Lionel 90s Phenolic / Die Cast cars question

This may have been the set you saw - pretty sure it was from 1999 (don’t know if they offered any other lines).

@Apples55 posted:

This may have been the set you saw - pretty sure it was from 1999 (don’t know if they offered any other lines).

That is one I did see. I might pick that up set up down the road. I really like the color scheme.

@RamblerDon posted:

That is one I did see. I might pick that up set up down the road. I really like the color scheme.

It really is a nice set (I picked it up a year or so ago as NOS). The individual cars are also quite heavy.

@Apples55 I mostly collect prewar and I am a fan of the originals. I did decide to pick up the reissue set to use behind my 773 when I do run some postwar power. They should be in the mail to me now. I am curious to how they stack up to the originals. But I wouldn't mind getting some of the other releases also. Thank you for the information!

They also did a 4-car set of phenolic Rio Grande stock cars, No. 21771, in 1999.

I remember these. I liked them until I saw "Mechanical Refrigerator" on the side, but ice hatches on the roof.

"Mechanical refrigeration" means no ice hatches. It's a mechanical system. You know - like refrigerators and air conditioning.

@D500 I hadn't even realized that until you pointed it out. Big oops on that. Still, they look nice.

Maybe they were older cars converted - you could always pretend at least.

PRETEND?? OMG! What do you think these things are? Toy trains?

@artyoung posted:

PRETEND?? OMG! What do you think these things are? Toy trains?

Well they do run on 3 rails, Art

@D500 posted:

I remember these. I liked them until I saw "Mechanical Refrigerator" on the side, but ice hatches on the roof.

"Mechanical refrigeration" means no ice hatches. It's a mechanical system. You know - like refrigerators and air conditioning.

Maybe they were retrofitted?

Alan

Well, anyway, what’s special about phenolic construction?

Alan

@ajzend posted:

Well, anyway, what’s special about phenolic construction?

Alan

I believe Phenolic cars are made of a resin type material. The sides appear thicker than regular plastic cars and, overall, the cars are much heavier than a similar size plastic car.

I’m interested in acquiring one of these because Thermoquad! I had one on my ‘66 Chrysler.

@Apples55 posted:

I believe Phenolic cars are made of a resin type material. The sides appear thicker than regular plastic cars and, overall, the cars are much heavier than a similar size plastic car.

Thanks for your reply. When I have picked up what I thought were phenolic cars they were definitely heaver

Are they chip or crack resistant compared to plastics?

Alan

I believe the idea was to emulate the bakelite construction of the originals from the early 40s.