The nice thing about the original PW 6464 boxcars is there's a finite number of them, so it was relatively easy to collect the entire series. Although some of the originals are now very difficult to find in great condition. Hard to believe all of them sold for around $6 to $9 each back when first released! But we're talking the 1950's and 1960's, when $5 or $6 would also buy you a nice 4-course dinner at a fine NYC Italian restaurant that my folks would take me to when I was I kid. Ah, good memories, for sure!
About 15 years ago, when Atlas-O started producing 40' reefers, the buzz around town hinted they'd become the modern era collectable equivalent of Lionel's 6464 boxcars. That was the thinking for a few years, but eventually reality set in. On one hand, Atlas-O started overproducing them -- both in terms of large production runs and also just too darn many offerings, including the introduction of 36' varieties as well. On the other hand, it became difficult to track some obscure "special runs" that weren't all that well-announced. But I guess that comes with the territory when collecting.
Bottom line... it would take a near-warehouse to display all the Atlas-O reefers, whereas you'd only need a modest display-case to show off the couple dozen or so Lionel PW 6464 boxcars that comprise the entire series.
Modern-day Lionel LTI made a good attempt at reproducing 6464's with nice details (vs. the inferior boxcars MPC manufactured without the post-war rivet detail). A nice respectably "complete collection" was issued as 3-packs over several years by LTI -- issued as Volume 1 through 10 (in Roman numerals).
But then Lionel muddied up the waters with more 6464-based offering that included an "archive" series and then even an "over-stamped" series. Both were a bit overkill in my opinion -- just trying to cash in on 6464-mania.
Most recently, Lionel started a series of scale PS-1 boxcars in the paint-schemes of postwar 6464 boxcars. But they were very short-lived -- having only been catalog'd as two 2-packs, the last of which was a few years ago. And nothing since then. So the PS-1 "6464" offerings may have fizzled before they ever really got off the ground. I've seen both 2-packs being blown out at significant discounts by major dealers, so maybe they just didn't take hold.
Too bad. I would have sprung for the full PS-1 "6464" series similar to the Volume 1-10 three-packs that LTI produced. Who knows... A few featured in each catalog, and in another half decade or so we'd have a new generation of 6464 boxcars in all of Lionel's scale PS-1 glory. But that doesn't appear too hopeful right now.
David