6430 Twin Piggy Back Vans

Production: 1956 - 1958

History
The 6430 is the second -- of several -- flatcars produced by Lionel which carried two tractor trailer vans. Although the flatcar remained basically unchanged for three years, the vans for the 6430 freight car have at least four different production variations. Trying to collect one set of each van will require some time as not all are readily available.

Features
Standard features of the 6430 include: unpainted red flatcar with white lettering, two operating couplers plus a brakewheel stand with metal brakewheel and four corner footsteps. A metal rack was mounted on top of the flatcar for the purpose of holding the vans in place as the train traveled along a layout. As with most rolling stock from this era, the early production flatcars (1956 thru early 1957) have bar-end trucks while later flatcars were changed to AAR trucks.

The collectable part of the 6430 freight car centers around the different van variations. While the flatcar always carries two vans with a single axle and dual wheels on the end of each axle, the vans are the most interesting part of this freight car. In order of production, the different vans found with the 6430 include:

• Green vans:
  • Color: green
  • Roadname: Lionel Lines
  • Nameplate: Aluminum nameplate with black lettering
  • Decal: Two decals on the rounded end; top decal is printed with "Fruehauf / Dura Van" while the lower left decals simply has "Fruehauf".
• Gray vans:
  • Color: gray
  • Roadname: Cooper-Jarrett
  • Nameplate: Aluminum nameplate, light-colored cooper arrow, aluminum background, black lettering
  • Decal: Two decals on the rounded end; top decal is printed with "Fruehauf / Dura Van" while the lower left decals simply has "Fruehauf".
• Gray vans:
  • Color: gray
  • Roadname: Cooper-Jarrett
  • Nameplate: Aluminum nameplate, dark-colored cooper arrow, aluminum background, black lettering
  • Decal: No end decals.
• White vans:
  • Color: white
  • Roadname: Cooper-Jarrett
  • Nameplate: Aluminum nameplate, dark-colored cooper arrow, black background, white lettering
  • Decal: No end decals

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

Green Vans - Shown in first photo above - The first version produced had green vans and is somewhat hard to find.

Gray Vans (Second photo above) - The common version has gray vans.

White Vans (Fourth photo above) - The white vans are the hardest color vans to locate.

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