Welcome to The Lionel trains Library – a website created to assist you in understanding differences in variations of engines, rolling stock, cabooses, passenger cars, and accessories sold by Lionel in the postwar era (1945-1969). Our objective is to construct a website that is robust, easy to use and informative as you learn about the products made by one of the most famous toy companies in the world during a glorious but challenging era.

We invite you to stroll down memory lane as you are rewarded with thousands of photos of the wonderful trains and accessories that you may have had as a kid – or wished you could have had when growing up.

Please note that the items described in the underlying pages are not available for sale. Please go to both of the websites shown below to view what is currently for sale by the authors . We also encourage you to e-mail us with feedback as to how close we are achieving our goal.

This library website is sponsored by the following businesses,

please click on either link below to visit their sites for postwar Lionel trains for sale:

Bay Window

In a bay window caboose, the crew monitoring the train sits in the middle of the car. The windows, which project from the side walls of the caboose, resemble architectural bay windows - thus the name bay window caboose.

This design permitted a better view of the side of the train and eliminated the falling hazard of the cupola. It is believed to have first been used on the Akron, Canton and Youngstown Railroad in 1923, but is usually associated with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad which built all of its cabooses in this design starting in 1930. The bay window gained favor with many railroads because it eliminated the need for additional clearances in tunnels and overpasses.

During the postwar years, Lionel built only one model of the bay window caboose, the 6517. It is an excellent model of a real life bay window caboose and to this day remains popular with both collectors and operators.

* Scroll down & click on any item number for more details regarding the bay window caboose *

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