Authoritative Guide to Lionel's Promotional Outfits 1960 - 1969 (Lionel Postwar Encyclopedia Series) (Lionel Postwar Encyclopedia) Hardcover – July 31, 2007

The Authoritative Guide to Lionel's Promotional Outfits 1960 - 1969 showcases the more than 700 electric train outfits (sometimes called "uncataloged train sets") that Lionel created exclusively for retailers and promotional firms (Sears Roebuck and Co., J. C. Penney, Montgomery Ward, Spiegel, Western Auto, A&P, Quaker Oats, and many other firms) during one of the most important and yet overlooked periods in its history. With limited production and distribution, Lionel's promotional outfits are some of the rarest and most valuable products it ever produced. But because these outfits never appeared in a Lionel consumer catalog, their contents even their existence remained uncertain for decades. Until now! Thanks to long-lost authentic Lionel Factory Orders and other internal documents recently recovered from the Lionel archives, complete information about Lionel's production of promotional outfits is at last available. The Authoritative Guide to Lionel's Promotional Outfits 1960 - 1969 is the first and only reference guide to use these records and provide complete information about each promotional outfit, including: * All individual items (engine & cars) and how they came individually packed * A description of the original outfit box, outfit inserts and packaging * Pricing for the complete outfit and even the empty box alone. * Original production quantities * Diagrams for packing the outfit in the outfit box * Instruction sheets, Packed envelopes & Peripherals (Track, Transformer, Oil, Wire, Smoke, etc.) Complete descriptions, along with information based on the Train Collectors Association (TCA) grading scale, rarity and current market values for every promotional outfit, are beautifully displayed in more than 1,500 full-color pictures and images. As a bonus, because the authentic documents came straight from the Lionel archives, they also reveal new information (suffixes, variations and previously unknown items) about 100s of postwar locomotives, rolling stock and peripherals. This information makes The Authoritative Guide to Lionel's Promotional Outfits 1960 - 1969 a must for any Lionel enthusiast. Lionel collector and historian John W. Schmid spent years analyzing the Lionel Factory Orders as well as thousands of other internal Lionel and retailer documents. He traveled across the United States seeking and then photographing and analyzing the outfits to develop this, the most complete and authoritative guide to Lionel's promotional outfits and part of Project Roar Publishing's ongoing Lionel Postwar Encyclopedia Series. The Authoritative Guide to Lionel's Promotional Outfits 1960 - 1969 is essential for: * Toy train collectors seeking to verify or complete their promotional outfit investments and learn the value and rarity of their outfit. * Anyone who owns a promotional outfit or empty box and for years has wondered what those trains were and how much they might be worth. * Individuals seeking to relive their childhood by finding the train they had long ago. * Any Lionel enthusiast seeking to learn more about the history of Lionel straight from internal documents and the memories of the individuals who made and sold its trains.See for yourself if you have a long-lost attic treasure. Read more