Postwar Tender question

Not sure of the answer.  Got rid of all my tenders but recall a similar situation with my postwar.

Could be the earlier issues were metal  and switched over in the latter 50's.

The metal whistles are a carryover of the prewar design. A 6466W can be correct with either a metal or plastic air whistle. Of hand, I think 1949 may have been the end for metal whistles. Would need to check a reference book to confirm the exact year

@Ryan Selvius posted:

The metal whistles are a carryover of the prewar design. A 6466W can be correct with either a metal or plastic air whistle. Of hand, I think 1949 may have been the end for metal whistles. Would need to check a reference book to confirm the exact year

Hi Ryan, If you know of a particular reference book that I could use to confirm the date I would love to own the book. It would probably have answers to many other questions. I thought I have most of the popular reference books. What book are you referring to?  Thanks, Bob

My primary go to is the Greenberg’s Postwar Locomotives and Rolling Stock book. It has a lot of additional information about the production/construction of each item and all the subtle variations. I’ll look tonight to see if the whistle is explicitly addressed.

My instinct of 1949ish is primarily based on all the years I have spent repairing Lionel O gauge. Between cleaning up trains for resale and private customer repairs, I have worked on hundreds of Lionel steam engines and tenders. The metal whistles may have ended a little earlier than ‘49 but I’m inclined to think that would have been the latest year they would have been produced. Can’t say definitively until I check reference material.

Looks like the metal whistle disapeared in 1947 and was replaced with the plastic body whistle in 1948. This information is detailed for the 2426W tender which was paired with a 726. It is safe to assume that this would also apply to the 2466W and 6466W style tenders. Another detail to note is that coil couplers were last used on 1947 production and Lionel switched to magnetic couplers in 1948. This means that 2466W, 671W, and 2020W tenders would have had metal whistles (and coil couplers). 6466W and 6020W tenders would have plastic whistles (and magnetic couplers).

A couple photos of the Greenberg book are attached. I highly recommend picking one up if you are a collector of postwar and enjoy learning about the finer details and variations that exist. Its out of print so is a little harder to find these days.

Many times Lionel did not make design changes that match up with the catalog year. They would use up existing stock before changing to a new design.  So for changes that were not shown in the catalog the changes were often running changes.  The change from the die cast whistle to the plastic whistle probably occurred when they ran out of die cast whistles. On the coil couplers, they continued to use those on selected equipment to the end of the post war era and beyond. So using up that stock was not as critical. As I recall the 0-27 line changed to tab couplers one year before the 0 gauge line did.   I think it is possible that a 6466 tender had a die cast while during early production.

As many collectors know, of course overlap with part usage occurred. Lionel was a manufacturing company and throwing out useable parts would have been foolish. The reference books provide information based generally off Lionel production documents and examination of known unaltered samples. True production anamolies can sometimes be found, but they aren’t the norm.

As for 6466W tenders with metal whistles, I think you will find far more in existence because someone swapped parts around than because some came out of the factory that way. I know the kind of canibalizing I did while working at a shop to make good working steam locomotives to sell. I also see A LOT of engines on the for sale market with incorrect tenders and/or put together with mismatched parts.