Budd 400

400

The Rail Diesel Car (RDC) is based upon the real-life Budd companies RDC's made for commuter service in the US during the 1950s. All Lionel RDC's are an excellent model of the real-life diesel.
Lionel's model is commonly referred to as the Budd Car. During the postwar era,
Lionel produced four Budd cars -- two motorized and two non-powered units. Surprisingly, the non-powered units are much harder to locate than the powered version.
Standard features of the 400 RDC include: silver painted body with blue lettering, operating couplers at each end, two-axle magnetraction, three-position E-unit, a functional horn powered by either a D cell battery or the track, interior illumination via three interior lights plus window silhouettes and an ornamental horn on each end.
During the postwar era, Lionel produced four RDC's. Each car had its own RDC number board on the side. The following is a list of the Lionel catalogue number and RDC number associated to the item:
400, powered unit: RDC-1
404, powered unit: RDC-4
2550, non-powered unit: RDC-4
2559, non-powered unit: RDC-9
Only Known Variation - All 400 RDC's are painted silver with blue lettering.

6162 Gondola

Sorry, I forgot, so here is the item of the week!
6162 Gondola

http://www.postwarlionel.com/images/616260.jpg

The 6162 New York Central gondola was introduced by Lionel in 1959. It was the second long gondola produced by Lionel in the postwar era which did not include a metal undercarriage -- the first being the 6062 NYC gondola. For the first year of production, the 6162 was available with either the New York Central or Alaska roadname. After 1959, the Alaska gondola was dropped from the line and only the New York Central was produced. Since the Alaska version was only available for a single year, it has become a difficult gondola to locate.
The 6162 was available in many sets as well as being sold as a separate sale item. When included as part of a set, most 6162s were packed without an original box. Locating a 6162 with its original box is -- especially with a box in collector condition -- is difficult.
Standard features on both 6162 NYC gondolas include: unpainted body, AAR trucks plus three canisters as its load.
The NYC version featured: unpainted blue body with white lettering, three white canisters, the 'N' in 'NYC' was always in the third panel, the number 6162 was underlined
and it usually has three lines of technical data. For the first few years of production, the NYC included two operating couplers. As production continued throughout the 1960's, the gondola gradually changed to include combinations of operating and non-operating couplers.
The Alaska version featured: yellow body with blue lettering, three red canisters, the number 6162-60 was underlined and it has three lines of technical data. The Alaska gondola always included two operating couplers.
Most 6162 NYC gondolas have unpainted blue bodies -- with various shades of blue being available throughout the ten-year production cycle. For a brief period in the late 1960s, the gondola was produced with an unpainted red body.
Alaska Gondola - A hard-to-find version as it was only manufactured for a single year -- 1959.
NYC Blue Gondola - Shown in the photo above - The common unpainted blue version.NYC Teal Gondola - A slightly less common unpainted gondola.
NYC Red Gondola - A rare variation to locate. Production is assumed to be only for a portion of 1968.