What little i could find on the 3245r short cab said posibbly 180 series cars or ives sets 1050r/1060r listed 241/242/243 cars
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Madmax, the Ives 3245 short hood loco was cataloged in 1928 only. This was the year Ives was purchased by Lionel and American Flyer. It was a mixed-up frantic year because Ives had a lineup for the catalog, but went into bankruptcy. The new owners had to scramble to get product for the holiday season.
You mention the 180 series cars, these were old Ives-designed cars, with the deluxe 6-wheel truck, and they were listed in the 1928 catalog in set #1044, but with the 3243 locomotive. This set and also set 1036 from the same year, of the 187-188-189 cars (4-wheel trucks) with the 3237 loco, were using up old existing Ives stock.
The 3245 short hood locomotive shows up with the #1050 and #1060 sets in 1928, with the 241, 242, 243 cars. These were American Flyer's contribution to the Ives passenger line, using 3 of the 4 AF cars from the AF president's special sets, but with 6-wheel Ives trucks and Ives couplers and brass plates. Sets #1050 and #1060 were the green "Interstate Limited" set, the 1060 had an extra 242 car.
In 1929, the 3245 short hood was replaced with the 3245 long hood version. It appears in the 1929 catalog in set #1088, the black and orange "Olympian" set, again with the Flyer-bodied 241, 242, 243 cars.
In 1930, the 3245 long hood loco appears again, in set #1078. By 1930, American Flyer had pulled out of the Ives consortium and left it all with Lionel. So the cars in 1930 are Lionel-bodied cars, the old Lionel 418 series cars, but given Ives 6-wheel trucks and Ives couplers and brass plates, and numbered 247, 248, 249. This set was also black and orange and also called the "Olympian". But the 1929 and 1930 "Olympian" sets were very different, with strikingly different cars. They used the same name for both sets because the colors are the same, bit it is a little confusing. There were similar sets in 1929 and 1930 which were headed by the 1134 steam loco, and the color scheme was black and red. The 1929 Flyer-car set was called the "Black Diamond", and the 1930 set using the Lionel cars was called "The Chief", which helps distinguish them.
Anyway, that was it for the 3245 loco. In 1931 things were grim, and Lionel was using all re-badged Lionel equipment like the Lionel #10 locomotive in the Ives line-up.
david
