Which 671s or 681s came with nickel rimmed wheels
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Pre-1950.
I have a 48 no nickel rims plus I seen others no nickel either It seems that only some do
There were none after 1949. 1946 671 & 2020 had all 8 wheels w/ rims, they varied after that... 8 or 4 or none. There may be some online references that break it down year-by-year.
Lionel used nickel rimmed wheels the first couple of years they produced the 671 in 1946 and 1947. The earliest of these engines used the head lamp to produce heat for the smoke generator. So if you see a 671 with a head lamp smoke generator, you should expect to see nickel rimmed wheels. The nickel rimmed wheels seem to have been phased out by 1948 and 1949.
Lionel added magnetraction when they changed the model number to 681 in 1950. The nickel rimmed wheels could not be used with magnetraction, so none of the 681 engines came out of the factory with nickel rimmed wheels.
@John in California posted:Lionel used nickel rimmed wheels the first couple of years they produced the 671 in 1946 and 1947. The earliest of these engines used the head lamp to produce heat for the smoke generator. So if you see a 671 with a head lamp smoke generator, you should expect to see nickel rimmed wheels. The nickel rimmed wheels seem to have been phased out by 1948 and 1949.
Lionel added magnetraction when they changed the model number to 681 in 1950. The nickel rimmed wheels could not be used with magnetraction, so none of the 681 engines came out of the factory with nickel rimmed wheels.
Also since we are talking “now” how many engines have had drive trains swapped out? All original is in the eye of the beholder.
