Unusual Variation – No. 337 Illinois Central Car
By Dave McEntarfer
This unusual No. 337 Pullman was recently purchased on Ebay as part of a set which came with a No. 338 observation with the normally seen Lionel Lines lettering and a matching No. 8.
This set came through the son of the original owner who was able to confirm that his father had received the set sometime in the late 1920s. There were no boxes with the set. We contacted Randy Berger, one of the original authors of the TCA book “Lionel Standard of the World”, who stated that they (book committee) were able to confirm a No. 320 passenger car with these markings, but have never seen another car in this series with these markings.
According to the new owner the IC No. 337 Pullman has the later #500 series trucks with the bolster bar spanning the width of the truck and couplers with the earlier brass retainer, the picture should tell the rest.
The current owner would like to hear from anyone who might have information on other original cars with this stamping. You can email him directly by clicking on this link for Steve Bachman.
