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Lionel Introduced the 314 Plate Girder Bridge in 1940. It was made originally in aluminum, and then the color changed to gray in late 1940. After the war, production continued in gray.

Most of Lionel’s accessories changed from aluminum to gray in late 1940. The story is the aluminum paint was in demand for the war effort and gray was cheaper. Gray is also a more forgiving color. It covers better.

A lot of sellers will use the war story to make their gray 314 girder bridges more desirable. The aluminum 314 bridge is harder to find than the gray one. There are at least 10 gray bridges for every aluminum one Gray being more common is true for both the 314 and 316 bridges. The 315 trestle bridge with a light is harder to find in gray.

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Lionel made the 208 toolbox with tools from 1934 to 1942. It came in sets with the 400E work train, and was available separately. The 812, and 2812 O gauge gondolas came with the tools but without the box when the gondola was part of a work train.

Work trains were a steam engine, tender, crane, gondola, searchlight car, and caboose. Standard gauge work trains were always pulled by the 400E and had 200 series freights. O gauge work trains were pulled by the 260E, the 263E, the 226E, and the 763E.

The tools are nickel plated cast iron, and each measures about 4 inches long. The metal tool boxes come in aluminum as shown above and gray. I’ll add a picture of a gray toolbox in the future.

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Lionel added a stop mechanism to the popular 112 station in 1935 and called it the 115 stop station.

The station can be found with two different shades of red. Either lighter red as seen here, or a slightly darker shade of red that was produced only in 1935.

This station is the same as the Lionel 117, but has added lights beside the doors.

The station was made in the postwar period. It’s the largest Lionel station made after the war.

Reproductions of this station have been made. Clean examples like the one shown above will bring a large premium.

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Lionel put a whistle into the little lithographed sheet metal station in 1937 and numbered it the 48W. The station was originally sold in green litho with a transformer in it with the Winner line.

The 48W allowed kids with trains that didn’t have whistles to add whistles to their layouts. This was a cheaper option than buying an extra tender with a whistle.

The box for this station is rarer than the item itself. The box is just flimsy cardboard and didn’t survive.

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Lionel introduced the merchandise container in 1930. They were sold in a set of three, and designed to fit into the 212 and 512 gondolas. They were cataloged through 1938, but probably weren’t made after 1934. Lionel changed the plates from brass to nickel in late 1934, and these are only found in brass.

There is supposed to be a paper label in the top of the door saying “Manufactured under license granted by LCL Container Corp.,” but it’s missing from the one shown here. LCL stands for “Less Than Carload.”

Until 1932 they came with chains as shown here. After 1932 the containers were sold without chains. I think you got one set of chains with three containers. The containers could be lifted from gondolas with a 219 crane.

Here’s a close up with the door open:

Reproductions of these have been made by at least two companies. MTH and T-Reproductions. The box with three containers is somewhat rare and a nice set with a crisp box will bring a small premium.

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I saw a building similar to this about 15 years ago. I’ve been looking for one since then. This is a small Japanese - it’s marked “Made In Japan” on the bottom - Christmas building. Probably from the 1930s.

It’s made of plaster of paris.

The one I saw years ago was about half the size of this one. This one is much more detailed. It has added window frames, doors, and clock.

It’s painted in the early Lionel colors meaning it was copied from a station Lionel made before 1935. In 1935 Lionel changed the color of the station to red and white and added train control to make the 116 station.

It has a small hole in the back so you can stick a Christmas tree light into it.

I’d like to get the smaller one.

There are all kinds of Japanese made Christmas buildings around. They are Some are paper or cardboard, some are composition, and some are plaster. These are commonly called Putz buildings. Below you can see some current Japanese Putz buildings on eBay.

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