Bulbs for 394 beacon 465 vs. 461

Unfortunately, there is no source. The 465 bulb was probably obsolete by 1950. The dimple bulb was originally a special run from GE. Unless it was used in some other toy of 1950 vintage that would require a special dimple bulb, but I am not aware of any. It was basically a standard GE 428 12 volt screw in with a heat dimple added. It does burn brighter than a 461. The 461 is the 14 volt 430 bulb with the dimple. Both bulbs have the Lionel # 394-10.  I have not seen any reference to just a 465 bulb only. I would venture to say that the hotter burning 465 was short lived, maybe dropped after the first years run. The bulb being 12 volts had a short life span on 14 volt accessory posts and burned out quickly. But it did generate enough heat to turn the beacon lantern housing (but very bright!) I would guess Lionel found the lifespan unsuitable and requested GE make the bulbs from the 14 volt 430 to create the 461 bulb. At the sacrifice of beacon performance. I would say this happened around 1950-51, after the original 1949 run. A boxed separate sale box may contain either bulb, depending on the year. Lionel did not change the catalog number of 394-10 when the bulb changed. So when you find an intact beacon with it's original bulb, the early version will have the 465 later beacons, 461. I have shown 2 Lionel pages and only found the 461 bulb listed, no reference to a 465. I would probably guess the American Flyer beacons used only 461 bulbs.

 So to answer your question, the 465 is a rare bulb, and no one is going to have any stock of them. About all I can suggest is watching Ebay for boxed 394-10 bulbs, then email the seller to check the number stamped on the bulb.

Interesting, I thought a 465 was a 12 volt, not 10 (if that is correct). Lionel's instructions hook up to 12-14 volts. So the 465 must have been available in the later fifties.

Hard to tell with Marx - their documentation is sorely lacking compared to Lionel or Flyer; their beacon assembly was lighter than the Lionel and Flyer beacon top and Marx may have been able to get by running the 465 bulb at lower than 12 volts while still producing enough heat to make the beacon rotate.  I looked at the K-Line Flyer repair manual and they list the 461 bulb and running it off the 15 volt fixed voltage tap on their transformer (to add to the bulb mystery, I couldn't find any info/directions on the Colber dimple bulb beacon they made that Flyer also sold under their name for several years). I don't think I've run across a GE 465 bulb (when I was actively snagging all the American made bulbs I could years ago I found a few GE 461 bulbs - I would have bought dimpled GE 465s if I'd come across any).

Someone has done an article about heating the bulb with a bottle torch and making a dimple.

Throw into the mix, if the 465 bulb is truly 10 volts, (but I don't think GE manufactured a 10 volt bulb) a Marx transformer accessory voltage is 13 to 15 volts, depending on the model. That would be way too much voltage. Guess that's why they didn't last too long. If you have ever seen a beacon with a totally blackened bulb, likely a 465 bulb.

MTN posted:

.... You have to be careful with the bulb getting too hot from cranking the voltage up - those lenses will melt if the beacon is bumped and swings from side to side or the beacon falls out of the dimple.

I can testify that MTN is correct on this.  We had a Marx beacon on our Lionel layout back in the Fifties, that that's exactly what happened.  My father put a piece of Scotch tape over the melted hole, but the beacon never performed the same again.