1960s era Lionel train set

Denny:

Most likely if they were F-3's then they were 2383's.  Don't have set info in front of me, but will dig up the catalogs from that era and see if I can identify some set numbers.

The 2383's were produced until 1966.  You can read a little history at: http://www.postwarlionel.com/c...in/postwar?ITEM=2383.

Hope this helps further your investigation.

Another possibility would be a pair of 212 Santa Fe ALCo's. The boxcar sounds like a white 6014 Frisco.

Ricky

There are a couple promotional / uncataloged sets that had Santa Fe #215 powered and dummy diesels in it. Neither one had a white boxcar. Put that don't mean anything as Lionel would put anything in these sets to make it up.

Do you possibly remember if the engine had a 2 position or 3 position e unit in it?

2 position would be the #215 diesels

3 position would be the #2383 diesels

Also what part of the country where you living in at the time? Some of these sets where made for local retailers only!

With not much to go on, I found two Super O sets from 1963, set # 13128 and set # 13058 from 1962, Santa Fe space set. Also there are two passenger sets that had that engine # 2383, # 13148, # 13088.

Lee F.

Denny,

Just by stating it was bought at "Joe, the Motorist Friend" leads me to believe it was what is called a "promotional set". These were uncataloged sets or cataloged sets produced for a specific store, ie: Joe's, Macy's etc..I have the book that lists them and will take a look and get back..Steve

Lionel in the mid-1960's was trying to dig itself out of the corporate chaos it created, and they would create promotional sets for almost any retailer who expressed interest.

The end result being that not every promo set was well documented, and recorded.

White boxes in that era were not uncommon, as they would be subed for the regular Lionel boxes when they ran out.  The sets tended to be made up of whatever rolling stock was on-hand at the Hillside factory.

1966 would be a more logical date for this set, as it was the final year that both the Santa Fe F-3 and Santa Fe Alco were cataloged.

There was no catalog in 1967, and most promo sets from that year, and 1968 (when a single train set was cataloged) were headed by the 2029 steam engine.

Ken

There is a set from 1966 #19569 which was made for several retailers. The set  had the following

#215 Santa Fe Powered and dummy diesels

6142 gondola

6176 hopper

6050 Swift savings bank box car

6167 caboose

The 6050 could be easily replaced with the 6014 Frisco boxcar.

This set also had a 45 degree crossing and a little bit more track then the usual ovals found in most sets.

Sears also had a set #19706 from 1967 that had:

#215  Santa Fe power and dummy units

6176 hopper

6465 tank car

6473 rodeo car

6059 caboose

The rodeo car could have been easily replaced with a white boxcar.

There was a cataloged set made for several years #12730 that had:

2383 Santa Fe power and dummy engines

6414 auto loader

6464 New Haven boxcar

6162 gondola

6476 hopper

6437 Pennsylvania caboose

thanks guys this is narrowing the field down. 

Do you remember how the set was packaged?  Flat in a display box, or were the pieces in individual boxes, in a larger corrugated box?  That 's a major clue, in set # research.

Richie

Do you remember if the diesel engine had one motor, or two?  The two motor engine would VERY heavy for a 5 or 6 year old.  Do you have any recollection of the transformer(one lever or two, any buttons, illuminated dial, eg.)?

My guess is that it would have been an Alco set.