Hello everyone, I am just catching up with the postings as I have been absent for about 3 weeks on vacation. Trainguy Ken- some neat Hafner sets, I also have some and I agree with your comment, the 1010 loco was first produced in 1938 but the 2000 loco dates from just before Hafner sold out to All Metal Products (Wyandotte) in about '51. Glad to see you run them. Frenchtrains (Daniel) that Marklin gauge 1 loco is in amazing condition, what a find!! Fatman - loved the Robilt although the tender looks more robust with its brass bogies than does the engine (LOL).
My find today is a little more mundane in that it only represents a single car. However this one configuration somewhat unusual and for the 800/2800 series was only produced for 2 years (some sources say only 1). It is the 2812X (as catalogued) gondola...although the catalog # is 2812X the car only carries 2812. The differences are in the coupler and truck mounting. This is one of the cars that Lionel configured to lower the coupler height (for more realism?). It came painted in only this bright orange color with white stamped lettering and had automatic box couplers with a simulated knuckle on the top of the box. The trucks were moved (in comparison to the prior 2812) closer to the ends of the car and the frame carried two depressions or disc's where the trucks were mounted. This distinctive coupler height and truck placement differentiate this car and some other late production cars from the earlier members of the series.
Here is a side view showing the lettering scheme, note all rubber stamped and no "plates". The car 's trucks are quite close to the ends of the frame.
In a close up of the brake wheel end you can see the car number underscored and the date overscored. Again best information is that these low coupler cars were only made in '41 and '42 ( and of course production of all toy trains stopped in '42) This picture also shows how close to the frame ends the trucks were mounted.
Finally an end view shows the "simulated knuckle" on top of the coupler box and at the other end you can see the "depression" or "disc" punched into the underframe to mount the trucks. This depression allowed the couplers to be low while keeping the body of the car at about the same previous height in order to match up with earlier cars.
Well that's my contribution this week. Best wishes to all.
Don
