Can someone help out what i have.

Pictures?

Pretty sure it's an F3 loco frame.

Pete

They appear to be die cast frames for the early F-3"s My opinion is they may be reject frames because the "Lionel" word is missing..............Paul

Good find I suppose for any engine that may have suffered "battery acid" .  Keep looking, maybe something else hidden away like a 700 E still in the box.

What it seems you have is the early F-3 frame with the horizontal motors.

They are reproduction frames.

Who ever made them blanked out the "Lionel" name.

Ted the screw guy was offering them for quite a few years. He was probably responsible for having them made. I see that the original poster is in Ohio. Ted lived in Bay Village, Ohio.

How a carton of them ended up in that basement is a mystery.

Perhaps someone working in the forge that cast them took a box home.

Thank you for all help and replies.does anybody know if there was a time for whatever reason they did not stamp lionel on any of there products ? other than being reproduction.Thanks.

In the world of trains, reproductions that are done by honest people are made with "tells" to make it easy to identify them as reproductions.
Plus, in order to put the "Lionel" name on a reproduction part, the manufacturer would have to play a licensing fee to the legitimate owners of the name. The owners might not allow it. The Lionel name still has a lot of value, and they would not want to devalue the name by allowing unmarked reproductions to pollute the desirability of their name.

The frames still have value, if they are not rejects. I think Ted sold them for $25 each. I'd have to verify the price, and check whether they were sold as raw castings, or finished.

By the way, the lettering on those frames isn't stamped. The lettering is engraved in the mold, and cast as part of the frame. The lettering is raised.

I believe rough cast (edges still have superficial product around them) so i don't think they are finished.everything else is smooth.

How can you tell if it is a reject ? if possible.no air pockets in cast that i see.all holes are through.measured all openings side to side.all looks good.but not sure what to look for..before i get rid of them.i want to know and want the buyers to know what it is.Thanks for all information !

Just a reminder: They have not positively been identified as being made by Ted.

Originally he sold them as raw castings for $30 each or 12 frames for $240

Later he sold them fully trimmed and painted for $35 each for power frames or $25 each for dummy frames (trimmed out differently).

I imagine you'd like to sell them. What are you planning to ask?

What you have here, are the beginnings of a post war F3, if you have the parts to build it up...

Marty

$15 each.think is fair.its Christmas.

By the way, they should not be aluminum.

The original frames were cast in ZAMAC and Ted described his as being "zinc". ZAMAC is largely zinc (around 95%), I guess that is what he used.  

There are a number of different grades of ZAMAC with different characteristics.

quote:

Thank you for all help and replies.does anybody know if there was a time for whatever reason they did not stamp lionel on any of there products ? other than being reproduction.Thanks.

Not likely.

quote:

How can you tell if it is a reject ?

I think one would have to compare a few of the frames to an original Lionel one. Verify correct dimensions, size & placement of the holes / slots etc. I've had the bad luck of purchasing some reproduction parts in bulk that turned out to be worthless because they were not made correct. But I think those parts were ruined after being molded / cast. The holes that were bad were drilled, not cast in place.

What you have there is scrap metal.You have not found a valuable relic.Nick

Yep,I think C.W. is right.

They are repro frames.Especially if he has knowledge of Ted the Screw Guy selling them.