Lionel 2279W Train Set Pictured above is the Lionel No. 2279W set from 1957. My set was identical to that offered by Lionel except that the No. 2351 Milwaukee Road EP-5 Electric Locomotive was substituted for the original No. 2350 New Haven. As shown below in a page from the 1957 catalog, No. 2351 was part of set No. 2287W. |
Exactly why the locomotives were switched between the sets is unknown.
My guess is that the more colorful New Haven was more popular and possibly more well known in the
Northeast than the Milwaukee Road.
It's also possible that the 2350 was removed from the set for separate sale.
At the time both locomotives should have had approximately the same selling price.
Lionel Trains - An Investment in Happiness - Diesel Loco With Horn
The "basket weave" set box contained all the items in the photo except for a transformer.
Inside the set box each car was packed in an individual classic Lionel trademark orange and blue box.
The end of each box was marked with the contents as shown below.
The locomotive was in a sturdier plain cardboard box.
Although the box indicates "Diesel Loco with Horn," this was not true for this set.
The locomotive did have a horn but was a model of an electric, not diesel, locomotive.
Here is some more information on the individual pieces in the set:
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Lionel No. 2351 Milwaukee Road EP-5 Electric Locomotive
A comparison between the Lionel model and the real locomotives.
The photo of the model below is flanked by photos of the real locomotives on which it was based.
At left is a New Haven EP-5 and at right a Milwaukee Road EF-4.
The body was modelled after the New Haven EP-5 while the paint scheme was based on the Milwaukee Road EF-4.
Lionel originally produced the 2350 New Haven EP-5 Electric Locomotive in 1956 and continued through 1958. The real locomotives were built in 1954 for the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, commonly known as the "New Haven," by General Electric. These locomotives are "rectifier electrics" since they require a high-voltage Alternating Current (AC) power source which is then converted (rectified) to lower voltage Direct Current (DC) to power the traction motors that turn the wheels. Connection to the power source was made by one of the pantographs on the locomotive's roof. There is no diesel engine for power.
The 2350 was an accurate representation of the original locomotive except for the fact that it had four-wheel trucks (the wheel-sets) while the real locomotive had six-wheel trucks.
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The Lionel No. 2351 Milwaukee Road Locomotive was introduced in 1957 and featured on the Lionel 1957 catalog cover. It was also made in 1958. 2351 was actually an EP-5 model painted to look like the Milwaukee Road's EF-4 Electric locomotives. There never was a real Milwaukee Road EP-5. In fact, the ten EP-5's for the New Haven were the only ones ever built.
The 2351 model is painted yellow with black top and top sides, and red stripes. The actual Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad ("The Milwaukee Road") locomotive, as you can see from the comparison photo, was more orange in color.
In the right-hand comparison photo the red and white "The Milwaukee Road" herald can be seen on the side of the
locomotive.
The same herald can be seen on the catalog depiction of the Lionel model, however the Lionel production model
did not have it.
I think the herald replaced the wording on the real Milwaukee Road locomotives.
The catalog also showed "2351" on the visible number board while the production model had "375."
The "built" date is not shown on the catalog depiction.
The front pantograph is raised rather than the rear so that an illustration could fit.
In normal operation the rear pantograph would be raised.
In the real locomotive's model designation, the "E" stands for Electric and the "P" for Passenger. Milwaukee Road's EF-4's were freight locomotives and the "F" stood for Freight. Interestingly enough, the Lionel passenger locomotives all pulled freight sets!
The Milwaukee Road EF-4 is sometimes referred to as "Little Joe" since it was one of several produced for the
Soviet Union and nicknamed for Joseph Stalin.
The onset of the Cold War caused the sale to fall through and the Milwaukee Road bought the locomotives
from GE and modified them for use in the U.S.
The Lionel models are often incorrectly referred to as a "Little Joe's."
The New Haven EP-5's were called "Jets" because of the sound their cooling system made while passing.
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The Lionel EP-5's could also be wired to draw power from an overhead wire instead of the normal center rail of the track. Both the real locomotives and the Lionel models can operate on power drawn through the pantographs or from the third rail!
Although it has been done, constructing the catenary for the Lionel engine is an extremely difficult task.
It would most likely be found on a "model railroad," as opposed to a "toy train layout."
The real locomotive would need only one pantograph raised to operate and it would normally be the one to the
rear of the locomotive's direction of travel.
Below are two views of the locomotive showing what's "under the hood" and the bottom.
In the left photo you can see the light bulbs on each end, the battery compartment (without battery), the
horn, the "E" unit and the AC motor.
The photo at right shows the pick-up rollers on the right-hand truck and the battery cover.
The "E" unit On - Off switch lever is directly behind the left-hand truck.
The "E-unit" (electrical unit) controlled the locomotive's direction. It operates in a forward - neutral -
reverse - neutral pattern which then repeats. To reverse direction the transformer's Direction control would have to
be operated twice, once for neutral and again for the reverse direction.
The lever on the bottom of the locomotive would turn off the E-unit and lock the locomotive in its current
state, forward, neutral or reverse.
You would use this if you wanted the locomotive to always move in the same direction.
This would most likely only be on a large and or display layout.
The battery compartment held a common 1.5 volt "D" cell battery. The battery was needed for DC Direct Current to
operate the horn.
If left too long in storage, the old battery could leak and damage the locomotive.
An original factory-sealed box with an EP-5 would be a collector's dream and very valuable, even though the
contents were probably destroyed by leaking battery acid.
Lionel produced four different EP-5 models during the 1950's.
In addition to the 2350 New Haven and my 2351 Milwaukee Road, there were also the 2352 Pennsylvania (1958)
and 2358 Great Northern (1959).
All Lionel EP-5's from the 1950's have the same features and the same number 375 on the number boards.
All four are shown below.
The catalogs urged you to "See your Lionel dealer for his complete outfit prices and see how much
you'll save!"
Although the catalogs did not include set prices, they did warn that the EP-5 locomotive, if bought separately,
was $29.95 in 1956 and $35.00 in 1957.
The 3424 Operating Brakeman Car if bought separately was $8.95 including the tell-tales.
The 6477 Miscellaneous Car was $5.95, as was the 6464 Boxcar and the 6427 caboose.
The 6424 Twin Auto Car was $3.95.
Prices are from the 1956 catalog.
Prices for individual cars were not shown in the 1957 catalog.
Before you laugh at the prices, consider that the average weekly wage in 1956 was $68 according to the U.S. Government. Compare that to today's over $800 weekly average (11.8 times what it was in 1956). Lionel Trains represented a sizable "Investment in Happiness" when you consider that "O Gauge Outfits" (sets) like mine started at $39.95.
In 1976 Lionel again produced a Milwaukee Road EP-5.
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Lionel has since produced other versions of the EP-5 and I own a set from 1988 that features the No. 18302
decorated like the No. 2358 Great Northern.
It has all the same features of the other EP-5's.
It's road number is 8302 and the number boards are blank.
Lionel numbered its sets according to a system. Sets beginning with "1" were less expensive "027" sets while those beginning with "2" were the generally more expensive "O Gauge" sets. Sets ending in an even number are passenger car sets while those ending in an odd number are freight sets. The "W" indicates that the set has a locomotive with a whistle or horn. If the set ended with an "S" then it had a locomotive that generated "smoke." Some set numbers ended with "WS" indicating whistle and smoke. Sets with 4-digit numbers were distributed to authorized dealers while 3-digit numbered sets were sent to other retailers. There were many "uncataloged sets" that were not shown in the annual catalog.
"O27" and "O" are terms used by Lionel to identify the size of the trains and track. "Gauge" technically refers to the size of the track, specifically the distance between the rails. Lionel used the term "O27" for its less expensive and generally smaller locomotives and cars. "O" was used for the larger and more expensive ones.
Lionel No. 2279W Set
If you look at the train set as a whole, it's pretty colorful.
Looking at the individual rail cars, however, you will see they feature a single color.
During the period when these cars were produced Lionel would most often use colored plastic to create the basic model.
If necessary, additional colors would be painted over the basic color.
Numbers and lettering were then applied using a heat stamp process.
The locomotive is actually the most complex paint scheme. The plastic body is painted yellow with black on top and red stripes on each side. This would require several steps in the decorating process. First the body was painted yellow. Next the body would be masked and then the black paint applied. Then would come another mask with the red stripe being painted. The process would be repeated for the stripe on the other side. Finally the letters and numbers would be applied to each side.
In addition to the single color plastic mold, the same basic tooling was used to mold several different cars. Making the mold was the most expensive part of the manufacturing process, so making use of it as much as possible was important.
Looking at the cars below you will see that they are all the same basic flatcar.
The only difference besides the color, is the holes molded in the surface of the car to allow for mounting of
the pieces specific to the car.
The 6424 Auto Car has a metal frame attached to the top to hold the two cars in place. The 6477 Miscellaneous Car has bulkhead frames and four stakes added. The 3519 Satellite Car has holes to mount the launching mechanism and the radar panel and antenna.
In a similar fashion, the 3424 Brakeman Car is a 6464 Boxcar with a cut-out in the roof for the brakeman and
the mechanism mounted to the interior frame of the car.
The boxcars too were molded in a single color with the doors often being molded in a different color as they
are here.
Lionel would almost always apply the catalog number to the car. All real train cars have reporting marks which include two to four letters and road numbers which are a sequential number. The railroads use these to identify each individual car.
If you look at the 6464-425 New Haven boxcar you will see the "NH 6464425" reporting marks and road number. "NH" representing New Haven. The cars marked "Lionel" have only the catalog number printed on the side as the road number, no letter reporting marks. Lionel omitted the "WAB" reporting marks from the 3424 Wabash Operating Boxcar. More recently Lionel uses "prototypical" reporting marks and road numbers (those that you would see on the real rail car or locomotive). Locomotives and cabooses have the railroad name instead of reporting marks.
Most of the items pictured also have variations.
These variations are caused by changes in manufacturing methods or by mistakes made during manufacturing.
Depending upon how many of the variations were created, they can be very valuable on the collector market.
The 2350 New Haven locomotive has several varations due to the complexity of painting the three colors and
how they are arranged.
A variation of my Operating Brakeman Car came with a dark blue brakeman instead of a white one.
Sometime during production there was a change in the shade of the car's blue color.
These are common variations.
Some 6464-425 Boxcars shown below have a mistake in the letter "N" of the "NH" logo.
Look closely and you will see part of the N is missing from the top in the photo at left.
This is an uncommon variation which makes the cars with the mistake very valuable.
None of my trains, to the best of my knowledge, have variations and their value is due only to their age and
availability.
Excellent condition prices are $365 for the locomotive, $61 for the 6464 boxcar, $48 for the Satellite car,
$40 for the Miscellaneous car, $39 for the Brakeman car and $28 for the caboose.
That's about $581 just for the locomotive and cars.
The hard to find complete set (original set box and all) with 2350 New Haven locomotive recently sold for $1250.
Me and "The Trains"
I believe my Lionel Train Set was a gift for Christmas 1958.
I was not quite three years old.
For many years the trains were only a part of Christmas.
They would spend most of the year in the box in the attic and then be brought out with the Christmas decorations.
After Christmas it was back in the box and back to the attic.
For at least a couple of years, the trains were set-up around the Christmas Tree as is the iconic image many people
have of Lionel Trains.
My trains were always set-up in the basement on a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood (or whatever that sheet was made of). Sometimes the trains were set-up on the floor and even ran around the Christmas Tree.. One of these years a minor disaster occurred for my locomotive. I used a spotlight to provide better light when operating the trains in the otherwise dimly lit basement. One day I shut everything down as usual and headed up from the basement. The next day I found that I had stopped the locomotive directly in front of the spotlight and the residual heat from the spotlight had caused a portion of the plastic body to melt. The rounded mark matched up with the black painted portion of one side of the locomotive.
Since my layout was the standard oval of track that came with the set, my "operating" options were limited. I remember that one of the things I used to do was to uncouple the last car as it crossed over the uncoupling track. I would repeat this as the other cars crossed the uncoupler. Eventually the locomotive would be pushing all the cars. I would then reverse direction of the locomotive and restore the train to "normal." Remember that the caboose had no rear coupler so that I could not pull the entire train backwards.
I also recall a tunnel that was part of my layout.
I don't think this was a Lionel item but it was made to match the curved track so it was always in one of the
corners of the layout.
The tunnel provided a reason for the Operating Brakeman to "duck" and the telltales were set-up on each
side of the tunnel.
As I mentioned above, the mechanism did not always work as intended and sometimes the brakeman would "forget"
to duck and hit the top of the tunnel portal as the car entered the tunnel.
The brakeman would then also hit the other portal as the car exited the tunnel!
Lionel probably envisioned this as the brakeman figure was soft plastic and would simply bend backwards as
it hit the tunnel.
Often the mechanism would then work on the next telltale section and the brakeman would "duck" after the
tunnel.
I would pull the brakeman upright as the train passed to correct his position.
There was a rather hard to find lever inside the boxcar which you could use to lower the brakeman if required.
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Over the years the Lionel Trains flame that was sparked in my early years grew to a full-fledged fire that has now been knocked down to a wisp of smoke. I have to say that the water on the fire was the movement of all Lionel Train production overseas. For many years the trains were made only a few miles from where I lived, and until 2001 in the U.S.A. Some of the magic was also lost as Lionel moved to more realistic "scale" models as opposed to what they now call "traditional" toy trains.
Even so, every year at Christmastime a small flame rises from the smoke and Lionel Trains once again travel
around the Christmas Tree on their journey into eternity.
