Model Train Journal

New Year, New Boxcar.
Lionel BC - STD 'O' - D&H by Wayne Benda, on Flickr

It was advertised as New on eBay, but it was built by Lionel in 1999. It is one of those one-pound, eight-ounce cars that Lionel produced in 1999, when Lionel Trains (Lionel, LLC) was owned by the Martin Davis Investment Group (Wellspring Capital Management). Davis passed away in 1999, but his estate continued to control Lionel through Wellspring until 2008 when Guggenheim Partners took over majority ownership after Lionel LLC emerged from bankruptcy.

I paid $32.95 plus $13.95 in shipping and $2.79 in tax, totaling $49.24.

Nice car, Wayne. Was this one of the 9464-series boxcars, which I seem to recall Lionel marketing as the modern successor to the 6464-series? They were well done, but I think I gravitated toward the 6464 remakes. I liked the lower profile and the twin metal door-guide construction. Do the 9464-series have the diecast frame? I can't remember anymore...

The D&H boxcar is a 9464 and according to the 1999 catalog page it does have a diecast frame and the original cat price was $99.95

I have a screenshot of the cat page but I am unable to post pictures. I will send the picture to Paul.

From Robert, here's the relevant 1999 catalog page:



Note, MSRP is $59.95, a hunk of change in 1999. It's neat to see a Lionel catalog listing that still featured tubular track.

I probably asked this before, but what was the perceived advantage of a diecast frame? More weight, certainly, so better tracking through turnouts, accessories, and over rail joints?

The die-cast frame does have more under frame detail cast into it compared the the stamped metal frames of say the 6464 series boxcars.

I will send you a picture of the die-cast frame

Here's Robert's photo of his 9464's underside (top), followed by the underside of one of our Lionel 6464-series repops, the underside of a K-line version of the 6464-series (#6457), and lastly, the underside of a Williams 1/48-scale boxcar from their Classic Freight Car series:



Not much underside detail in comparison, but likely a bit less weight as well. That said, they all look sharp.

After starting the new year with an image of Lionel's D&H Heavy boxcar, I gave in to Microsoft's persistent prompts to change my PIN (for security reasons) and updated my Windows 10 PIN. That was the end of my computer. The next time I turned it on, I got, "Something happened, and your PIN isn't available." The "I forgot my PIN" window did nothing when I pressed it, so I entered my password instead. The response was, "Password not recognised." Same deal with "I forgot my password". I used my cell phone to get "Fixes" from hundreds of helpful people, helping thousands of us who got trapped in the same way. After hours of following various experts' advice to no avail, I gave up and put my "Windows Recovery" thumb drive into a USB port. I got back, "You don't have enough memory to perform recovery."

So, I am back on MTJ with a new Windows 11 computer.

healey36 wrote:...I think I gravitated toward the 6464 remakes. I liked the lower profile and the twin metal door-guide construction.

Here is one of the HEAVY Lionel boxcars with twin metal door-guide construction.
P1003955-850px by Wayne Benda, on Flickr

P1003958-850px by Wayne Benda, on Flickr

healey36 wrote:I probably asked this before, but what was the perceived advantage of a diecast frame? More weight, certainly, so better tracking through turnouts, accessories, and over rail joints?

You sorta answered your own question, and Hondo74 had a good answer.

The following answer is not perceived.

Because I use 12-inch radius curves (measured from the track centerline) with trains scaled from about 1:64 (3/16 inch to the foot) to 1:48 (1/4 inch to the foot), lightweight train cars tend to string-line in the curves when there is a long line of cars. With heavy cars, the engine can almost ride on the end platform of the caboose without string-lining the cars.

For comparison, HO trains are about half the size of my trains, yet Gemini AI claims that an 18-inch radius is considered the bare minimum for HO scale.

The new Lionel catalog is out:

https://catalogs.lionel.com/2026/BB/

I guess with the build-to-order business model, these are the prices one is looking at. Too rich for me.

I did see a diecast truck/frame PS1 boxcar on page 76 for $119.99. Features some interior details, so not a comparative match for those discussed above, but not too far off.

Sorry to hear about the death of the computer, Wayne; I went through something similar in November. Personally, I think Microsoft killed my Windows 10 laptop with their incessant "upgrades". I suspect Apple will kill off my iPhone 12 next.

Apple got caught
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batterygate

webenda wrote:.............I gave in to Microsoft's persistent prompts to change my PIN (for security reasons) and updated my Windows 10 PIN. That was the end of my computer.

I ignore any and all "updates" until well validated as being actually needed & safe. Could be weeks or months or never... Only upgrade I've done was to get a new CD/DVD drive installed -- the prior one was a holdover from a Win7 and not entirely compatible with 10.

So, I am back on MTJ with a new Windows 11 computer.

11 - yuck! I am still waiting for my hardware/software support duo to give me thumbs up on 11. Apparently you cannot deactivate the tracking software built in to 11.

There are many annoying "features" in 11...I'd defer migration until the last possible moment. My problem was the slow strangulation of a 13 year-old laptop running on 10. Back in early 2025 I got a note saying that the version/hardware combination was no longer supportable. Soon after that, performance took a nose-dive. It would take a lot to convince me the collapse in performance wasn't contrived by MS.

This is a nice-looking car, Wayne:



Sure embodies the look of the 6464-series.

healey36 wrote:The new Lionel catalog is out:

I did see a diecast truck/frame PS1 boxcar on page 76 for $119.99. Features some interior details, so not a comparative match for those discussed above, but not too far off.

I saw that too. I wonder if Lionel has been continuously offering cars with diecast frames since 1999?


Edit 1: Clarified the question by adding the word "continuously."