National Lionel Train Day “Carry on the Joy” (Updated Winter 2025)

e*Train Issue: Jan 2025 | Posted in: 1945-1969 PostWar Era, 1970-now Modern Era, Collecting, Combined Eras

By Bob Mintz, TCA #92-35064 Updated: Winter 2025 e*Train

Lionel’s Modern Era Series:

Lionel has produced a wide array of series during the Modern Era. Here is a selection of notable collections:

1. Famous Name Collector Series

2. Billboard Reefer Series

3. Standard “O” Series

4. Billboard Hopper Series

5. Spirit of ’76 Boxcar Series

6. Tobacco Railroad Series

7. Hi-Cube Boxcar Series

8. Soda Pop Boxcar Series

9. Mickey Mouse Series

10. JLC 100th Anniversary Series

11. Big League Cars Series

12. Fast Food Freight Series

13. Turn of the Century Series

14. Woodside Reefers Series

15. Famous American Railroad Series

16. Favorite Spirits Series

17. Fallen Flags Series

18. Famous Inventors Series

19. Service Station Sets

20. 9464 Boxcars

21. I Love Series

22. Famous American Railroads Series

23. Toy Fair Series (https://www.tcatrains.org/etrain/lionel-new-york-toy-fair-boxcars-1971-to-2006/)

Apart from the Toy Fair Series, more articles exploring these collections will be available in the future.

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National Lionel Train Day (NLTD):

To celebrate its 115th anniversary and kick off the 2015 holiday season, Lionel introduced the first annual National Lionel Train Day on December 5, 2015. Over 130 local hobby shops across the country participated in the event, which marked a new tradition for Lionel fans nationwide.

Each year on the first Saturday in December, Lionel releases an exclusive, non-catalogued boxcar, available only at participating dealers. This annual boxcar, unique to the event, is part of Lionel’s effort to bring train enthusiasts together for a day celebrating the magic of Lionel trains and supporting local dealers.

Key Details of NLTD:

Objective: To unite train fans and drive traffic to local hobby shops through a coordinated, nationwide event.

Exclusive Boxcar: The boxcar released each year is a special collectible, available only through participating dealers.

Planning: Preparation for NLTD begins in May to confirm dealer participation and collect orders for the exclusive item.

Impact: NLTD has garnered support from over 100 accounts yearly, with many stores reporting repeat visitors drawn by the exclusive boxcar and the celebration of Lionel’s legacy.

A train car with a picture of a train

Description automatically generated — **83497 (2015) Side “A”**

A train car with a cartoon image on it

Description automatically generated — **83497 (2015) Side “B”**

A silver train car on tracks

Description automatically generated — **83498 (2016)**

A toy train on tracks

Description automatically generated — **84621 (2017)**

A train on the tracks

Description automatically generated — **1938350 (2019) Side “B”**

A close-up of a toy train

Description automatically generated — **2028620 (2020) Side “A”**

A train car on tracks

Description automatically generated — **2028620 (2020) Side “B”**

A toy train car with pictures of people on it

Description automatically generated — **2128370 (2021) Side “B”**

A train car with a blue and orange box car

Description automatically generated — **2228520 (2022) Side “A”**

2228520 (2022) Side “B”

A train car with a red and blue box car

Description automatically generated — **2328530 (2023) Side “A”**

A toy train on the tracks

Description automatically generated — **2328530 (2023) Side “B”**

A train car with a colorful train car

Description automatically generated with medium confidence — **2428490 (2024) Side “B”**

Shop Amazon and Help TCA

TCA members who shop at Amazon.com can have each of their normal purchases generate a modest payment to TCA! And it won’t cost you anything!

The Train Collectors Association is now a participant with AmazonSmile, which is a special website operated by Amazon that lets customers enjoy the same wide selection of products, low prices and convenient shopping features as on Amazon.com.

The difference is that when customers shop at AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com), the AmazonSmile Foundation donates 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to the charitable organizations selected by customers.

The process is simple. Just search for and select Train Collectors Association when you sign up and shop at smile.amazon.com.

You use your regular Amazon.com username and password, but when you log in to smile.amazon.com, you’ll see that you are supporting TCA with your purchases:

Note that if you just log in to the regular amazon.com, this benefit does not operate.

There are no costs to either you or TCA, but TCA benefits!

This is a great way for TCA to earn extra cash to offset costs, so sign up today to help support TCA.

* Note: TCA is not a party to any of your Amazon transactions, and does not endorse any products or vendors.

Helping TCA with your ebay purchases when you use PayPal

If you’re an ebay user and have a PayPal account you use to make payments, you can designate a donation for TCA when you’re checking out — any amount, small or large.
If you’re a regular seller on ebay, you can pre-designate a percentage of your sales to be donated automatically in your name to TCA as long as the purchaser pays with their PayPal account.

In both cases, you will receive a donation receipt from the PayPal Giving Fund, and enjoy applicable tax advantages.

How to do it:

Click on the image above, or use this link. This will take you to ebay, where you will see the following page (log in to ebay if you are not already):

This offers TCA as an option. Click on the “Add to My Charities” button where indicated with the red arrow. Thereafter, when you make a purchase, at checkout you will be offered the option to make a donation to TCA in any amount of your choosing. Small amounts add up, larger ones are great! It’s always up to you!

The option will appear at the lower part of your checkout page, something like this:

If you’re a regular seller on ebay, you can allocate a portion of your sales proceeds to be donated to TCA. Look at the green arrow marked “Optional” above to see how to do it. Details on how ebay calculates the donation may be read here. This is a wonderful way to share the financial benefits of your hobby with the organization that promotes it!

An added benefit to TCA is that these donations are not subject to normal processing fees, so that makes your donation work harder!

* Note. TCA is not a party to any of your eBay transactions, and does not endorse any products or vendors. PayPal issues the receipts to you for your donation, not TCA.

National Lionel Train Day “Carry on the Joy” (Updated Winter 2025)

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