Just When You Think You’ve Found Them All!
By Bill Fuller, TCA #87-26705 Winter 2025 e*Train
Back in 1973, Lionel Fundimensions created excitement among collectors by introducing a brand-new freight car body—the 9800-series reefers with real plug doors and air tanks visible under the floor. These cars were longer than the standard boxcars of the time, featuring wood-look sides and interior floors, making them a distinctive addition to O gauge freight car fleets. (The term “air tanks” is from Roland LaVoie’s book. Personally, I thought they were fuel tanks for refrigeration units, but regardless, they were a unique underfloor detail.)
As Roland LaVoie notes in Greenberg’s Guide to Lionel Trains 1970–1991, Volume I, Motive Power and Rolling Stock, “. . . the 9800-series gave Fundimensions a chance to show off its capabilities with graphics. Colorful electrocal graphics grace the sides of these cars, advertising just about every conceivable product in food and drink.” Among these rolling billboards showcasing popular brands of spirits, fast foods, candies, cereal, cleanser, tea, pickles, and flour were nine beer cars—but is nine truly the final count?
For years, I believed the nine Fundimensions beer reefers on my display shelf proved that I had acquired every single beer car made with 9800-series bodies. Then one day, while browsing eBay, I came across a 9850 Budweiser reefer listed for auction. No big deal, I thought, as I already had a 9850 Budweiser reefer in my collection from its initial release in 1973. But the seller, who didn’t appear particularly train-savvy, included a clear photograph of the car—and something looked distinctly unusual. Notably, there was no car number on it. Once again, I consulted LaVoie’s Greenberg’s Guide.
The last Fundimensions beer reefer was the 9874 Miller Lite, but that was not the end of beer reefers with the 9800-series body, plug doors, and underfloor tank detail. Ten years after the 1978-79 Miller Lite reefer was produced—and three years after Lionel had been purchased by Richard Kughn—Lionel Trains Inc. (LTI) issued another Budweiser reefer using the old Fundimensions body! According to LaVoie’s Greenberg’s Guide, LTI’s internal control number for this car was 16223, and it was part of the uncatalogued set 6-11775, produced for Anheuser-Busch in 1989. (LTI continued using the 9800-series bodies for other reefers until at least 1995, but I haven’t found any others branded with beer logos.) LaVoie notes that the unnumbered Budweiser car is “hard to find.” Yet I stumbled upon it thanks to an eBay seller who hadn’t recognized its rarity and had listed it with the wrong item number. Now I know that Lionel, under different ownership, produced at least ten beer reefers using the 9800-series body shells. I believe I finally have them all—unless there’s yet another uncatalogued car out there waiting to surprise me!
