6520 Searchlight Car

Production:  1949 - 1951

History
The 6520 Searchlight Car was the first searchlight car produced by Lionel in the postwar era and was a good representation of a real searchlight car. With it's unique look, a functional light and ease of use, soon every Lionel town had at least one searchlight on the layout.

The 6520 is a reliable operating car. It was included in many work train sets as well as being available for separate sale. Finding a searchlight car is easy, however there are collectable versions which will require a bit more research to locate.

Features
Standard features on the 6520 include: painted gray die-cast depressed-center frame with black lettering, metal footsteps at each corner, a single brakewheel and brakestand plus a simulated generator. The car was always produced with staple-end trucks, dual functional couplers and serif lettering.

Additional Detail, Photos & Box Information
The 6520 searchlight car is known for its variations regarding the color of the simulated generator and the metal used for the searchlight housing.

The simulated generator was available to the public in three colors. The very earliest 6520 production included a green generator which was soon replaced with a maroon generator. Finally, sometime in later 1949 or early 1950, the maroon generator was ultimately replaced by an orange generator. The orange generator remained to norm for the rest of the production run as well as all future generator cars. The green generator is rare while the maroon is hard to find. The orange version is the most common.

The other variation to the 6520 is the housing of the searchlight. It is sometimes found with a smooth glossy gray housing. The more common version is a slightly darker crinkle gray finish. It appears both versions were made throughout the production cycle and can be found with any color generator.

Green Generator (Third photo above) - Produced for only a brief time in 1949, a rare variation.
Maroon Generator (Fourth photo above) - Produced for a brief time in 1949 and is not too common.
Orange Generator - Shown in first & second photo above - The most common version produced between 1950 to 1951. The first photo contains a searchlight housing having the slightly darker crinkle gray finish while the second photo has the smooth glossy gray housing. 

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