Frequently Asked Questions

Sizes of Lionel Trains

Today Lionel makes several different size box cars. The traditional line cars, like the 6464 type boxcars are shorter than scale. These originally came out in the 1950s postwar period, when very little if anything Lionel made was true scale. The F-3 and the Trainmaster locos came close, but were not true scale by today’s standards. Today Lionel’s line does include scale cars and their catalog refers to this line as Scale cars. They do however retain the Lionel coupler which is much larger than a scale coupler would be.

Yes, Lionel marketed and/or made HO trains at several points in their history. Lionel has not had much success in the HO market. Lionel first introduced an HO line in 1957. This ran through 1966. The Rock Island Husky you have was introduced in 1960 and was the least expensive loco offered. The HO trains from this era are more highly valued than those of Lionel’s second attempt under the General Mills era from 1973 to 1976. Your Santa Fe loco is from this second era, when Lionel trains were manufactured by Fundimensions, a division of General Mills. The best Lionel HO trains were those produced in 1957 as they were manufactured for Lionel by Rivorossi, a manufacturer of high quality HO trains. Lionel then manufactured its own line and the quality suffered. There are some collectors who value the first era of Lionel HO, but few who place any value on the those produced in the Fundimensions era. I would not consider either of your locos to be rare, but there is a small group who do collect Lionel HO. While there are some rare cars and locos which are especially collectable, most have a rather modest value.