Lionel Electric Trains Identification Guide Sub-Title
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This Identification Guide for Lionel Electric Trains covers the "Post-war Era" only from 1945 until 1969.

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Lionel Trains Rutland Box Car No. 6464-300 LIONEL TRAINS RUTLAND BOX CAR No. 6464-300

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Rutland No. 6464-300 Variation C
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No. 6464-300 Box End

Lionel Trains Rutland Box Car No. 6464-300The Rutland Box Car No. 6464-300 was produced in 1955 and 1956. The cars that were made in 1955 have rubber-stamped lettering and the "R" in "RUTLAND" is in the first panel, and those cars that were made in 1956 have heat stamped lettering and the "R" in "RUTLAND" is in the second panel. Also the cars that were produced in 1955 have Single-block doors while those that were made in 1956 have Multi-block doors.
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This box car is most often found with an unpainted YELLOW body that has been painted DARK GREEN and early cars would have bar-end trucks with magnetic couplers, while later editions would have tabbed couplers. There are eight variations:

Variation A: Produced on a CLEAR Type IIA body, this variation was painted both YELLOW and DARK GREEN with rubber-stamped lettering.
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Variation B: This is the "Solid Shield" Variation that was produced on an unpainted YELLOW Type IIA body and is painted a GLOSSY DARK GREEN color and has this color for the background on the Rutland herald. A rubber-stamp was used for the lettering on this car.
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Variation C: Identical to Variation B, but has the normal Rutland shield herald color.

The Rutland No. 6464-300 Solid Shield Variation

Variation D: This is the "Split Door" Variation that has the lower part of the door painted DARK GREEN. Used rubber-stamp applied lettering on a Type IIA body.
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Variation E: Identical to Variation D, but has the normal unpainted doors.
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Variation F: Produced on an unpainted YELLOW Type IIA body that used a heat-stamp to produce the DARK GREEN lettering and herald, and YELLOW car data. A hard to find heat-stamped body variation.

The Rutland Box Car No. 6464-300 Split Door Variation
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Variation G: Identical to Variation F, but with the more common Type IIB body.
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Variation H: This variation was most likely a Lionel Service Station replacement that has a ROYAL BLUE body that was painted both YELLOW and DARK GREEN with heat-stamped lettering. Difficult to find.
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Note: It was inevitable that Rutland’s would show up with repainted doors purporting to be the "Split Door" Variation D. Here are some ways to tell if the door is original:
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spacer1. All doors should be Single-block.
spacer2. Where the different colors adjoin there should be a "blending of irregularity" and a slight "ridge" to the paint.
spacer3. The "green" paint on the door should match that of the rest of the car.
spacer4. On the bottom half of the door, on the back side, there should be a misting of "light green" speckles from back spray that occurred during painting.
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If you know the details on how to authenticate the "Solid Shield" Variation B we’d like to add this information to this page. Please us the contact link at the bottom of this page to get in touch with us.
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