Lionel trucks, gears, wheels, and other cast parts are "metal", right?
What is this metal composed of?
Steel, magnesium, aluminum, zinc, iron, what is it?
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Different materials. Some of the gears are bronze or brass. I hope they're bronze as it's a much tougher material.
The diecast is one of several materials: What are Lionel Trains Made Of. This includes shells, trucks, wheels, etc. The frames are either diecast or steel, depending on the exact model.
One would hope the actual truck gears would be steel. 
Wheels are typically sintered steel. As for the castings only Lionel knows (maybe??). If they are using Zamac there are a dozen different compositions but aluminum is the primary metal.
Pete
Right on -
Any guess on the post war locomotive shells and wheels? They seem like the same 'alloy' sometimes, but I wonder if there was a formulation or some such that they used.
EDIT: I see that I was getting more answers while typing
good info!
After searching for ZAMAC and Lionel I've found dozens of articles. ZAMAC castings were the thing back then. ZincAluminumMagnesuimAndCopper it is still used extensively in appliances, bath/kitchen fixtures, toys and automotive - with much more care given to the purity of the metals used in the alloy.
For shells it's die-cast Zinc. The one specific alloy used most often is ZAMAC.
This posting on the topic should help, from our friend, the late great CW Burfle:
Mike
@Norton posted:Wheels are typically sintered steel. As for the castings only Lionel knows (maybe??). If they are using Zamac there are a dozen different compositions but aluminum is the primary metal.
Pete
Pretty sure that aluminum is close to a constant for the Zamac alloys ~4% and that the primary component is Zinc wherein the impurities of the Zinc are the source of "pest". Trace amounts of Copper (up to 3%) and Magnesium are the other components.
When the castings are good they are great when they’re garbage they turn to dust. I think that covers it
Of course we get metallurgy issues when the low bid vendor of the week delivers poor ingots to the smelter overseas, …..this is where the issues arrive! ….factory: “ is this good stuff?” Vendor: “ absolutely the finest 🙄”
Pat
This is a good thread discussing which zinc alloys Lionel used:
https://ogrforum.com/...64#32965472776714464
Dennis Waldron had direct contact with the Lionel factory through his father, who, I believe, was a Lionel employee. He was at the Hillside auction and bought parts and machinery. Dennis was one of the go to persons for details about how Lionel did things when Lionel still made trains.
