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In 1937 Lionel introduced the famous 700E Hudson locomotive. This was a scale 1:48 model of the New York Central steam locomotive. The assembled 700E came with a walnut display stand and was the first commercially produced die cast O scale locomotive made.

The 700E Hudson was very popular with the newly emerging O scale operators. By the mid 1930s a movement towards scale or realist locomotives had grown up in the US and many operators built kits. Factory assembled scale locomotives and cars weren’t available. So the Lionel Hudson was a first.

In 1939 to accommodate O scalers who wanted to build their own locomotive Lionel began offering the 700E in kit form. 5 kits built the locomotive and tender, and a sixth kit contained a whistle for the tender. The kits could be built for inside or outside third rail.

To make it easier for modelers on a budget, Lionel sold the kits separately. Some modelers built the locomotiove and never painted it black so there are a few original gray 700K locos out there. (The one shown at the top of this page is an original kit locomotive assembled and unpainted.) I always wanted to build a 700K so since I had acquired most of the parts I decided to build my own Hudson kit.

The first kit 700K-1 came with the frame with wheels mounted, the crossheads and valve gear.

The second kit 700K-2 included the motor, e unit, collectors - inside and outside, the headlight and a lead weight.

The third kit contained the boiler and cab assembly and all the trim. Below is a photo of a Hudson boiler without the trim installed.

Here’s both sides of the boiler after mounting trim. I set the boiler on the frame with wheels for these pictures.

As I get further along in the assembly of my Hudson I’ll add more pictures and update this page.

700K-4 contained the ash pan, ladders, coupler and pilot, boiler front and some small bits of valve gear that attach to the boiler.

LIONEL 700E SCALE HUDSON - 9 pieces of feedwater pipes

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Lionel 700E Lamp Bracket Original NR

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Lionel 700E Turbo Generator Part MINT Org 1940s Pair

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Lionel 700E Frame Axle Bearings New Old Stock Org 6

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Lionel 700E LH-RH Side Rods Org 40's Parts

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Photo of original 700K Hudson in primer gray courtesy of an anonymous collector.

Lionel added remote control couplers to the 814R reefer in 1938 to create the 2814R refrigerator car. Two versions were made both are shown on this page.The white with blue roof is more common than the later rubber stamped car.

Lionel 2814R White, light blue, aluminum.

2814R Flat white, tuscan, black. Rubberstamped lettering.

712: Tough Lionel 2814R reefer car, nice condition!

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Lionel 2814R Ivory/Tuscan Refrigerator car OB

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Lionel introduced the 814R refrigerator car in 1929 in the ivory and peacock color scheme. Because this car was not made in 1926 no short wheel base cars exist. In 1934 the color was changed to white with a light blue roof. The white and blue cars were made until 1940, when the flat white and tuscan cars replaced them. The first run of flat white cars had nickel plates- not shown, but I’ll add a picture as soon as I can buy or borrow one. The rest of the flat white/tuscan cars had rubberstamped lettering.The flat white/tuscan 814R with nickel plates or with rubberstamped lettering is the hardest reefer to find. Both version of the flat white car are among the hardest Lionel 800 series cars. Personally, I think the one with nickel plates is harder because I have a rubber stamped one. The other refrigerator cars are common with the exception of the cars from 1934 and 1935 with mixed trim.

While many collectors get excited about the aluminum frame cars, they are no more difficult to find than the earlier black frame cars.

Lionel 814R Ivory sides, peacock roof, black frame. Brass trim.

814R White, light blue, aluminum. Brass trim. 1935 notch car.

814R White, light blue, aluminum.

814R Flat white, tuscan, black. Rubberstamped lettering.

Lionel pre war O-gauge 814R box car original

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LIONEL PREWAR O-GAUGE 814R REEFER EARLY VARIATION

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Lionel added remote control couplers to the reefer in 1938 and sold the resulting car as the 2814R

In 1938, Lionel added remote control couplers to the 813 stock car and introduced the 2813. The 2813 was made from 1938 through 1940, and came in cream and maroon only. The 2813 is not shown above but it looks the same as cream and maroon 813

713: Lionel prewar 2813 stock and 2815 Shell tank

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LIONEL PREWAR O GAUGE 2813 STOCK CAR

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The Lionel 813 Cattle car was introduced in 1926 in orange with a pea green roof. In 1935, the color changed to cream and maroon. The cream and maroon car can be found with brass trim (harder to find) or with nickel trim. In 1940, Lionel removed the nickel platesfrom the car and changed the color to tuscan with white rubber stamped lettering.

The rubberstamped 813 is the hardest stock car to find; it is also one of the hardest regular production cars to find. Perhaps only 20 cars exist. Here’s a guess as to why these cars are so hard to find: all of the cars I have examined-five- have holes in the ends. These holes are from the stamping dies, and correspond with where the embossed rivets should be. The rubber stamped cars are made of thinner galvanized metal, rather than the thicker tinplated metal used on the earlier cars. I am guessing here, but perhaps the dies used to stamp the cars deformed the thinner metal of the car sides so that only a few of the stampings were useable? It would require a lot more pressure to stamp the slats in the car than to stamp rivet detail in the car ends. Or, maybe Lionel had lots of cream and maroon cars in stock and didn’t start making tuscan cars until the war had started? I don’t know, but whatever the reason this is one rare car.

Some books say the rubber stamped 813 stock car is the rarest Lionel 800 series car. It’s not. The white/brown roof 814R reefer with nickel plates and the 816 black with rubber stamped lettering are both much harder to find.

The rest of the stock cars are easy to find with the orange and green car being really common. The 813 stockcar is the most commonly found short wheel base car. It is so common it won’t even bring a premium price over the normal wheelbase cars.

813 Orange sides, pea green roof, Brass trim.
This is a 1926 Short Wheel Base car.

813 Orange, pea green, brass.
Compare door handle on this car to larger handle on car above.

813 Cream, maroon, brass. This is a 1935 car with mixed trim.

813 Tuscan, rubber stamped lettering.

6 RUNG NICKEL LADDERS FOR LIONEL 813, 814 & 516

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6 RUNG BRASS LADDERS FOR LIONEL 813, 814 & 516

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813: Lionel 6464-150 MP, tan and gray boxcar, OB

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813: ABT: Whistles, Bells and Puffing Lionel Record & M

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Lionel pre war O-gauge 813 cattle car original

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In 1938, Lionel added remote control couplers to the 813 stock car and introduced the 2813.

Lionel’s 3814 merchandise car actually threw small crates out by remote control. The boxcar doesn’t work very well though. When it does work it throws the crates about a foot. That would have to be one very strong guy hidden in there to throw a crate 50 scale feet.

The 3814 automatic merchandise car was one of the first remote control cars made by Lionel. It was cataloged from 1939 to 1942. Two versions were made - the decaled version shown above and a rubber stamped version shown below.

Original Lionel crates come in red or brown (shown) and have “Baby Ruth” embossed on them. Reproduction crates are available and do not have “Baby Ruth” on them. Collectors will pay $10-15 for the empty envelope the crates came in.

Rarity: While most collectors think the rubber stamped 3814 is harder to find, the decaled version is actually harder to find. The decaled version was made in 1939 only.

Lionel 3814 Tuscan. RS lettering.

717: Lionel prewar black 2816 hopper, 3814 merch.

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LIONEL PREWAR O GAUGE 3814 OPERATING MERCHANDISE CAR

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Lionel introduced the 2814 Boxcar in 1938. It’s the same as the Lionel 814 boxcar but has automatic couplers. The 2814 was only made in two color variations. Both are shown on this page.

Rarity. The Cream and maroon 2814 from 1938-40 is much more common than the later rubber stamped car.

Lionel 2814 Cream with maroon roof and door guides

Lionel 2814 Flat orange with tuscan roof. RS lettering

714: Tough Lionel prewar 2814 orange boxcar

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LIONEL PREWAR O GAUGE #2814 CREAM & MAROON BOXCAR

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LIONEL 2814 AUTOMOBILE / FURNITURE BOXCAR 1938 FAIR NR

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The Lionel 814 box car was introduced in 1926 and was cataloged through 1942. The 814 is not known to exist with rubber stamped lettering. The cream and orange cars can be found with peacock or pea green door guides. On all other cars the door guides match the roof.In 1936, Lionel removed one of the stantions holding the brake wheel shaft from the car. The lower stantion was also removed the 813 cattle cars. All cars made after 1936 have only one stantion. It is possible to make odd colored cars such as cream with brown roof by changing roofs.

The early short wheelbase car is the hardest to find. Next in rarity is the cream and maroon 814 . All other versions are quite common.

Here are photos of the Lionel 814 Box Cars:

814 Cream sides, orange roof, peacock door guides. This car has a large door handle.	814 Cream, orange, pea green door guides. Small door handle.
814 Cream, orange.	814 Yellow, brown. Brass plates.
814 Yellow, brown. Nickel plates.	Two yellow/ brown cars. Early car on left with brass plates has 2 stantions on brake wheel. Later car on right has one.
814 Cream, maroon.

6 RUNG NICKEL LADDERS FOR LIONEL 813, 814 & 516

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6 RUNG BRASS LADDERS FOR LIONEL 813, 814 & 516

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1789 Lionel 814 Pre-War Boxcar

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814: Lionel 231 Rock Island Alco A unit, solid black

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814: ABT: Lionel 1945 through 1956 Instruction Booklets

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In 1938 Lionel added automatic couplers to this car and sold it as the 2814 Boxcar.

The Lionel 2817 caboose is the same as the 817 caboose, except for the addition of automatic couplers. Introduced in 1938 and cataloged until 1942, there are four variations of the 2817 caboose.

1. Bright red with nickel plates and painted observation railings
2. Flat red with tuscan roof nickel plates and windows on dish frame
3. Same as 3 but white painted windows
4. Flat red with tuscan roof and white rubber stamped lettering on a dished frame.

Either flat red caboose with nickel plates is the hardest to find and most desirable. The bright red caboose is the most common. The caboose is the most common of the 800/2800 series freight cars.

716: Nice Lionel prewar 2817 caboose

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Prewar Lionel #2817 Tinplate Caboose OB NO RESERVE

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Lionel 2817 Red Lionel Lines caboose

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Lionel introduced the 817 caboose in 1926. The first version had peacock sides and a dark green roof. The earliest versions came with short wheelbase frames, and are the hardest cabooses to find.

By 1930 Lionel changed the windows on the caboose from orange painted to brass plated.

In 1933 the caboose got a new color scheme. Red with peacock roof.

In 1934 the color changed again to all bright red. The earliest bright red 817 cabooses had brass trim and latch couplers. These brass plate cars usually have a slightly darker shade of red.

In 1935 the bright red got a little lighter, and nickel plates and end railings replaced the brass trim. This version is found with latch couplers or box couplers. By 1937 the nickel railings were replaced with painted railings. The box coupler version ran until 1940 and was then discontinued. A rubber stamped version was not made.

817 Peacock sides, dark green roof, orange windows.

817 Peacock, dark green, brass windows.

817 Red, peacock.

Bottom of caboose above showing export stamp. Only trains Lionel exported had this stamp. It’s a collectible variation, but few collectors will pay a premium for export cars.

817 Light red, brass plates, nickel windows and railings. Latch couplers. 1934 notch car.

817 light red. nickel trim with painted railings and box couplers.

See also Lionel 2817 caboose for the automatic coupler version.

Lionel Caboose 817

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817: Unrun Lionel 2561 Santa Fe aluminum car, OB

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817: ABT: Lionel #2421/2/3 Silver/Silver Passenger Cars

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LIONEL 817 CABOOSE GREEN PEACOCK ORANGE WINDOW BOXED

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LIONEL PREWAR 817 RESTORED CABOOSE

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