I'm looking at purchasing a Lionel prewar 400e. The owner is telling me it's all original and the tender has a whistle. I did not think a whistle was ever issued in 400e tender. Am I correct or wrong?
Original Post
The whistle was introduced by Lionel in the 1935 catalog. The 400E is one of the locomotives shown with a whistle tender - 400W. Same in 1936.
Also shown in the 1935 catalog are repalcement tenders that you could buy to add a whistle to an older locomotive.
From these facts, one could infer that if the 400E was from 1934 or earlier, the whistle was in a replacement tender. From 1935 on, it was probably original equipment.
