Lionel pre-400e gunmetal

GUNMETAL 4-4-4 LOCOMOTIVE NICKEL TRIM (1936-39)

 

  • 1936-39
  • Gunmetal with nickel trim; handrails have turned nickel posts; black wheels, black number boards with white lettering; black motor side plates and leading and trailing truck frames; no chugger; matching gray whistle with nickel trim and plate with red paint
  • This was Lionel's largest and best Standard Gauge Loco
  • Most frames, boiler fronts and wheels on Standard Gauge locos have deteriorated and have been replaced.
  • Lionel invented Die Casting, but did not initially know to keep impurities out of the casting pots
  • The impurities caused the metal to expand, creating tremendous stress, then crumble and break apart
  • A metallurgist who studied the deterioration and the scientific factors involved once advised us that the prewar Lionel metal parts Surviving after 40 years would remain intact

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