Continuing from part I, the second article on Lionel OO in the July 2021 issue of The Train Collectors Quarterly is by Peter Atonna. Provocatively titled “Were They, or Were They Not?,” it focuses on Lionel OO and comparisons to Scale-Craft models. He clearly has a nice collection of Lionel and Scale-Craft OO, along with having (or having had) a small operating layout.

There is one factual misprint early in the article; the Lionel OO line was introduced in 1938, not 1939. Then there are two large and rather speculative topics that I’d like to react to.

Why did Lionel drop the OO line?

I have speculated that they dropped the OO line, never to bring it back after WWII, because the demand for OO was just not there. I detail this more in my book, but by the time (due to WWII production restrictions) that the shelves were pretty much empty of new model trains to buy, dealers still had Lionel Hudsons and caboose kits and such advertised at rock bottom prices. Prewar OO production by Lionel had flooded the market, and the market was still flooded despite the war. The simple fact being that by the later war years, everyone who wanted to buy a Lionel Hudson had one or could get one used. Not to mention that interest in HO was booming; HO had even by then clearly won the battle of the small gauges. Lionel had bet on the wrong horse, so to speak.

But my take is coming from a history of model railroading angle, influenced heavily by the hobby press of the time. Atonna has a different take on this, which I think has validity as well, as it reflects more on the toy train market that the Lionel OO line was also a part of. Quoting Atonna,

My speculation about why Lionel dropped the line is that before the war, Lionel developed an array of operating features for their trains. Not only the whistle, but automatic couplers, cars that unloaded, accessories that loaded coal and logs, an electromagnetic crane, and an operating gateman. These were heavily promoted and helped to keep new and old customers coming back to get the latest “innovations.” Other than a whistle, a smaller motor and an E unit, I suspect that the technology was not there to miniaturize those other operating features. Thus, Lionel was reluctant to give up on a successful 0 scale line to concentrate on a new size that did not offer the features already perfected in their older traditional size. They decided to stick with 0 scale after the war.

How did Lionel develop the freight car line?

The other speculative section of the article relates to how they initially developed their line, or more precisely how they made the dies to make the cars. He opens this section by noting that

Many years back, there were articles in the Quarterly (Vol 58, No. 2 and Vol 60, No. 2 as examples) and other publications that noted the extreme similarity between the four Lionel diecast 00 gauge freight cars and the same models already in production by Scale Craft. The speculation was that Lionel, in its hurry to get an 00 scale line into production, took the Scale Craft line and made molds from them. These became the cars Lionel offered.

I’ve never been to the York meet or a TCA convention. The few train collectors I have much contact with are primarily collectors of scale models, so this line of speculation seems rather wild to me. But I can imagine Lionel collectors talking about the OO gauge line when socializing at a large event, and as part of the discussion considering this idea as a possibility.

Atonna references two specific articles in prior issues of the Quarterly, implying that the articles lay out or support a claim of Lionel making molds from the Scale-Craft cars. Looking up the articles, I see that I wrote both! (“Many years back,” I’m getting old). The second article, in the April 2014 issue, is on early OO gauge models built by Howard Winther, and contains nothing relevant to the development of the Lionel models in comparison to Scale-Craft. The first one, however, has a LOT of text relevant to the topic. It was published in the April 2012 issue with the provocative title “Stand-Ins: Scale-Craft 00 Models in the 1938 Lionel Catalog.” In the article I make no claim that the Scale-Craft models were used somehow (via an unknown process) to make the molds that were used to produce the Lionel models. Rather, the focus is that modified Scale-Craft freight cars were certainly used in the catalog photos/artwork of the 1938 Lionel Catalog. It is plain as day, really, the shapes of the models, the rivet patterns, and the trucks totally give it away.

The photos I’ve inserted in this article are all scans from the 1938 Lionel catalog. Do the comparison yourself. These are modified Scale-Craft models, not Lionel. The most modified model is the boxcar, which has been shortened in height to better match the proportions of the subsequent Lionel OO boxcar. The car in the photo also is on the original S-C frame, which has the trucks centered further in from the ends than on the revised frame introduced a few years later.

(Noting, however, that the even earlier Nason sand-cast boxcar was of the same general PRR design that Lionel later produced. More on Nason here).

Again, my guess is that Atonna may be reacting in his article to speculations that arose in conversations with other pre-war Lionel collectors. He does in the article show clearly how the Lionel models differ from the Scale-Craft models, which is a good thing to have laid out clearly yet again for collectors that are new to Lionel OO. And, for sure, every Lionel OO collector should have a sampling of the Scale-Craft models to see how the models compare — the combination of these vintage models together is great to see in any collection.

And Lionel also used Scale-Craft models in their early dealer displays

Oh, also there is the story shared in my same 2012 Quarterly article about how the owner of Scale-Craft, Elliott Donnelley, saw his Scale-Craft freight cars decorated as Lionel models (!) and on display in 1938 in the store window (!!) at F.A.O. Swartz in New York City!!! Not only that, but in their hurry to get the line in production, Lionel had copied his patented Scale-Craft truck suspension, and, after getting lawyers involved, Lionel ended up paying the latter a royalty to continue to use the design. The full version of that story may be found in Volume 3 of Lionel: A Collector’s Guide and History by McComas and Tuohy.

In short, Lionel certainly copied the general designs of the Scale-Craft models, and used them in early advertising and dealer displays, but certainly also they did not make molds from the actual cars, that is not how steel dies would ever have been cut.

Bonus: One more speculation!

It has been speculated that Lionel theoretically could have used some type of die duplication machine to convert the O gauge Hudson dies to OO gauge. I think that speculation has been debunked, although maybe it is a rabbit hole some readers would like to go down further. But I think if that technology was available and worked well, they would have reduced all sorts of models and parts from O to OO — so probably the fact that they did not do that pretty much debunks it.

Conclusion: Lionel did it better

I think something you would take away from my 2012 article and this new 2021 article is that Lionel improved every one of these freight car models. Better trucks, better proportions, etc. Which is all to say, the Scale-Craft models were remarkable for 1937, and the Lionel models were remarkable for 1938! That we can still enjoy them now, and that with only moderate tuning up they can all still run flawlessly, is a testament to both firms and the quality of their American OO gauge products. May interest in both lines continue for another 85 years. Articles with a further overview of their products are linked below.

Lionel

Scale-Craft

Return to Part I