National Lionel Train Day “Carry on the Joy”

e*Train Issue: Sep 2023 | Posted in: 1970-now Modern Era, Collecting

By Bob Mintz, TCA# 92-35064 Fall e*Train, 2023

Lionel has made many series in the Modern Era. I can name the following:

1)Famous Name Collector

2)Billboard Reefer

3)Standard “O”

4)Billboard Hopper

5)Spirit of 76 Boxcar

6)Tobacco Railroad

7)Hi-Cube Boxcar

8)Soda Pop Boxcar

9)Mickey Mouse

10)JLC 100^th Anniversary

11)Big League Cars

12)Fast Food Freight

13)Turn of the Century

14)Woodside Reefers

15)Famous American Railroad

16)Favorite Spirits

17)Fallen Flags

18)Famous Inventors

19)Service Station Sets

20)9464 Boxcars

21)I Love

22)Famous American Railroads

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

Other than the Toy Fair Series, future articles are down the pike.

Helping to kick off the 2015 holiday season and in celebration of their 115th anniversary Lionel partnered with over 130 local hobby shops nationwide to celebrate the first annual National Lionel Train Day (NLTD) on December 5, 2015.

Celebrating the magic of Lionel Trains, a non-catalogued item was issued on that 1^st Saturday in December to be followed in subsequent years different issues going forward.

The spirit behind the National Lionel Train Day was to help coordinate one single day/event for train fans all over the country to celebrate the Magic of Lionel and stop in at a local dealer in their area. Lionel wanted to harness the power of the Brand Voice to drive traffic in-store to dealers while also offering a unique non-catalogued boxcar that could only be purchased by a participating dealer. The program has resulted in over 100+ Accounts participating each year!

The special NLTD event takes lots of upfront planning, starting in May of that year, so Lionel knows what dealers all over the US will be participating as well as their orders for the exclusive boxcar. It has become a cherished event amongst some of our largest dealers driving repeat visitors to their store for the boxcar and other Lionel items.

83497 (2015) Side “A”

83497 (2015) Side “B”

83498 (2016)

84621 (2017)

1838010 (2018) Side “A”

1838010 (2018) Side “B”

1938350 (2019) Side “A”

1938350 (2019) Side “B”

2028620 (2020) Side “A”

2028620 (2020) Side “B”

2128370 (2021) Side “A”

2128370 (2021) Side “B”

2228520 (2022) Side “A”

2228520 (2022) Side “B”

2328530 (2023) Side “A”

2328530 (2023) 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”

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