Lionel standard "O" freight cars from the early MPC era.

Atlas Trainman has very nice detail and decoration - boxcars can be found for less than $40.

the early MPC Standard O is scale sized, but not as much detail as current offerings.  However, they can be found very cheap.  I've seen some for $15. 

John

Hello John23.........

Do you know someone selling them for that price range ? I am looking for flat cars, hopper cars,boxcars, tankcars and MTH premier Santa Fe caboose. 

the woman who loves the S.F.#5021

Tiffany 

Hi, Tiffany.

For purposes of illustration, below are links to a few of the 9800 Standard O series of cars currently in stock at Grzyboski's in Scranton, PA:

http://www.grzyboskitrains.com/detail7149.aspx

http://www.grzyboskitrains.com/detail7086.aspx

As John stated, their detailing is not as good as most contemporary offerings. After all, they were first released almost forty years ago. That said, if you look around, you can find them pretty inexpensively. The listed price of $20 for the two cars linked above isn't too bad but you may be able to do better. When you're ready to buy, you'd probably do well to watch the auction site.

A fun fact to know about these cars is that they were produced using tooling of the German company Pola.

Regards,

Bob     

Another fun fact is that the trucks are attached at the rear, not at the center of the bolster. That enabled them to negotiate O-27 curves.

Still another fun fact is that they're ridiculously inexpensive.  It seems that very few collectors have caught up with them yet.

Tiffany,

Probably the best place to pick these up would be on the bay. There is not much interest in them. I personally like them.The earliest ones are the cheapest to acquire, perhaps $10-15 each. Later ones are a few dollars more, but not much. Try to find a seller that has several listed , that'll cut your ship costs.

Might want to consider posting here on the "Want to buy" forum. Again, because there is not much of a demand, you might find someone who wants to unload them reasonably.

About two years ago I picked up off the bay, a 6 car set of BN for $70.

Might want to consider doing to them what I've done, see before and after pics

I got all of the items in this photo for $5 each at a train show. Except, the State of Maine boxcar, like new in original box, was $10. I considered it a great find. I didn't haggle; it was the sellers' marked-down prices on Sunday afternoon. These aren't scale cars, they are the 6464 size,  which was what I wanted to upgrade my motley assortment of mostly O27 items. The first two are postwar; the others are MPC or later.

Some needed minor repairs: the postwar GN boxcar needed a door guide, the exploding boxcar was taped together so I fitted and glued it, some MPC cars had corroded wheels. But all in all, a great bargain.

I believe in train karma. If you get too focused on wanting specific items, you will have to pay higher prices. I wait a while and eventually these bargains come my way when I'm not expecting them at the occasional train show.

Sadly, many of the items from the MPC era were mere "moment-in-time" collectibles -- driven by the hype of the times.  Toy train enthusiasts had just experienced the slim-picken's Lionel catalogs of the late 1960's.  So when it looked like Lionel trains were gonna be manufactured again in quantities, folks (who missed out on Lionel's post-war period) saw the MPC era an opportunity to build THEIR collections.  And right on queue, many shrewd dealers played price-games with anything that looked like it may have been made in slightly fewer quantities than others -- in an attempt to make some items "overnight collectables", which I always viewed to be somewhat of an oxymoron.

I preferred times when trains became collectable over the course of years (largely by happenstance), 'cause folks LIKED them... rather than the MPC era where most of the collecting was done amidst artificially created product shortages and hopes of selling one's inventory years later at ridiculous profits.  The only thing more ridiculous was the fact that the entire MPC "collectors line" was a house of cards that was poised to -- and finally did -- collapse by the time the LTI era was more fully established.

Standard O items are a noticeable "size up" from the more traditionally sized O27 items of the time (including 6464 box cars, for example).  However, it's always been my impression that the Standard O rolling stock is still not quite "true" 1/4"-scale that we see today today with PS-1 style box cars (for example).  Still some nice hefty pieces of rolling stock though, as many included the more robust die-cast sprung metal trucks.

David

quote:

I preferred times when trains became collectable over the course of years (largely by happenstance), 'cause folks LIKED them... rather than the MPC era where most of the collecting was done amidst artificially created product shortages and hopes of selling one's inventory years later at ridiculous profits. 

At least MPC had the decency to use different stock numbers / decorated numbers on their product. I cannot count the number of times I've seen things listed on Ebay with their original Postwar numbers that in reality were recent modern era reproductions/reissues.

I agree that the "instant collectable" market was, and still is ridiculous.

Yeh, people not in the know just pick the numbers off the cars, as was valid years ago.  Makes things tricky, especially if the box is missing.

The MPC/Fundimensions cars all had plastic chassis/floors too.

     I had been buying the O Scale 9800 series when it was announced that Lionel would bring back the scale-sized Hudson steam engine in 1984. I thought they would look better behind the scale Hudson than 6464 size cars. Yes, everything is true that has been mentioned- lack of detail like today's Standard O, plastic floor, etc. But they were scale size, and they introduced the die cast, sprung trucks for the first time in Lionel history, I believe.

    They included:

9801  B&O boxcar

9802  Miller High Life reefer

9803  Johnson Wax boxcar

9805  Grand Trunk Western reefer

9806  Rock Island boxcar

9807  Stroh's Beer reefer

9808  Union Pacific boxcar

9809  Clark Bar reefer

9811  Pacific Fruit Express reefer

9815  NYC "Early Bird" reefer

9820  Wabash gondola

9821  SP gondola

9822  GTW gondola

9823  SF flat car

9824  NYC gondola

9825  Schaefer reefer

9826  P&LE boxcar

     Not sure if I included everything.

John Knapp

Erie, not Eerie

hello guys and gals..............

I was not impressed with the way the trucks were mounted on and plastic frames. The trucks that came with the cars have hollowed out wheels sets but i can find them really cheap like 5 to 10 dollars a car then i guess it worth it.

the woman who loves the S.F.#5021

Tiffany

Tiffany, I agree with Professor Chaos. If you want Scale to go with your new 3rd rail Engine go for used Atlas or Weaver freight cars.  Used I pay $20-35 For one. Some for sale on his forum.  I have good luck with buying scale Atlas & Weaver freight cars with forum member SD40.

Since it's scale cars you after, As George mentioned, have you considered Weaver cars?

Certainly scale, and for the most part are pretty cheap. Do a quick look on the bay, you might be surprised.

From the above mentioned group of early MPC standard "O" freight cars my favorite was the #9826 Pittsburgh and Lake Erie box car.

Hello Bluegill1.........

I just checked out the Evil-bay and my goodness, there is a lot of weaver cars for sale much to my surprise.  I didn't see any steam era 3 dome tank cars there. 

the woman who love the S.F.#5021

Tiffany

There is still a lot of nostalgia for those of us who owned these cars since they were new. I still run the gondolas quite a bit.

My personal favorite is the Stroh's Reefer. 

FYI, Please be aware that for many years, Weaver produced their O scale 3 rail rolling stock with plastic trucks. Just within the last few years have they been producing them with cast trucks. Might want to ask before purchasing.

I've purchased quite a few Weaver w plastic trucks simply replaced w cast trucks. I believe justrains carried Weaver cast trucks for $5 a pr couple years ago.

Have fun!

Good point David regarding the die cast trucks on Weaver freight cars. That said Weaver Scale freight cars with die cast tricks are inexpensive and plentiful.

The Grand Trunk Western Standard O reefer does not need to be weathered, because you might find one at a train show without a box that has been roughly handled and never cleaned.

Also the GTW constantly repainted and cleaned their Reefers, so a severely weathered one would be an alternate reality concept.

Andrew

Mine too! 

John

As was already posted, the molds came from Pola. Lionel purchased the molds. I beleive early 1970's Atlas "O" gauge cars were made from the same molds. I don't know whether any modifications were made to accept the Lionel Standard "O" trucks. 

I got the B&O box.  Next to traditional PW/MPC cars, they looked like beached whales!  But with other scale cars, they are OK.

I didn't see any steam era 3 dome tank cars there.

Nobody has made a scale 3 dome tank car in 3-rail. However, the Rail King 3-dome cars look to be about scale size and have reasonable detail. The real 3-dome tankers are very small. I once saw one in the PRR Museum and was surprised - it looked tiny next to some of the other rolling stock. You would be fine running the Rail King 3-dome cars in a train with scale equipment.

The price of Weaver die-cast trucks has gone up - it's been a long time since Justrains was selling them for five bucks. You can expect to pay 15 or so a pair including the couplers, a few dollars less without.