Lionel’s perfect postwar train set

Lionel’s perfect postwar train set

The perfect postwar Lionel train set should have a great locomotive, exciting and attractive pieces of rolling stock, and maybe an operating accessory. There would be plenty of track, too.

Which engine and cars would you choose if you were able to assemble a perfect outfit from the post-World War II era? Back then, the task of creating many new sets each year for the cataloged lineup belonged to the executive vice-president, national sales manager, and their top assistant. Joshua and Lawrence Cowen likely evaluated the sets.

Let’s pretend we’re in one of those posts. How would you create the perfect set – one unlike anything Lionel showed in either its advance or consumer catalog? I’ll get the ball rolling with my selections after establishing a few ground rules to guide you when you put together your perfect train set and then submit your choices to me at Trains.com. By the way, I shared my opinion of the perfect Lionel F3 diesel outfit back in 2005 in All Star Electric Trains of the 1950s.

Guidelines to follow

Credit for coming up with the idea of creating the perfect postwar set goes to one of the smartest fellows in the hobby: Vladimir J. Dragan. We were talking at the October 2023 train show in York, Pa., organized by the Eastern Division of the Train Collectors Association. Vladimir suggested I create my perfect set and then invite readers to put together what they think would constitute the perfect Lionel set from the postwar period.

Here are the guidelines for everyone to follow when coming up with their set.

1. The set will consist of a locomotive and a total of five other components: either all rolling stock (freight or passenger cars) or four cars and one accessory.
2. The set will not duplicate any set Lionel showed or listed in a catalog.
3. Lionel must have cataloged the engine during the postwar era: 1945-69.
4. A steam engine and tender combination count as only one item.
5. A powered diesel and its matching dummy A or B unit count as one item.
6. The year the locomotive was cataloged will limit the components of the perfect set, meaning they cannot have been introduced after the locomotive was cataloged and they must have been shown in the annual catalog no more than two years earlier.

Let me explain: If you pick a locomotive Lionel cataloged in 1954, your choices of components cannot have been introduced in 1955 or later. In addition, the components must have been shown in the consumer catalog in 1952, 1953, or 1954.

The reasoning behind the third and fourth guidelines is obvious. Lionel couldn’t have put in a cataloged set something introduced in the future. Also, marketing personnel seldom carried components over for several years. Exceptions to that statement did exist, but for the sake of this contest, let’s limit choices to just two previous years.

My perfect Lionel set

Okay, now that you know the background and the guidelines, here is my perfect outfit. It’s a freight train with loads of play value led by a top-of-the-line steam engine that Lionel cataloged in 1956, a terrific year for the line that was when I got my first set.

A No. 736 Berkshire steam engine and a No. 2046W provide the power. The magnificent model of a 2-8-4 steamer features an operating headlight, Magne-Traction and a three-position reverse unit, and a smoke unit. The tender naturally has a whistle.

This combination pulls four slick freight cars and a deluxe illuminated caboose. There are two innovative operating cars: a No. 3662 Automatic Refrigerated Milk Car (with the metal platform needed for delivery of the miniature canisters of milk) and a No. 3424 Wabash brakeman car. As you probably know, I consider the 3424 one of the finest and most entertaining models developed during the postwar period – it’s close to magic!

Next I’ve picked a stalwart member of the postwar roster that always delivered a bit of animation and fun: the No. 3620 Lionel Lines rotating searchlight car. I love the way the light turned while the car traveled around an oval of track and seemed realistic.

My fourth component is a No. 6362 Railway Truck Car – it comes with a neat load of three bar-end trucks you can remove to push along the tracks or drop onto the bed of a pressed-metal tractor-trailer rig to pretend your railroad serves a local community.

Riding at the end of my perfect train is a No. 6419 Work Caboose. I confess that Lionel assigned those models strictly to sets identified as work trains, but this is my own version of the perfect outfit and so a long work caboose with toolboxes looks right to me.

Your turn

Now that you have read the rules and learned my version of the perfect Lionel set from the postwar years, we at Trains.com look forward to hearing from you. Share your ideas with me at rcarp@classictoytrains.com (putting “Perfect Set) in the subject line.