2551, 2552, 2553 & 2554 Aluminum: Banff Park, Skyline 500, Blair Manor & Craig Manor

Production:  1957

History
The Canadian Pacific aluminum passenger cars were only manufactured for a single year -- 1957 -- and are generally viewed as the most difficult postwar aluminum passenger cars to obtain and collect. According to many knowledgable collectors, these passenger cars have a non-US roadname in an effort to expand Lionel's business into Canada. Whether this actually helped Lionel's bottom line profits remains unknown, but with only a single year of production it is doubtful there was any meaningful impact to their business.

Lionel's Canadian Pacific passenger set (# 2296W) included a pair of 2373 F3 AA diesels plus four passenger cars. It is interesting to note the set always included three 2552 Skyline 500 vista dome passenger cars along with a single 2551 Banff Park observation car when it left the factory. The 2553 Blair Manor pullman and 2554 Craig Manor pullman were available as add-on passenger cars and never included in original sets. It is reported many customers did not want three of the same cars and requested their deal to swap out a pair of 2552 vista domes for the 2553 and 2554 pullman cars so their sets appears a bit more varied.

Included in the Canadian Pacific series of passenger cars are:

• 2521 Banff Park Observation
• 2552 Skyline 500 Vista Dome
• 2553 Blair Manor Pullman
• 2554 Craig Manor Pullman

Features
Standard features on the Canadian Pacific series of passenger cars include: unpainted extruded aluminum bodies, plastic end caps, dual chestnut-colored side stripes with gold lettering (Canadian Pacific at the top and the passenger car name in the middle), silhouetted window strips, die-cast passenger car trucks with functional couplers plus dual interior lights.

Additional Detail, Photos & Box Information

Set # 2296W - Shown in first photo above - All Canadian Pacific passenger car sets manufactured by Lionel include three 2552 Skyline 500 vista dome passenger cars with a single 2551 Banff Park observation car.

Modified Set # 2296W - Ocassionally set # 2296W is found with one each of the 2551 Banff Park observation, 2552 Skyline 500 vista dome, 2553 Blair Manor pullman and 2554 Craig Manor pullman. These sets are all post-factory modications -- but still highly desireable by collectors and operators due to the varied roadnames and styles of passenger car.

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