Hello Tinplate world ...1910 was the year electric toy trains got a real leg up into the toy world with the ever expanding network of electricity into homes and a reasonably priced transformer . Lionel wanted a bigger piece of the pie , but had to offer lower price points for it's trains, if it hoped to grab a bigger market share. Lionel introduced their rendition of the popular NYC Electric S cab .. native only to the metro NYC area but was copied near and far by many manufactures and thousands of toy trains were made of it . Lionel choose to offer 3 sizes ( 3 price points) of the popular S cab ..small, medium and large ..1910 , 1911 and 1912 . The 1910 was a basic set sold with a circle of track and 2 gondolas retailing for $6.25, ( large 1912 sold for $10.00 engine only ). So why $6.25?...Lionel was trying to become the "standard " competing against Carlisle & Finch's mining set ..in 2" selling for $6.25.
This head to head competition ended with Lionel in the lead and C&F fading out of the toy train market ..leaving only Voltamp as the soul 2" manufacture.
The new Lionel S cabs were very labor intensive to build ..lots of little pieces that all needed to be soldered together ...enter bigger presses to stamp out the round cabs in late 1912 ..and production was able to pick up to meet the demand . 1910 Lionel had to publicly apologize that it was not able to fill all orders taken ...a cardinal sin in the toy world.
The 1910 simple little square cab with trolley motor powering the center set of drivers ... which stand ever to slightly higher than the other wheels so the engine is always at a slant ... lack of primer when painted helped the paint fall off after the first 40 years of existence. The shorty gondolas benefitted from the use of the yellow primer which allowed the paint to adhere to the body ...
Please see link with exciting video to see the little 1910 in action .
