Authoritative Guide to Lionel's Postwar Operating Cars (Lionel Postwar Encyclopedia Series)

Based on 1,000's of authentic internal postwar Lionel documents as well as the expert observations of two leading postwar historians, Joseph P. Algozzini and Emanuel F. Piazza, this volume provides the most complete and authoritative guide to Lionel's operating cars. It is the first volume to include both price and rarity for COMPLETE component boxed items, including: All known and authenticated operating car variations; All peripherals that came with the operating car; Original Boxes; Instruction Sheets; Insert & liners; Packed Envelopes.

It also includes: An introduction by Roger Carp covering the history of Lionel's operating cars; Rarity based on actual production numbers; Definitions of operating car suffixes; Comprehensive appendices on boxes, trucks and couplers and box car "Types".

This is the first time this level of detail straight from postwar Lionel has been compiled. This refreshing and new research will increase any collector or operators expertise on this subject.

The hardcover edition is smyth stiched with an attractive and durable "glossy" cover sleeve. This volume was manufactured to provide a timeless reference.

Joseph P. Algozzini is one of the leading postwar Lionel historians in the country. He began collecting Lionel trains in late 1965 and has written extensively on them for Classic Toy Trains magazine and other journals. He is the author of Lionel's Postwar F3's, Lionel's Space and Military Trains and TCA's Postwar Lionel Reproduction Handbook Guide, and the co-author of Greenberg's Guide to Lionel Trains, 1945 - 1969 Volume IV: Uncataloged Sets. As a member of the TCA Standards committee, he has helped increase the level of awareness and importance of original postwar items.

Emanuel F. Piazza has been a collector of Lionel trains since the late 1960s and is also a leading postwar historian. He is a contributor to Lionel s Postwar F3's and has written articles for Classic Toy Trains magazine. He is a past president of the Midwest Division of the Train Collectors Association.

Roger Carp has been a member of the editorial staff of Classic Toy Trains magazine since 1988 and now holds the position of senior editor. He is the author of The World's Greatest Toy Train Maker: Insiders Remember Lionel (1988), Lionel Classic Display Layouts You Can Build (2000), The Art of Lionel (2003), and Great Toy Train Layouts.