Tell me the story on these Lionel-Mt Clemens buildings ?

The freight station goes back to 1973, item 2787 was the first one.  The switch tower came out in 1977 as item 2719. Photos are from 1973 and 1977 catalogs.  Fairly certain over the years the item numbers may have changed with the color variations.

Some of the tooling came from Pola of Germany.  1973 premiered the freight station, freight platform, water tower, and Rico Station.  They were all kits, and look great with a little paint and glue!

Jon

I don't have a good shot of just the station but here's a shot of one painted from my old layout. Don

In 1975(for sure, may have been a couple of years on each side of) Lionel had a production line(s) inside the Kenner Toys(old Trailmobile)  building(s) in Norwood, Ohio.  Some models may have been produced there. Lionel, Kenner, and Sit-n-Spin were under the Fun Dimensions umbrella.       John

Two more versions of the switch tower, which Lionel actually calls the watchman shanty. 12733 from 1988 and 37102 from 2012. 12733 is a kit where as the 37102 is pre-assembled.

This is the 'RICO STATION':
https://www.liveauctioneers.co...that-has-been-custom
Some info of the 'Rico Station':
From PRO HOBBY: https://ogrforum.com/t...-lionel-rico-station
I'm not sure of the 1970's date that Lionel put this 'Grande' item on the market?!
Ralph

Thanks for the background information, guys. The switch tower has a vaguely foreign look with the curious roof profile. The station does a pretty good job of looking generic, adequate for different eras. Some of these model structures have been around for many years!