Lionel Boxcars

From 1900-1950, railroads provide dominant means of transport for goods via "house cars". The railroad term "house cars" applies to all enclosed freight cars. These were more commonly called “Box Cars”.

Lionel primarily produced 3 types of box cars:

• The Scout type introduced in 1948 with double doors molded with the body.
• Injection molded 9 1/4 inch boxcars - improvement over stamped sheet metal which made it’s debut in 1946.
• 10 5/8 inch 6464 series boxcars - which had larger proportions overall.

The 6464 series box cars are some of the most collected. They come in a great variety of colors and are known for their balanced and pleasing proportions. Many of these particular cars are quite valuable in addition to adding realism to any setup.

Because of the great variety of boxcars that Lionel produces, many collectors who don’t run Lionel locomotives often fill out their trains and collections with Lionel boxcars.

Much like their freight car brethren, the gondola and dump cars, some box cars have mechanical actions of loading and unloading. for example the automatic refrigerated milk car (3472) or the automatic merchandise car (Type I) (3454). Be sure to check these model numbers in our search box, who knows? Your might get lucky and find something special to add to your collection. 

Livestock boxcars reflected the interstate commerce of the time. Some of these offerings were quite whimsical. This adds greatly to their value as collectors items, examples of this include the Traveling Aquarium car (3435), Poultry Dispatch (3434) and  Bronx Zoo (3376) with the giraffe sticking out..