Production: 1946 & 1947

History
The 2560 crane car is a carry-over freight car design from Lionel's prewar crane -- the 2660. The difference between the prewar 2660 and postwar 2560 are simply the trucks which are mounted to the frame. The postwar version uses the then-new staple-end trucks with coil couplers.

Although this freight car is toy-like in appearance, it does loosely resemble early turn-of-the-century railroad crane cars. Unfortunately, the scale or proportion is much smaller when compared to the prototype.

Even with its toy-like appearance, there remains a special charm and attraction to prewar carry-over freight cars produced during the early postwar years. There are even collectors focused on collecting early Lionel postwar production, generally defined as trains produced between 1945 and 1949.

Features
Standard features of the 2560 include: all-metal construction, except the boom is produced from bakelite, rotating cab, fully functional boom and hook, painted cab and frame, black number printed on the cab rear, standard four-wheel trucks plus two coil couplers.

Additional Detail, Photos & Box Information
The 2560 provides an interesting freight car to collect. There are three different boom colors -- each equally difficult to find. The boom is the fragile part of the crane and is generally broken or damaged.

Green Boom
Black Boom - Shown in the photo above
Brown Boom