all the catalogs were great ,most for their colorful depictions of the trains. I liked the one that introduced Super-O track.
Bob C.
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1969 - it was their last catalog. It contains a number of one year only items. The sets shown in the catalog were packed in white boxes with pictures of the contents glued to the outside Due to the relatively small number of offerings, it should be possible to collect everything in the catalog if one desires.
1952 - Greatest cover image ever.
Recently bought a well-worn copy.
It was suprising to see how "thin" the catalogs were even in the postwar boom years. Only a handfull of sets and just a fraction of what the modern catalogs offer yet most of us still gripe about what doesn't appear in the latest volume.
1948. 2332 GG1 & Madison set
Definitely between 1950 and 1952.
1950 was the year Lionel really advertised Magne-Traction to the fullest extent, and some great illustrations of the then new 773 Hudsons and the 2023 UP ALCO's.
1952 though definitely has the best catalog cover and the best two page accessory spread with the 356 Freight Station, 362 Barrel Loader, 445 Switch Tower, and the 450 Signal Bridge.
I can't settle on just one but I have narrowed it down to the following years, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1957 and 1958. They all provided magnificent art work which tantalized a model train enthusiast's imagination. 1957 was a milestone because it introduced Super O track and the great Norfolk and Western Class J 4-8-4 Northern. 1958 introduced the space and military lines and included another great spread on the N&W Class J. I think the catalogs in the early 1950s introduced a new high in their backdrop artwork. That cleverly designed scenery brought the trains to life because it depicted them in such enticing scenery. Sorry I couldn't settle on just one but I love those catalogs.
I know this topic covers only Lionel catalogs but I have to throw in an American Flyer catalog into the mix. The 1950 AF catalog wins hands down in my opinion for AF catalogs. The excitement on the kid's faces as they race down the basement steps to view a beautifully detailed AF layout is what memories are made of.
C W Burfle posted:1969 - it was their last catalog. ...
That wasn't a "catalog"... it resembled more of a "pamphlet". All 8 pages of it! 
My personal favorite is the 1966 catalog -- simply because it was my official introduction to Lionel trains, and I have fond memories of my Dad and I browsing through it together. Priceless memories. 
The catalog was far from Lionel's post-war heyday years though, as the company had already begun to venture into other areas beside O-Gauge Trains... including HO Trains, Raceway sets, phonographs, telescopes, and science/chemistry sets. Only half of the 40-page catalog featured trains.
I'm sure catalogs from the 1950's represented the strongest offerings of Lionel's post-war products. And those catalogs tend to be the ones post-war enthusiasts remember for their terrific artwork of the times.
David
For me it is 1948 with that great picture of the GG 1 and the Madison Cars,I read it many times.
Mikey
CharlieS posted:That wasn't a "catalog"... it resembled more of a "pamphlet". All 8 pages of it!
Couldn't post without making a negative comment about someone else's choice?
Give it a break, CharlieS. 
CW and I have an ongoing debate about toy train collecting vs. operating. If it makes you feel any better, I only have two postwar Lionel catalogs, and they're both in pristine condition: 1966, my favorite; and 1969, CW's favorite. So there.
By today's standards where catalogs look more like phonebooks of years past (when phonebooks were actually printed), even the 1966 catalog feels like a pamphlet. But at 8 pages in 1969, the catalog was right in sync with The Lionel Toy Corporation that year... as the doors at Hoffman Place in Hillside, NJ were all but closing. Paging through that catalog -- even today -- one can't help but realize how close we came to the end of O-Gauge toy train offerings altogether. And look where we are now. Nobody could have predicted what we have today. Nobody.
David
P.S. BTW, for anybody who wants old Lionel catalogs in pristine condition, look up Dan Olson in Washington state. Not sure of his current selection of catalogs, but that's where I got mine years ago.
1958, received my first train for Christmas.
1958. Loads of stuff in the catalog.
1958.
No doubt, 1954 is it for me. It starts with the cover and just gets better with each page. To top it off, my first set was the 736 Berkshire work train from the 1954 catalog.
Rollan
My favorite Lionel catalogs would be those in the 1986 to 1995 era when Richard Kuhn owned Lionel Trains. During that period the quality of the MPC products were improved, detail returned to the rolling stock, the Scale Hudson was re-introduced, rail sounds was invented and many accessories were added to the product line. This period sadly marked the end of the Made in USA model train era and my interest in buying the Chicom trains.
1954
My first catalog
Lou N
1958. It was my first, the color, price listings, and layout illustrations. It hooked me for life at 7.
I kinda liked all the 50's catalogs back when they still had an appreciating value.... ever since Richard Kuhn gutted out Madison hardware, they are all over the place now...madison must have been sitting on 1000' of em.
1953 (I used this to select a set to ask for for Christmas in 1955 because that was the only catalog I had). Also liked 1955, 1957 and 1959 a lot.
Robert Coniglio posted:all the catalogs were great ,most for their colorful depictions of the trains. I liked the one that introduced Super-O track.
Bob C.
That would be 1957.
1955. Santa Claus brought me my first Lionel train.
Curt
