Can you help me identify the name, the model number and the date of manufacture of the 3 cars pictured below. They appear to be 2 passenger and one observation car. They are metal. Centered above the windows it reads MTH LINES in yellow print. The car numbers are 703, 704 and 705. The color is reddish on the sides and rust color on the top. The interesting feature is that they have a metal shroud covering the sides and top of the gaps between the cars.
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In 1937, Lionel made passenger cars like these to be pulled by the scale 700E Hudson. They were called the "Rail Chief" cars.
The ones in your photo were repros made by Mike's Train House (MTH). Not sure what year he did those.
Lionel re-issued the same cars in 1990, as set #6-51201 called the "Lionel Classics Rail Chief" and pulled by the reproduction 700E Hudson. I'm not sure of they had any words painted on them to identify them.
The MTH web site shows an uncatalogued Rail Chief set, but has no pictures or date. They may be the cars from that set.
Steve
Steve is probably right about the uncataloged set. MTH also built the Lionel Classics version for Lionel. At the time, Mike Wolf was a major Lionel dealer and he had a lot of tinplate experience because he got his start in trains working for Jerry Williams when he was still building repro tinplate.
The cars are styled after the UP M10000 articulated streamliner. The Rail Chief and Hiawatha sets are identical to the Lionel UP streamliner sets except that the lead car is set up to be pulled by a steam engine rather than faired into a streamliner, and of course the paint jobs are different. Unfortunately, the colors on the Lionel Classics repro are way off the originals. I can't tell for sure from the pictures whether the paint on those cars is the same as the Lionel Classics or not.
The set would not be the Lionel Classics version from 1990, that set had "Lionel Lines" marked on the side under the windows.
MTH made a Premiere version20-1003-1 No. 709E Streamlined Super-Train NYC 4-6-4 J-1e w/Proto-Sound 2.0. Not sure of the year, but it was prior to the Lionel Corp Tinplate merger as these would have Lionel markings on them as well. The box states MTH, but I couldn't find a picture close enough of the cars to see the markings.
This set was available to MTHRRC (MTH RailRoad Club members) and is part of the Limited Edition Legacy Series. It has with it a certificate of authenticity which says it is set #6 and is signed by Mike Wolf.
The Rail Chief set is put together using the same lead car of the Hiawatha set and the tail car from the M-10000.
Hope this helps,
ARNO
Thanks Arno I think your description fits.
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