Reply to "Lionel Smoke Question"

cjack posted:

Second sentence...and maybe send it to Lionel Customer Service.

 https://www.tandem-associates...._trains_239_loco.htm

I don't think I'll be communicating with Lionel Customer Service again.

btw I've been trying to figure out the set number that included my #233.  That was the first set my dad bought, and it included:

1. #233 2-4-2 with plastic body, headlight, smoke, & MagneTraction
2. #233W black Lionel Lines tender with whistle
3. #6162 blue NYC gondola with 3 white canisters
4. #6465 green Cities Service two-dome tank car
5. #6343 red Lionel Lines Barrel Ramp car with 6 barrels
6. #6476 black Lehigh Valley Hopper
7. #6017 brown Lionel Lines unlit caboose.
8. #1073 60W Transformer
9. #147 Whistle Controller
10. #909 Smoke Fluid
11. #1008 Camtrol Uncoupler
12. Hookup wire
13. #1013 O27 Curved track (12) Not sure.  It may have had only 8 without the #1020 O27 Crossing
14. #1018 O27 Straight track (4)
15. #1020 O27 90 degree crossing  Not sure.  It may have not been included.

The set box it came in was thrown out after the basement it was in got flooded in the early 1970s, but I think it looked similar to the set box pictured with #239.  I've been trying to identify the set number using different price guides, but the only set I've found with similar contents is the #1648 5-Car Supply Line Steam Freight from 1961.  However it's listed as having:

1. #2037 2-6-4 with smoke & MagneTraction
2. #233W black Lionel Lines tender with whistle
3. #6062 black gondola with 3 orange reels
4. #6465 green Cities Service two-dome tank car
5. #6519 Allis-Chalmers
6. #6476 red Lehigh Valley hopper
7. #6017 brown Lionel Lines unlit caboose

I'm not sure, but my dad's set may have also come with telegraph poles (like those in #150) and a set of signs (either like those in #308 or #309).  It's possible they came in a plastic bag rather than boxes, but I can't be certain.  I do remember the locomotive and tender having their own boxes.  I think the locomotive came in a corrugated brown box, while the tender came in an orange box with corrugated cardboard lining it's box.  The five cars didn't have boxes.  There were silhouette cutouts in the packing carton for each car to be slid into.  I remember always carefully repackaging everything in the box whenever I was done playing with the set.

When I bought #239 later, I used to pit both engines against each other face to face since they looked identical to one another apart from the numbers.  It was #239's die-cast heavy metal body VS #233's light plastic body with MagneTraction.  I'd make sure both had plenty of smoke fluid before starting.  Then I'd announce:

On your mark!

Get set!

Go!!!

I'd give both locomotives FULL POWER!!!

#233 would lock down on the track, while #239s wheels would spin freely despite its much heavier weight.

Occasionally #239's wheels would spin so fast, #239 would gain an advantage and push #233 back a few inches.

#239 would be smoking furiously!!!

Then #233's MagneTraction would take over!

#233's wheels would get traction and move #239 back to where they started.

#233 would shoot forth a few puffs of smoke in that brief instant before it's wheels locked down again.

Then the cycle would repeat!

Neither engine ever gained more than a few inches at a time---it was always a stale mate!