Early O gauge Lionel coaches and observations.

Hi Jeff, the majority of my collection is pre-war and I have several 600 series passenger cars behind various locomotives. From the very beginning of my fascination with 600  series passenger cars I’ve noticed exactly what you are describing. Probably only one out of 10 of my passenger cars have roofs that fit Snuggly.   At first it concerned me but since so many were made this way, I now consider it a “charm” of the product. It is obvious they were originally sold like this so to keep them original I have learned to live with it. 

Good luck on your venture into the 600 series passenger cars.

Jim Lawson 

IT warms my heart to know I'm not the only crazy guy who likes the really old Lionel O gauge passenger cars.  Here are some photos of the 604 that I'm restoring.  It's my first complete restoration job.  You can see that I've done the trucks and started on the roof.

It's nice to know that my poorly shaped roof is in good company.  It's really tough to get it square on the car.  I looked at 603 and 604 photos in the books by Greenburg, Doyle and TCA and don't see any really good fitting roofs.

At the beginning, the roof looked worse than the ends and sides.  I wouldn't have paid $2.00 for this car, but it was the free table at one of our local TCA meets last year.  If it's free, I'll think about what can I do with that.  I think I'll start a topic about recycling (free
) tables on this forum - after I return from the Big E/Springfield.  I'll be working from the North Shore MRRC tables on Saturday.  Come by and let's get to know each other.

That 604 has some unexpected points of interest.  One of the trucks has the fiber mounting plate for a pickup, which made me think it might have been illuminated, and that's what the references say, so I've bought the light and pickup roller.

I thought that the observation railing is brass, so I dismounted it and removed the paint with the thought of applying brass polish.  But I found that it isn't brass, it's tinplate.  Apprently the orange paint was applied to  the car after the railing was soldered on the car.  Then they painted the railing with a metallic paint that looked like brass.  BTW, that crooked soldering job is just a temporary remount.  That one is a tough fitting problem after straigthening the bends it had, but I'll get it straight before I'm done.

I've got the matching paint from train enamels.  I'll post photos when I'm done, hopefully in the next two or three months.

To me, nothing says "Prewar Lionel" like these primitive beauties. From the oversized trucks to the roofs that don't fit, how can a tinplate fan not like them??

John

I am also getting into the early Lionel o gauge before 1918. I already have a 203 Armored engine Lionel Mfg Co. and a 150 engine with Lionel Mfg Co.  I have been looking at 600, 800, 900 cars on Ebay. The reason I am getting interested in the early stuff is because I have had or have everything  from 1935 to 1942. My kid set was a 224E set Xmas 1938. 

I'd give $2 for that 604 all day. Nice project!

Those old cars are the best! Keep an eye for the ones with the wood grain inserts in good shape - that's the hardest part to replicate 

I saw that on my 604.  I notice the wood grain is not only on the doors, but all around the windows.  Fortunately it looks good enough that I can keep the window/door insets out of the way when I paint the car.  I haven' yet figured out what to do about the number 604 stamped on the end of the car.  Maybe I should spend a few bucks for acustom rubber stamp.

Also in my restoration queue is a 319 coach.  That has the wood grain on the doors so I'll have to be very careful covering that when I paint the car.l

I

Aren’t the wood grain sections removable inserts?

Steve

I published  an article to help solve your roof problems....I posted it a few weeks ago but I'll post it again.

Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

Aren’t the wood grain sections removable inserts?

Steve

They are on the 604, but not on the 319.  319 doors are attached to the body with a hinge that is not easily removable in the way that tab fastening is.

gene maag posted:

I published  an article to help solve your roof problems....I posted it a few weeks ago but I'll post it again.

 

 

 

 Very good article, however, I feel anyone who modifies the roofs to fit properly on the 600 series of passenger cars will end up with what looks like a modern reproduction  since the mis-fitting roofs were so prevalent on the originals and is a classic aspect of the cars.

Jim Lawson 

Well, thank you all for your insightful observations on these early passenger cars.  I just got too excited and purchased this one yesterday.  It looks darn nice for being 90 years old and is currently speeding its way to me.  As you can see it does have the wood grain doors and trim, a poorly formed roof, and a poor roof/body fit.  Sadly, this is only the first step down another trail of prewar Lionel items!