General Information

Why is the information important to you?

Simply put, if you happen to be looking for a part for an engine or car manufactured in a specific year, and we provide you with the basics of how parts and their numbering evolved, it will make your search considerably shorter.

As you review the content of this site, especially some of the manual pages created by Lionel, you may see conflicts in a number of areas. During the later prewar period, approximately 1935 through 1942, Lionel began adding an "X" suffix to the end of some part numbers. This was to denote that the part had been superseded (replaced). As an example, the part number 262E-23X (an armature) indicates that it is a first generation part for motors manufactured prior to 1937. It was replaced by armature number 262E-23 (second generation).

One of the more vexing part number issues is that of the various trucks used during the later prewar period. For this discussion we will refer to them as tinplate hood style coupler trucks. We do not use the "type" system created by the pundits to identify the tinplate type trucks manufactured by Lionel. We rely almost entirely on the manuals Lionel produced to identify which trucks were installed on various engines and rolling stock. Our view is simple. It has been 65 to 75 years since many of these items were manufactured, with most passing through many hands in the interim. It is virtually impossible to examine enough pristine examples of ever engine and car made to explicitly state which "type" trucks were used continuously on which cars without referring to Lionel's own documents.

Confusion and conflicts are seen beginning in 1945 and thereafter when Lionel reversed the prewar process and began adding the "X" suffix to the new part, with the old part retaining its original part number. As an example, the steam chest for the 1946 version of the 726 Berkshire had part number 726-17, but there was also a 726-17X version. The only difference between the two is that the die cast mounting pins have been removed and holes drilled for mounting screws in the later version. Often a hard shock to the pilot of the steam chest would snap the mounting lugs thereby disabling the entire engine. Rather than try to adapt a later version steam chest, Lionel's service department produced a service bulletin describing how to drill the frame and add the replacement steam chest. Part number 726-111 then replaced part number 726-17X.

Given that these conflicts and vagaries are most apparent during the later prewar period and into early postwar production, we felt that you should be aware of them as you decide which parts you need. If you need our help in sorting out the differences, we are here to do just that.

Let's move on to the various categories.