Is It or Is It Not?

By Paul V. Ambrose, TCA #84-2153 Fall 2025 e*Train

I am almost at a loss for words regarding the item in this story, which I now own. It was purchased at a reasonable price at auction, and I was only interested in it as a curiosity piece. The back story began as it quietly came to market 20 years ago or so, and it was purchased privately by an acquaintance for substantial dollars. After the fact, and after my first-hand observation, I immediately thought it was 99% fraudulent. That extra one percent of it being possibly a legitimate Lionel production piece was only because my dear, departed friend Harry Lovelock owned several similar items.

Harry and I co-authored Greenberg’s Guide to Lionel Trains, Volume V, Rare and Unusual in 1993, and in that publication, you can see a number of items from Harry’s collection that appear to have been made in a machine shop class by a ninth grader, but are absolutely legitimate. Examine page 22 of that book for the operating State-of-Maine boxcar. Then on page 23 you will find a legitimate mock-up of a Lionel 3413 Mercury Capsule Launching Car with a circa 1961/62 frame and plastic AAR trucks. Then, on page 40 there is a unique motorized unit. Harry owned the actual motorized unit used on the Captain Kangaroo television show. Then, finally, on page 88 there is an unusual submarine. Harry also owned many other oddities purchased after the 1993 publication of Volume V of the Greenberg series.

Further note, if you examine early versions of advance sales catalogs and dealer literature, you will see some very unusual items that were quickly assembled from parts and/ or modified parts, to somewhat resemble the artist’s rendering of proposed items Lionel was considering to produce, but never did.

The car shown here in this article incorrectly uses the body of a typical 6511 flat car circa 1954-5 w/ bar-end metal trucks and truckplates that attached the trucks in earlier 1950s production. That alone caused major doubt in my mind. The superstructure is from an actual production 3413 Mercury Capsule Launching Car from 1962. It is mounted in the center of the flat car rather than towards one of the ends, and the two ladders are from the 175 Rocket Launcher Accessory in 1958, along with two men from a 6812 Track Maintenance Car that began production in 1959. It is totally impractical as a flat car because there is no available space to carry any type of military payload.

This car was poorly conceived and slapped together with a mixture of parts. It is an example of an attempt to deceive a novice collector. Names can’t be mentioned, but the original seller and probable maker is no longer in the hobby