Is the MTH LIONEL STEPHEN GIRARD Coach simply a shortened version of the MTH LIONEL BLUE COMET Coach

NOTE: The late Hal Carstens, in his early standard gauge guidebook, also referred to this set as the "Liberty Bell" series after the name of one of the other three cars.

@OGRNorman posted:

with the same above the Rails Roof Height ?

Yes, the roof height is the same, as is the width, and the trucks.

See this thread

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...on-re-stephen-girard

The Stephen Girard series 424,425,426 were the smallest & Lionel's least detailed of the sets.

6 inches shorter than the State Sets but with 6 wheel trucks.

Not sure why they were named after him except he was a successful French immigrant who came to the US and started a shipping business in Philadelphia that made him the richest man in the US at his death in 1831 (7,000,000). 

The cars are all Pennsylvania related names (Liberty Bell, Girard (both Philadelphia) and Coral Isle (another Pennsylvania car).

Hi,

"  The Stephen Girard series 424,425,426 were the smallest & Lionel's least detailed of the sets.  "

Do the Stephen Girard Set Cars have any Interior Detailing of the Seats, etc. ?

Norman

No detailed interiors on the prewar Stephen Girard cars.

As for the name, I think it's just what collectors started to call them, sort of like the term "State Set." Lionel never (to my knowledge) referred to these sets in this manner in any of their prewar-era advertising;  it's just what collectors started calling them because the cars are named for states....and the name stuck. It is interesting how some sets acquired names and others didn't, such as outfit #342E, which most collectors refer to as the "Baby State Set." The only thing it has in common with the actual State Set is the color, but I guess that was enough to earn it a nickname. 

The "Girard" cars had longitudinal bench type seats on both sides.

Like these...