3530 Electro Mobile Power Box Car

Production:  1956 - 1958

History
The 3530 Electro Mobile Power Box Car is another innovative train designed by Lionel. The concept is based upon a mobile power station -- located in a box car -- being available to the railroad for emergency situations.

Lionel's model is a good representation of a mobile power supply found on real railroads throughout the 1950's. It connects to a telephone pole which in turn illuminates a searchlight. Within the box car there is a light and rotating fan blade. When operating, the illusion of the light and rotating blade appears as thought there is someone actually operating and working within the car.

The 3530 is an interesting item, but the individual components -- such as the telephone pole and searchlight -- have proven to be fragile or easily lost. Clean examples with all original parts are hard to locate.

Features
Standard features on the 3530 include: unpainted blue body with white lettering and stripes, two sliding doors on each side, orange simulated generator inside the box car plus a brakewheel and either a blue or black fuel tank mounted under the frame.

In addition to the box car, original examples include a brown plastic telephone pole, blue or black telephone base, and a searchlight connected to the telephone pole.

Additional Detail, Photos & Box Information

Black Fuel Tank &Telephone Base - Shown in first photo above - The black fuel tank on a 3530 is the common version of this item.
Blue Fuel Tank & Telephone Base (Second photo above) - The blue fuel tank is a difficult version to locate. Exact production years are unknown at the current time.

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