Prewar Pullmans Question

Eric 

The Greenberg book has the roof as silver. There are two auctions on ebay that have those cars with the silver roof. Hope you are recovering well.

Mike

Yes, they have been butchered. The only ones I have seen converted like that. There were 610-s-red with silver roofs made plus red roofs.  Go to a train show or two and pick up some pre-war trucks and latch couplers. I have made adapters for this situation plus use a tender to run old cars with a newer engine.

You Betcha! They've been butchered just as Jim stated. The only cars that I've seen done this way were mid to late prewar passenger cars. Back in the day everyone wanted the new knuckle couplers especially those who fought the latch-style couplers for years. Maybe a few were converted by the hobby shops, I doubt if very many were. Most like those in your photo were done by the home operators.

Keep them that way! They are a unique set with a unique story, not many like that left any more. Most of the stories behind trains I have have been lost over time, except for the family sets. It's sad, and as such I say you should just leave them alone, kamerade.

Some folks may not realize that Lionel published suggestions on how to convert prewar "O" gauge equipment to postwar trucks / knuckle couplers. Lionel was selling toys / models to be used, not collectors items. If I had a set that had been converted to postwar, I would not try to convert them back. On many of the suggested conversions, metal had to be removed from the cars to provide clearance for the new trucks / couplers anyway.

I would keep the passengers as is. I have added some pre war center rollers to passenger cars to help with flickering lights and the parts for pre war repair are extremely expensive. 

An operator of pre war stuff will give you more money then a collector will, a collector wants it to be 100% authentic and original part verses an operator who just wants the items to run on his layout.

Lee Fritz

The photos you show are total repaints, including the body.  There were only two versions out of 22 total of the 610 Pullman that came in red.  One was "light red, with silver roof" and had The Lionel Lines rubber stamped above the windows.  The second red version was the "Macy Special" with RED body (not light red) and RED roof, and "Macy Special" stamped in black above the windows.  Looking at the photos you posted, the red looks too dark to be considered Light Red, plus the stamping is missing above the windows, which points to a total repaint.  It's been butchered too much, to even attempt to restore it to original colors and trucks, that it just isn't worth it.

I have a nice 610 & a 612 so I would try to restore them if they were mine. scrounge the trucks and put a decent paint job on them. The  paint they looks ugly. That is my personal opinion.

I would keep them that way and enjoy it as is!  No point in trying to convert them back and doing a repaint.  I have one "Frankenstein" Evens Autoloader in my fleet that I loved as a kid and still do, but never knew it was "home made" by someone else until I was an adult and wondered why my autoloader was blue when everyone else's was red. 

As a kid, I could have chosen a red one, but I didn't care, I wanted the blue one. 

Just enjoy it as it.  There is probably a great story behind why and who converted it.