Is there any way to tell an old 6445 Fort Knox bullion car (supposedly from 1961) from a new one (I know they brought them back)? I bought one on Ebay - but it looks like it's a brand new one that someone put in an old box. Please help!!!!
How to tell old Lionel 6445 from new?
Dec 11, 2003
6 Replies
I believe that there is a built date on the car. It might look like "BLT
1964" or something like that.-- Please note; return email address has changed. It is now snipped-for-privacy@sbcglobal.net. Emails to Earthlink will be ignored.
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If it is stamped Made in China on the underside it definitely is new.
Hmmmm.....the odd thing is there are no markings whatsoever. The only thing I can see is the "L" with a circle around it on the wheel things. Was that their symbol back in the 60's? I know I see it on current stuff. All of my other pieces are from the 50's and they have metal undersides and no symbol like that - so I don't know if things changed in the 60's and it's normal to be all plastic (except the wheels). It's just that this piece is too perfect to be 40+ years old in my opinion and I'm worried that the guy I bought it from just took a new one and put it in an old box.
I paid a pretty penny for it (because the guy had all positive feedback and said this item was stored new in the box since purchase - so I thought it was legit. But now I'm doubting it.
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Lionel used the "L" in circle logo both before and after WWII. The 1961 to
63 6445 only came with the "Timken" roller bearing style plastic trucks. These do have the "L" in circle logo on the underside of the anti-rotation tab on the bolster opposite the coupler. The "Timken" truck is a modern freight truck with round covers over the 4 journal bearings that actually say "TIMKEN" in very small raised letters. GQ
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It says: Built by (top line) Lionel (bottom line)
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