3820 Flatcar with Submarine

Production:  1960 - 1962

History
The 3820 Flatcar with US Navy Submarine was catalogued for three years, 1960 thru 1962. This freight car was only available in two catalogued sets and one uncatalogued set. It is a rare item and probably the hardest flatcar with submarine to locate.

The 3820 is part of Lionel's "Space & Military" series. As with many of the items from that series, there are delicate parts that are prone to damage due to improper handling. Locating a complete, all original flatcar with submarine is a difficult task as few have survived intact.

Features
Standard features of the 3820 include: painted olive flatcar with white lettering, AAR trucks and usually one operating and one fixed coupler. There are reported variations having two operating couplers, but never two fixed couplers. Additionally, there are two wire retainers mounted on top of the flatcar used to secure the sub to freight car.

The submarine is molded in gray with black lettering, a black periscope and a black propeller. Interestingly, the submarine used for this flatcar is the exact same sub as used on the 3830 flatcar with submarine -- including the number on the sub -- which is 3830!

Additional Detail, Photos & Box Information
The length of this flatcar is approximately 11 1/4" long (coupler to coupler).

Only Known Variation - Shown in first photo above - All 3830's have unpainted blue flatcars with a gray submarine.

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