Bad Storage Practices.....

That's been a big problem from the postwar years.

Yeah....I believe there was a cellophane type plastic sheet between the vehicle and the flat car.

Where it went....God only knows!

There was a provided plastic spacer, preventing contact between the vehicle’s wheels, and the flatcar’s surface, to prevent this very reaction. Can be clearly seen in picture.

@Mark V. Spadaro posted:

There was a provided plastic spacer, preventing contact between the vehicle’s wheels, and the flatcar’s surface, to prevent this very reaction. Can be clearly seen in picture.

What kind of baloney, pimiento loaf or minced ham?

The rubber of the tires is the culprit.  And, I'm fairly certain the plastic sheet was not originally in the box.  I seem to remember getting it directly from my dealer.

That explains the plastic sheet to me, I never got why it was there.

@Junior posted:

I was looking though my stash of freight cars and came across a couple of Lionel's flat cars with Ertl vehicles on them.

Here's what happens when you don't follow Lionel's recommended storage practices 😫....

The plastic obviously didn't like the rubber tires (or vice versa)! The tires are fine; the plastic flat car.....no so much.

I pretty sure I can recover the flat car by putting a wood plank deck on it....then tying the vehicle down again. It's a nice flat car with cast/sprung trucks and couplers that actually work.

Adding another project to the list....🙄

I just opened a couple that had been stored for 20 years...  There was some degraded foam and plastic stuck in places.  Thankfully I was able to get it off with little damage. I rubbed a bit of paint off of one trucks cab lights.  If I had used something besides spit, then alcohol of which still left residue..  I finally used a dampened cotton swap with goo gone. Sorry to see your damage is so bad.