I am in the middle of restoring a Lionel 6555 Tank Car, and after cleaning the trucks I started to wonder if Lionel painted these trucks or not. After cleaning they actually looked good that way, so I started to second guess myself. Are these trucks painted or not?
-- Regards Mike Jones -aka- Three-Railer TCA # 00-52371
Steam Locomotives have souls, Diesels have throbbing hearts, Electrics are just machines.
I have never encountered a painted truck on a postwar Lionel (of New York) freight car that I have been able to confirm as in original condition. The sheet metal parts are chemically blackened similar to gun bluing. My understanding is that the sideframes and wheels are the natural color of the compressed iron powder from which they were made. This seems to be confirmed when I clean wheels on a fine wire wheel - it restores an original-like finish with no additional actions. The metal sideframes on the aluminum passenger cars and several of the diesels do appear to be chemically blackened. The only specific case of factory painted post-war trucks that comes to mind as I type this is the early production 1950 yellow
2023 Alcos with gray painted noses which also had gray pained sideframes on the trucks. GQBTW - You need to change your closing line - "Electrics Hum"!!!
-2333
-2343
-2353
-2243
-2245
all had painted truck side frames.
Rob
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