6464-425 New Haven

Production:  1956 - 1958

History
The 6464-425 New Haven box car was the eighteenth 6464 series box car offered by Lionel. Production of these box cars allowed Lionel to market a realistic and almost scale-like box car never previously seen in the Lionel family. The 6464-style box cars were an immediate success and remained in the Lionel catalogue up until their final year of postwar production, 1969. Even today, all 6464-style box cars remain a favorite of collectors and operators.

The 6464-425 was available as a separate sale box car plus was included in eight sets during it's three year production cycle. Its plain black exterior with stark white lettering and bright orange door makes this a plain, simple box car somewhat attractive and eye-catching.

There is some confusion regarding production dates of this car. Experienced collectors believe Lionel produced this car only from 1956 to 1958. The confusion arises because of the availability of a 6464-425 Hagerstown Box -- circa 1968 or 1969. In reality, the 6464-425 Hagerstown box was produced in 1968 or 1969 but included the black version of the 6464-725 New Haven box car.

Features
The 6464-425 box car included the following standard features: painted or unpainted black body, white lettering, orange sliding doors, two operating couplers plus a single brakewheel.

For 1956 and part of 1957, bar-end trucks were standard. However, beginning sometime in 1957, the trucks switched to the AAR style.

Additional Detail, Photos & Box Information
The authors of this web site believed the half-serif N version -- meaning the shape of the top right portion of the letter N located to the left of the door -- is assumed to have been produced prior to the full-serif version. The half-serif version usually contains bar-end trucks while the full serif version can be found with either bar-end or AAR trucks.

The length of the 6464 style box car is approximately 10 1/2" long (coupler to coupler).

Half-Serif 'N' - Shown in third photo above - Believed to have been produced in 1956 only, almost always found with bar-end trucks.
Full-Serif 'N' (First and Second photo above) - Assumed to have been produced in all three years and found with both bar-end and AAR trucks.

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