names like prr, nyc, atsf, up, etc?
