How do you tell if a post war engine is heat stamped or rubber stamped?
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
I would think with your experience you can tell us young model railroaders. Maybe by feeling the stamping but I am not sure.
Usually the heat stamp leaves a slight depression in the black paint (steam) or plastic (diesels).
With the many PW engines I have, it is often the rubber stamps are more "dull" in appearance, many heat stamped are more "glossy" or have more of a sheen to them. This is not always true, just a reference, as checking in many of the various books written about PW Lionel, details about what year/variation/issue of any particular item tells of the method used for stamping the item in question.
Jesse TCA
Heat stamping leaves an impression on whatever material it’s stamped into. For example, if you were to strip away the paint on a heat stamped PW 736, you would see a slight embossed 736 into the metal. Rubber stamping would easily wipe away, leaving no impression behind. Hope that helps.......Pat
So based on the above, is it fair to say a basic (non destructive - since I don't think you can look at the bare metal most times 
) inspection of whether the stamp seems to be at the exact same surface of the paint it is applied to would be a half decent way to tell? Rubber stamp would seem to be at the exact same surface, no difference from paint surface, while heat stamp may show a bit of a depression as described above?
Obviously harder to tell if the unit is not in pristine condition, but for something not dirty, etc., it might be possible to look at an angle and see if you can discern any difference in the surface of the lettering vs the paint itself.
-Dave
Heat stamp even on steam will catch your finger nail. You should be able to easily feel the difference between the two. On plastic it goes much deeper. For a restorer its very difficult to repaint and not loose that detail. I believe these days only Len Carparelli has a heat stamp machine. Maybe Robert Salerno also but can't confirm that.
Pete
Technically, rubber stamping would be above the surface it’s applied to. However, with age and play wear, it may be hard to tell that. Rubber stamping is just more paint on top of paint. Heat stamping is just as the words apply. Whatever the stamping is, it will be level or even below the surface of what it’s applied to. As Pete mentioned, on plastic it’ll be much deeper than on metal. .............Pat
It's been my experience that Lionel's diecast pieces were rubber stamped. The same is true for their sheet metal chassis pieces and platforms. Heat stamping these items would not have been pratical.
The plastic shells for both locomotives and rolling stock were heat stamped leaving a depression. This was the method used to label their equipment beginning in the mid 1950's when Lionel began molding their plastic shells in colored plastic lieu of painting them.
Ericann, I suggest you check various train guides; such as Greenberg, or David Doyle, and read the descriptions of Postwar locomotives. Heat stamping was quite prevalent during the Postwar era, as was Rubber Stamping. Although it isn’t 100% effective, the heat stamping will leave a depression in the Die castings. Some are deeper than others, and from my experience, the heat stamping is hard to remove, if you rub your finger across the stamp. With Rubber Stamping, it is typically delicate, and can easily be removed by rubbing your fingers across the stamp. You can Never use water/alcohol, etc, in cleaning a rubber stamped item, as the lettering will vanish. There were certain locomotives that were issued in different years, with some having heat stamps, in either white or silver, where later issues had rubber stamping, in an opposite color, from the heat stamped version. A good example would be a 736 Berk., or 671/2020 turbines.
Have many rubber and heat stamp lionel steam engines.
Gently slide underside of finger over the numbers if smooth its rubber stamped, you can feel the indentations otherwise when it is heat stamped when sliding finger over it.
With a loupe you can even see the indentation of heat stamp lettering.
