Updated Info on Preamble Express/Freedom Train 18" passenger cars in Lionel 2020 cat
Good Evening Everyone,
A couple of weeks ago, I had emailed Lionel using their "talktous" address with concerns/questions about the details/descriptions of the upcoming newly tooled passenger cars mentioned in the title of this thread. As of yesterday, since I had not received a response, I sent an email directly to Ryan Kunkle at Lionel with my same questions. To Ryan's credit, he responded first thing this morning with the answers to my questions and here they are.
The Preamble Express/Freedom Train passenger cars will have clear windows, not the dark green tinted windows shown in the catalog.
The Preamble Express/Freedom Train passenger cars will have 4 wheel trucks, not the incorrect 6 wheel diecast trucks described in the catalog(Ryan said this was a typo)
The Preamble Express observation car is shown in the catalog as having the drumhead of the American Freedom Train. That drumhead was only used for a couple of days including the day of President Ford's announcement of the upcoming American Freedom Train the following year. The Preamble Express actually carried it's own unique drumhead on the observation car for it's tour around the country. Ryan stated the problem is that they have been unable to find a good clear photo of the Preamble Express drumhead to use as a model for the artwork for use on their observation car. So at this point, unless Lionel finds a good, clear Preamble drumhead photo they can use, the Freedom Train drumhead is what will be produced on the observation car. So if you have access to a clear Preamble drumhead photo, please send it to me and I'll pass it on to Ryan.
Good Evening Everyone,
A couple of weeks ago, I had emailed Lionel using their "talktous" address with concerns/questions about the details/descriptions of the upcoming newly tooled passenger cars mentioned in the title of this thread. As of yesterday, since I had not received a response, I sent an email directly to Ryan Kunkle at Lionel with my same questions. To Ryan's credit, he responded first thing this morning with the answers to my questions and here they are.
The Preamble Express/Freedom Train passenger cars will have clear windows, not the dark green tinted windows shown in the catalog.
The Preamble Express/Freedom Train passenger cars will have 4 wheel trucks, not the incorrect 6 wheel diecast trucks described in the catalog(Ryan said this was a typo)
The Preamble Express observation car is shown in the catalog as having the drumhead of the American Freedom Train. That drumhead was only used for a couple of days including the day of President Ford's announcement of the upcoming American Freedom Train the following year. The Preamble Express actually carried it's own unique drumhead on the observation car for it's tour around the country. Ryan stated the problem is that they have been unable to find a good clear photo of the Preamble Express drumhead to use as a model for the artwork for use on their observation car. So at this point, unless Lionel finds a good, clear Preamble drumhead photo they can use, the Freedom Train drumhead is what will be produced on the observation car. So if you have access to a clear Preamble drumhead photo, please send it to me and I'll pass it on to Ryan.
