“Vat” City

e*Train Issue: May 2013   |   Posted in: 1970-now Modern Era, Collecting

by Joel Fugazzotto and Bob Mintz

Updates to Lionel Vat Cars 2004 through 2020

(Updated Spring 2021)

(Also see Jon Bonds’ V-V-Vat’s All F-F-Folks! Lionel’s 0 & 0-27 Vat Cars)

Since the late Jon Bonds wrote his wonderfully informative article about Lionel’s Vat Cars in the November 2003 issue of e-Train, five more regular production vat cars and one club car have been added to the roster.

Also, there are two more vat cars slated for production in 2010: the 39488 Reese’s® vat car as shown in the 2010 Lionel Signature Edition catalog and the 39496 Lionel RailRoader Club (LRRC) #6475 50th Anniversary Vat Car, which is available to members only. This is the second time the LRRC has produced a vat car, the first being the 19940 offered in 1996.

Finally, a unique car was offered to LCCA members attending the 2008 Buffalo Convention, a “Dippy over the Falls” vat car. The car carries empty vats for use as “barrels” to carry Dippy the Daredevil over Niagara Falls. The car has several comical markings (Niagara Falls, Brave, Fearless, Crazy) and was a very limited item painted by a Lionel approved outside vendor and did not have a SKU number. “Photo reprinted from LCCA (Lionel Collectors Club of America/Johnny Ourso), text by Bill Schmeelk. Used with permission.”

In addition to the vat cars produced since 2003, I’ve included a photograph and description of the 9193 Easy Cheese® vat car, a sample of which was not available at the time Jon wrote his article. As Jon mentioned in his article, there were only 12 of these cars made, but you are cautioned to pay no more for the 9193 Easy Cheese car than you would for a 9106 Easy Cheese (only 238 produced) because it is quite easy to switch vats from the one car to the other.