COLOR SAMPLES

Lionel encouraged members of the Engineering Department to experiment with color and lettering schemes before final versions of freight and passenger cars were chosen for production. A rare example is the No. 6464-50 Minneapolis & St. Louis boxcar on the left. The green scheme imitated what the full-size railroad did and another manufacturer of O gauge trains (Auburn Model Trains) was already doing. Just why Lionel painted the cataloged version Tuscan Red remains a mystery. Paul notes how his decaled color sample has the “0000” associated with Lionel samples and the full name of the regional railroad on the right side. Perhaps the No. 6417 Pennsylvania RR porthole caboose left as an unpainted black plastic model before heat-stamped in white was being considered for the cataloged roster. Paul owns other preliminary freight cars in the same stark scheme.

Color samples created for production supervisors and sales executives to study stand out due to their rarity and interest. They shed light on what key people were looking for when expanding the line. These streamlined cars represent Lionel’s attempt to enhance what it packed in high-end passenger outfits. Besides red stripes, the newcomers would also bear the name of the Santa Fe. The prototypes of a Pullman and a Vista-Dome with painted stripes and decaled markings (Paul also has a matching observation) led to the introduction of the Nos. 2560 series in 1959. Lionel ran the streamliners behind No. 2383 Santa Fe F3 A-A sets in Super O sets Nos. 2544W (cataloged for 1959 and ’60) and 2576 (cataloged as the Super Chief for 1961).