Lionel pw-3854

3854 PRR AUTOMATIC MERCHANDISE CAR (1946/1947)

 

This car is a full scale model of 40 foot box cars, and unloads cargos of boxes with the push of a button. It has the same body as the full scale 714 and "semi-scale" 2954 box cars built before WW2. Evidently, the plan was to add a scale operating car to the scale/semi-scale series, but wartime shortages prevented that. Released in 1946 and 1947 only, it is the only full scale car produced in the Post-War era. Also, it was the only one produced with knuckle couplers, and would not couple up with its Pre-War mates (which had box couplers). The truck is unique as well - having two sliding shoe pickups instead of one pickup on the trucks of all the other Post-War cars. Two pickups were necessary to insure contact with both rails of the uncoupling track. The length of the car precluded both trucks fitting on the RCS/UCS uncoupling tracks. All other operating cars were short enough that both trucks fit on the uncoupling track, and contact was made with both rails. This car has a bakelite body that was painted brown. The paint commonly flakes with age, similar to the 2625 series Irvington passenger cars. All of the markings are heat- stamped in white. The door came in both black and brown, the brown being the rarer version of the two. The "cubes" are dropped in the roof hatch and can be ejected while over a UCS track. This car is 11" long which required Lionel to mount two pickup shoes on each truck because of this car's unusual length (a UCS track section is only 10" long). The "cubes" came in red, brown, and black, and are stamped "BABY RUTH" - only original ones have this stamping. It rides on staple-end trucks with coil couplers on both ends. This car is a very rare car and is difficult to find complete with or without original cubes.

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