Rare Lionel Trains 908 Station with underpass

[@richardsobieck9660]

I knew about the submarine base but not this one. And that track plan is called the pretzel for obvious reasons. Thanks for sharing!

[@BriansTrainRoom]

Thanks for the comment. Love the Sub base, hope to do that episode later this year! Yeah, it's a pretzel layout, totally drew a blank when doing the description part. Will certainly put that in the 910 episode! Now you need to look for a 908! Enjoy. Brian

[@richardsobieck9660]

@@BriansTrainRoom It happens!

[@johnfroio4910]

A fascinating relic! Always wanted to see it for real, have only seen small pictures in books.

[@BriansTrainRoom]

Great accessory and now you have something to look for even more!. Good hunting. Brian

[@joshuacampbell9990]

That is such a neat piece that I never knew existed (same goes for the submarine base). As you were assembling your well loved one and trying to be patient, it made me think about how that’s probably why I’ve never seen it, too many dad’s Christmas Eve tossed it out before junior woke up lol. I’m sure if someone were to want to make a neat display, one could take a nice example to a print shop and have it scanned and printed on fresh cardboard, plastic, or if they really wanted to have it printed as a decal and then put it on a piece of sheet metal and bend the tabs on a brake.

[@BriansTrainRoom]

Yeah, surprised that any survived for that very reason. Really a large accessory as well and does not say Lionel on the pieces anywhere. So, even if it did make it past Christmas day, would have been overlooked over the years. Had fun with this episode! Thanks. Brian

[@gusshadleythelunaticfromar7125]

One of these would make a real neat display by itself.

[@BriansTrainRoom]

Totally agree, but they are big and you would need a nice sized train room. Really cool piece. Thanks. Brian

[@IndianaNorthWestern]

I've been collecting for 7 months and never knew this existed!!!!! I'm going to find one, buy it after haggling an insane amount, and play with it.

[@BriansTrainRoom]

Absolutely, that is what they were made for. Enjoy the trains. Thanks. Brian

[@StephenCarlBaldwin]

Incredible. I never knew these existed. Lionel (or some other enterprising firm) should make these again -- IMHO they could be big hits!

[@BriansTrainRoom]

I would be OK with that, would be a fun item to include in some of the starter sets for kids to get them something to run their trains around on a small layout!! Thanks. Brian

[@therosejewelrailroad489]

It’s amazing to me that any of these still exist. They seem like a short term life building/toy. I bought the book you referenced to for uncatalogued sets. It is a very impressive and well done book. It’s an expensive book but there so much information in there you can’t find online. Ken

[@BriansTrainRoom]

Totally agree, amazing any survived that were put together. Would have been thrown away pretty quickly! The Un-cataloged book is awesome, with so much information directly from Lionel documents. John helped me get some of the facts right on this one. Thanks. Brian

[@DavidLevine]

So neat! I don't recall seeing these items before. Thanks for sharing - fantastic !!

[@BriansTrainRoom]

Really cool accessory, Cardboard and only part of Un-cataloged sets. Not as rare as the 910 Sub base, but a fun one. Thanks, Brian

[@johnblair8146]

I've collected for over 50 years and had NO CLUE that this even existed!!!!!!!

[@BriansTrainRoom]

That is what makes collecting so much fun! The Station as well as the 910 Sub base are really cool and huge. A number of collectors have never seen one set up as well. Got stuff to look for now! Thanks. Brian

[@davidstrainsandlego]

Wow, such a cool piece, I didnt even know it existed

[@BriansTrainRoom]

Yes, the station and the Sub base are collector favorites. Don't see them set up often! Thanks. Brian

[@tomshannon7513]

I also never seen these before, pretty cool. Nice job with the 50y old cardboard!

[@BriansTrainRoom]

Thanks, fun episode. I have had an older "USED" 908 and put it together a few times. It is getting a little fragile, but such a cool station. Huge!! B

[@trainman5603]

I have been deeply into Lionel since I was age 4. That is 74 years ago. Until this presentation I had not a clue this existed! Imagine the possibilities, particularly a Christmas or Chanukah garden layout with a village! Thank you!

[@BriansTrainRoom]

Thanks for the comment, this is my goal of the channel, to hopefully show something new to you guys. The 908 is a really cool accessory, but it's huge and made of cardboard. Would be great if they had something like this in new starter sets for kids to play with to add play value. Love this hobby! Brian

[@trainman5603]

You certainly.are achieving your goal. I agree. This was a 1959 item. I remember the year quite well. My parents got me the Lionel 1862 General SET because I was very much into Civil War history and LiinelbTrains. It was a complete surprise because I hung out at the local Lionel dealer and had no idea Santa was bringing it, even though I was an 8th grader and getting ready for high-school. I still have it and it's box! Great memories. I agree today's kids need something like that!

[@Ed-ICE-Berg]

That is terrific! What a cool survivor from the Postwar years - great video!

[@BriansTrainRoom]

These were made in good numbers, but few survived due to the cardboard construction and not being marked! Thanks, Brian

[@actorprosvintagetrains7217]

Very cool

[@BriansTrainRoom]

Neat accessory that you rarely see put together , glad you liked it! Thanks, Brian

[@paulbervid1610]

Great video. That is cool, it would be awesome to get a reproduction of that and the sub base.

[@BriansTrainRoom]

For sure, especially the sub base (hope to show one in the future). These are really big, so they would really be great for starter sets and let kids use them for a small layout. Thanks. Brian

[@mikespurg8006]

Very interesting...

[@BriansTrainRoom]

Thanks, really neat accessory and tough to find nice! B

[@davidosborn1951]

Great video

[@BriansTrainRoom]

Thanks, loads of fun and such a cool accessory! Huge! Brian

[@gusshadleythelunaticfromar7125]

I just seen your Ad in Classic Toy Trains, I never seen one of these.

[@gusshadleythelunaticfromar7125]

Not one but two, wow one mint one to assemble, there is only 4 known to exist. That ad in CTT, is cool, never thought to run a ad in a magazine.

[@gusshadleythelunaticfromar7125]

You know it's funny,lionel made quality product then, now lionel LLC has all of these beautiful trains and its hit or miss. We take the abuse and keep coming back.

[@BriansTrainRoom]

Yeah, these are super cool and most collectors have not seen on in person. There are more than 4 known to exist, they did make this in significant numbers, but since they were made of cardboard, a low number have survived! Neat to see one set-up. The rarer sister piece is the 910 Sub base, that one will be a fun episode later this year!. The Ad was a great way to introduce my channel to more postwar junkies like me! Thanks. Brian

[@brianturner8477]

My brother got one of these accessories for Christmas one year. However, it didn’t have a train set with it. Since you have a nice list of sets that would have included this station, wouldn’t it make a nice future video to show [maybe from catalogues] the sets?

[@BriansTrainRoom]

Really neat that he got one without a train set. These were only available in un-cataloged sets it's hard to get good information about them. Any Christmas photos of the station by chance? Will certainly highlight some fun sets in the future, may included one of these for sure!! PS, usually the sets that had these were pretty mundane sets, the station is what added the play value! Brian

[@johnblair8146]

@BriansTrainRoom Y' know, that instruction sheet's typography and layout looks like NOTHING ELSE that Lionel ever produced. I wonder if Lionel didn't sub this wiole station out. There were companies that specialized in making cardboard cutout kits. Compare with the Lionel instruction sheet with "that Lionel look" at 12:08 in this video.

[@BriansTrainRoom]

Yeah, I am pretty sure Lionel Subcontracted the Station and Sub base production. Not only are the instructions different, but Lionel loved to put their name on everything in places. I will work on getting more information on it when I do the one on the 910 Sub base which I hope to do later this year!! Brian