Lionel For Sale | Used Lionel

Aids To Dating Lionel Trains:

Unlike certain other collectibles, the age of a postwar Lionel train is no inherently more valuable than a newer train. It is rather the variations in construction throughout an item's production run that affect its scarcity, and thus its collector value. Many Lionel trains are marked on the sides with "New" or "built" dates. These dates are totally irrelevant to when a piece was actually produced, and are decorative only.

During the mid-1950s, Lionel added the year introduced as a prefix or suffix to the stock number of some cars, such as the 336155 markings on the log dump cars introduced in 1955, or the 546446 N & W hopper car from 1954, but this was not universally done.

Establishing the production dates of these trains is usually done more out of curiosity for most collectors, or when they are trying to properly and precisely recreate a given train set.

Among the key aids to dating trains are the construction techniques used in the manufacture of the trucks and couplers, and the type of original packaging used, if it's still present.