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My Unique Train Item

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starfire700:
In the interest of gaining more participation, I am starting this thread. It targets a subject that has been discussed elsewhere.
It is my belief that every Train Collector has at least 1 item that he / she thinks the rest of us have never seen.
This is one of the main inspirations for collecting, to own unique items.

We ask any and all of you to post that item.
Any of the senior members will be glad to assist you if you have difficulty posting your pictures.
They can be cell-phone photos, but have to be reduced in size, some phones will even do this.

My first unique item is not very exciting or flashy, it is a piece of track.
This is a 2-7/8" gauge Lionel crossing track, made before 1906. I am also showing the catalog cut from 1905 describing it.
It is 2-rail ribbon-rail mounted to a wood base.
I believe it is fairly unique, because one was not even available to show in the Lionel Trains Standard of the World book.
This is my unique item, and I ask if anyone else has one. Also that you post your unique item.
It can be a magnificent set, a piece of track or anything in-between.

Terry:
Here's a unique caboose:

 

It's an 822 caboose lettered with the 801 lettering set.

Here's the end:

 

This is what it should look like:

 

early0electric:
Nice stuff guys! Terry, I knew about yours and saw it at York before Doug sent it to auction along with the 802 Stock car that was end stamped UNION STOCK LINES. My unique item is the earliest known Lionel catalog, brochure, flyer, what ever you want to call it. You can read the story in the TCA Quarterly of Jan 2017, vol 63 no 1.



  

starfire700:
The 822 stamped 801 and the Early Lionel 2-7/8" catalog are certainly unique if not as rare as hen's teeth. Glad to see some participation.
Someone else out there must have a real rarity.

Terry:
Here's something cool:

 

It's a Lionel WHITE arm 152 crossing gate. When the TCA book came out in the 1970s it only listed the gate in aluminum or gray. Shortly after the book came out I found a 1666E set with a side terminal 164 log loader and a white arm 152 gate.

The 164 log loader was only shown in the book with top terminals. That was two items that were NOT listed in the TCA book from the one purchase. That's really what started me on the search for odd items.

Based on my observations the 164 with side terminals is much harder to find than the white gate. But with the crossing gate you can see the difference without it being pointed out, and I don't look at every log loader closely.

This crossing gate should have a small pedestrian arm that is missing. I got it a few weeks ago in a box of junk I dragged out of a hoarder's home. I have a nicer pair - including the one I found in the 1970s - on the O gauge layout. Over the years I've had four of these. Not unique but quite rare.

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