Lionel Prewar 1930's Uncataloged Set travels the Lionel T- Rail Lake Shore Railway No. 185.

[@wayneantoniazzi2706]

Beautiful cars Jim! Thanks for sharing them with us! Reminds me of a Pre-War set I picked up at one of our club shows. A 259e locomotive with assorted cars and in almost-new condition. I'm not really a Pre-War guy but every time I walked past it I heard a voice saying "Please take me home with you!" How could I resist? 🤩

[@JFLionelT-RailOperator]

Thanks for watching. Funny that I have heard that voice many times over the years. There is a certain attraction to Prewar tinplate trains and especially to Lionel.

[@willamettevalleyAFtrains]

Nice clean examples. Great colors. Thanks for showing.

[@JFLionelT-RailOperator]

This is certainly not a rare set, but the Like New condition was the overwhelming attraction. Thanks for watching.

[@ferrark1]

Love the old stuff your trains are in great shape!

[@JFLionelT-RailOperator]

Thanks for watching. The LN condition of this set was its strongest attribute.

[@columbothecat7225]

You have a great layout. Love to see a video overview.

[@JFLionelT-RailOperator]

Thanks for watching. Please check-out my channel-page and subscribe if you have not done so already. There are many videos that show the overall 500 sf layout, construction and evolution over the years.

[@OgaugeTrainsplusslotCars]

Nice looking Railroad

[@JFLionelT-RailOperator]

Thanks for watching.

[@johnblair8146]

An interesting set. As for uncataloged prewar, I'm piecing together a 289. My brother came across a 289 with the wrong motor and a Marx smokestack. I subsequently bought a 289 with disintegrated drive wheels but it had the right motor, a smokestack, a set of rods and a nicer set of nameplates. A basket case 249 provided a set of drivers. Now i'm wiring it up. The repaint was Rustoleum Silver Metallic (A decent prewar Lionel Gunmetal). Man, what a pile of junk I started with!!!!! Looks nice now!!!!!!

[@JFLionelT-RailOperator]

Thanks for watching. The 289E is a tuff loco to find, so is well worth the effort you are putting into it. The 289E was only available in uncataloged sets. It came in gunmetal and black, but the gunmetal is the most attractive.

[@ronalddevine9587]

Luv the prewar. The only thing I don't like is the latch couplers.

[@johnblair8146]

Rewatch the video. The 2700 series cars are the same cars as seen here but with box couplers.

[@ronalddevine9587]

@@johnblair8146 I noticed that. That's why I said latch couplers.

[@JFLionelT-RailOperator]

I see you got a reply before I was able to answer. Yes there are auto coupler versions of these cars. Both 1700 and 2700 series were made exclusively for low priced department store specials. Latch couplers were Lionel's cheapest option, so were used on many uncataloged sets.

[@don679]

What are you using for the layout base? It doesn't sound like plywood. Or maybe the smooth operation is from the t-rail?

[@JFLionelT-RailOperator]

The solid rail of T-Rail does deaden the sound some, also I put down a 1/16th inch of cork on the surface of the entire layout. Also possible that using 3/4" plywood instead of 1/2" helped too.

[@lucasquintanilla1673]

Nice prewar stuff! How often do you mix and match prewar locomotives and rollingstock with postwar stuff? Like, would it be possible to run a postwar Santa Fe F3 with pre-war tin plate, carriages, or run a pre-war tin plate steamer with post war box cars?

[@JFLionelT-RailOperator]

Good to hear from you, thanks for watching. I am attaching a link to a video that answers your question about running pre and postwar Lionel together. kzbin.info/www/bejne/b2rTfnejnrGKerM

[@lucasquintanilla1673]

@@JFLionelT-RailOperator thanks for the video! Might be helpful. Do you think a postwar F3 would look good with prewar tinplate passenger cars?

[@JFLionelT-RailOperator]

@@lucasquintanilla1673 Probably would look best with prewar semiscale or scale detail cars, not sure about tinplate cars.

[@lucasquintanilla1673]

@@JFLionelT-RailOperator I have to say I saw your paint it black video. Apparently that song I think was a favorite during the Vietnam war or at least it seems to be associated with it. Something rather funny about the Madison World War II era train set is that a lot of British locomotives actually got painted black during the war for two reasons. The first reason was that since they were black they were harder to spot from the air by German aircraft thus making them harder to strafe. The second is that black paint was cheaper to produce, and as a result, it helped to cut down on costs and simplify production for the war effort.

[@JFLionelT-RailOperator]

@@lucasquintanilla1673 I believe that Madison painted the Lionel trains black that they sold in 1943-44, for one of your reasons. Flat black was likely the only appropriate paint they were able to get in quantity, due to demands of war production.

[@plunkervillerr1529]

I likem that 1920s loc. for I be tryin to squeeze a Marx S/R into the shell of a Similar Flyer 420 Brass copper cast dating 1931--32. Tis not easy me.

[@JFLionelT-RailOperator]

Sounds like a good project.

[@plunkervillerr1529]

@@JFLionelT-RailOperator Marx guy here, I finished the Prewar Flyer Cast Shell powered by Marx. She runs and pulls well. 11/14/24

[@gusshadleythelunaticfromar7125]

You must have done some serious study of lionel to known all of this information. I must say, I have never seen a set like this.

[@JFLionelT-RailOperator]

This is actually a fairly common Department store set from the late 1930's. I featured it cuz it was in such pristine condition. I have only studied tinplate trains for about the last 50 years! I still have a lot to learn.