@Don McErlean posted:@Sitka: A gang car chasing a moving caboose...Whoa! there must have been a little too much 4th of July holiday cheer passed around at lunch time! That "gang" is really crazy!
Neat picture. Rusty - Amtrack going away with red lights, neat picture.
Well as usual, my offering today is interesting more for its place in toy train history than for anything else. The Lionel #2472 caboose of 1946-47 was the last of Lionel's tinplate type cabooses. They had the 2457 and 4457 (from the electronic set). The 2457 being the first Lionel caboose of the post war period appearing in early 1945. All 3 of these were designed to mimic the PRR N5 cabin car and were made from stamped metal and then painted and lettered. Lionel, looking for ways to both save money and increase production (remember the enormous demand for trains in the early post war period) had settled on plastic molding and had even produced both a gondola car and a tank car with this method by 1947. So Lionel abandoned the stamped N5 caboose and switched to the plastic molded SP type caboose in 1947 and so ended the use of these cars (at least that was the plan and of course old stock was always used up).
So what of the humble # 2472? It was the least detailed of the trio without the frame mounted tool boxes or air compressor and without a smoke stack. It was never illuminated and did not even have the brake wheels on the railings. Post war it only came in red with white lettering. This version does not have the coupla windows punched out (that would happen in 1947) , has "Eastern Div" lettering, and comes with Type 3A couplers and trucks...dating it to 1946 or early 47. It has the "flying shoe" coil couplers. So here is the 1946 #2472 PRR N5 caboose:
Please ignore the awful plastic insert into the windows, this caboose from Lionel never had such a thing. It will be removed once I have the time to open up the body but since this is held on with metal bent tabs I will have to take my time to get it off. What the person that did this was thinking I can't tell because there is not any illumination either now or ever. The caboose is however all metal, not a bit of plastic on it anywhere. I purchased this caboose at the TCA convention in Nashville mostly because it has very good to excellent paint and lettering, especially for being some 75 years old (it was born about the same time I was !).
Here is the rear end of the caboose, this version never had more than one coupler. Note that the forward (and aft) coupla windows are not punched out, this would change in later versions of this car.
Here is the coupler end. Note that there are brakewheel holding fixtures on the hand rail but no brake wheels. This is the same on both ends. I have checked all my references and the associated pictures and believe that this is the way Lionel delivered this caboose in 1946, None of my references refer to brake wheels nor do any pictures show them. If you have other information on this issue please post.
Well that's all I have for T.E.Tuesday folks. I hope you had a wonderful 4th of July weekend, I know that I did by mostly attending the TCA convention in Nashville.
Best wishes all
Don
Thank Don, I can neither confirm nor deny my actions on the fourth of July Hope you had a good weekend!
Mark
