Early History of the LCCA Christmas Cars
The story of the annual LCCA Christmas cars starts in July 2014 during the LCCA Indianapolis convention. It was at the convention that final agreement was reached on the joining of the Lionel Railroad Club (LRRC) to the LCCA. Details such as maintenance of the membership listing, fees adjustments, and other details were concluded with the LCCA offering full membership to any LRRC member wishing to renew with either the EM or RM membership.
Of course the LCCA was aware of the success of the annual LRRC Christmas Car. It was a year-end classic offered by the LRRC to its members during the holiday season. With the two clubs becoming one, it seemed right for the LCCA to continue this holiday tradition. However, it soon became clear that the LRRC had not started the process to create a 2014 car. So in July, with only 3 months before it was necessary to start marketing a 2014 for year-end sales, there was no design nor plan for production. Prior LRRC cars were made in China and with a 9—15-month lead time, China production was not a viable option.
Remembering that Lionel was starting a US manufacturing effort in its North Carolina facility, work was begun to produce our car in the US. The 2014 LCCA Christmas car Became one of the first items off the Lionel US production line. The 2014 Car comes in one of the first custom LCCA box designs, modified with the US flag proudly on the box. The American flag is also printed on both of the car doors.
Design options were offered by the staff at Lionel with the LCCA making suggested changes. The production prototype was approved and it ended up, like most of our production samples, in the annual convention silent auction along with a certificate of authenticity. With purchase limited to one car per member, the 350 2014 convention cars sold out rapidly. And, all available cars were sold during the preorder period.
A Little on US Production of LCCA Cars
A note about US Manufacture of Lionel Box cars – the image is ‘printed’ on the side of the car with a somewhat sophisticated high-end laser printer, not that much different in principle from what you use at home. Using this digital printing process, it is possible to have many more colors, more complex designs, details, and highlights and even pictures. These options are not available with traditional pad printing or heat stamping. But this process did require a change to the body molds used, in most cases minor. Simulated rivets molded into the sides of the car were relocated to provide a clean smooth surface for best printing results.
Because the printing process is digital, the cars can be printed with similar images or if desired cars in each print run can have different images. This process allows for producing a car design with different road numbers or personalized info on each item. The result is that it is now possible to quickly, easily and with minimum cost differential offer either the simple one color on a painted box car side or a multicolor panoramic high-quality image unique to a specific box car.
Of course, the smaller quantities, somewhat higher US costs, the new equipment necessary for the printing process does cost a premium. And given the scheduling difficulties of small runs means getting the right cars, the right paperwork (if applicable) and the correct labeling on each item. This additional effort is offset with the side benefit of digital printing with its break-even quantities for the manufacturer which are often lower thus offering clubs like the LCCA the opportunity to purchase smaller quantities of cars. This is a real benefit for everyone.
The LCCA 2015 Christmas car and all subsequent cars have been all been US made and come packed in a box clearly identifying the cars as a product of the US. The club continues to order cars in the 300-350 range and limits orders to one per member.
The 2016 Christmas Car – US made in the Lionel Facility in North Carolina - was a similar single door box car.
The 2017 Christmas car again carried the US flag proudly on its door. The very first production sample had a red that was not as expected and a second sample was made, this one with a much more festive red.
The 2018 Christmas Car was another successful item quickly sold out. It was quite popular with all LCCA members showing Santa making his rounds while a small child waits patiently for Santa.
The 2021 Christmas car again with over the top deco has been announced and is available for sale. Quantities of the Christmas series are limited and are expected to be delivered by December. The Lionel part number (SKU) for this car is 2101320. This colorful car is expected to sell out.
2022 Christmas car continues made in USA and with Over the Top printing on the roof of the car. The Lionel part number is 2201470 with the last 5 digits (01470) appearing on the side of the car.
2023 Christmas Car continues the Made in USA tradition again with Over the Top printing on the roof of the car. Like prior cars, the 2023 Car is ready for Christmas with snowflakes on its roof. This car was made in Concord and ships in an LCCA branded box with Made in USA. LCCA 2023 Christmas Car - 2301550 - 350 Produced
The 2024 Christmas Car was announced at the Omaha 2024 LCCA Convention as the next in this series. The car is avaible for order as of the time of this article
The images above are the "beauty shots" used to approve the final design elements and formalize the contracted agreement between the club and Lionel. Actual pictures of the cars can be seen on the bottom of this page. Click Here
To complete the LCCA Christmas Car story it is important to review the two earlier cars offered by the LCCA with Christmas themes. The first was designed for younger members and while available for all members, was intended as a Junior Member car. This gondola from 2001 (LCCA #52257) came with 4 containers and made for a colorful Christmas Special car. The top of each of the four containers had a letter - L - C - C - A. Yes, if put in the correct sequence in the car, they spelled "LCCA". This was a fun car for a Stocking Stuffer.
The second Christmas themed car was offered in 2003 as a “Christmas in July” Lionel Seasons Greetings boxcar. It bore an over stamp of a snowflake with a “LCCA 2003” imprint. This car was offered to Conventioneers attending our annual event in the desert despite the location in a winter-weather-free zone – Las Vegas. This on-site car for the 2003 Convention started out as a Lionel Seasons Greetings 2001 Christmas box car #19998. The LCCA had an outside vendor add two decals, one to show Santa and a second snowflake to ID the car as the 2003 on-site car. The LCCA recognized that it was often less costly to offer an item with an over stamp to an existing Lionel Design rather than create a whole new design. Recent improvements in Lionel distribution and inventory control have reduced the number of cars that are available for this purpose and progress made in offering lower volume purchases has reversed this trend, so it is often less costly and the ability to offer a better car by designing a car from scratch.
When you need a special length of FasTrack, it is sometimes more efficient to cut a specific length than to make it up with numerous small sections. This article explains the best way to cut FasTrack.
This article includes a full-size chart with the best combinations of FasTrack to achieve a variety of lengths. This is a handy chart for anyone planning a FasTrack Layout.
Amazon and other on line shopping outlets are able to provide a much cheaper alternative in most items than can brick and stick operations, even with freight costs included. While they can sell for less and offer return privileges, they are usually unable to service product and can offer only generalized premarket service. It is the smaller shops with the personalized service that helps the consumer with both pre and post sale services.
Hobby shops experienced the same issues, not being able to offer the lowest price, having the highest costs and having a considerable investment in inventory to cover all hobbies, RC cars, boats, rockets, multiple train gauges, plastic models, etc. Those that were able to keep their doors open screamed for relief. In the case of Lionel, they addressed these concerns in a few ways. Lionel continued to train specific shops and individuals as a service station. They provided contact information for local hobby shops where products could be purchased and serviced. And with the intend of driving customers into hobby shops, they put together special train sets called “service station specials” or SSS.
Did it work? For a while – sets were offered one each year. In total 26 sets were offered. The first series of 8 sets were offered 1971-1978. The second set of 18 were offered 1986 – 2002. The original concept was to offer these sets ONLY to smaller shops which became Lionel Approved Service Stations. Times, shopping habits, hobby interests, sources of product, quality of offerings, and so much more changed. What we do know is that for a lot of reasons (recently including the internet) the neighborhood hobby shop is a thing of the past. (Do you remember back when internet sales were sales tax free. For an expensive item a $30-50 dollar savings in sales tax was not unusual).
While gone, the SSS offer a solid glimpse into the marketing of trains in the 1990’s and 2000’s. As we sit back and reflect on these days still alive in our memories, and as we remain quarantined (this was written in early 2020), we can look at these SSS sets as the gems they were and still are.
A few generalities about these sets
1. The first and second SSS came with track or transformer. In this regard, they could be considered starter sets. All later sets did not include track/pack so when a hobby shop sold one, the sale may well include track and pack.
2. Except for the first set which was a collection of separate sale items (IC set from 1971), all the sets were made exclusively from items specifically designed for the SSS program.
3. Two SSS (in 1995 and 2002) consisted of only one item, and as such were a set in name only.
4. In hindsight, one can only speculate why this series was discontinued between 1978 and 1986. Management directives, change in marketing and sales strategies, outside customer pressure. the need for the “next new thing”. What is known is that around 1986 Lionel offered for the first time in its history a “direct to customer” program bypassing distribution and other outlets. Some say it was to reflect Lionel’s dissatisfaction with many of its distributers. Might the restart of new SSS sets been a nod to Service Stations and local hobby shops?
5. The SSS sets did do their job in getting customers in the store to review them. Whether or not the customer purchased them depended to a great degree on the sales skills of the hobby shop owner.
6. There was an implicated expectation that each item was and would be unique. Lionel would not “remake or reissue” the same car/deco/number for separate sale.
7. No set offered top of the line features, but all sets had many of the nicer features available at time of production.
8. As later sets were introduced, they offered a wide variety of motive power and cars and after a few years most every product type was offered.
9. Service station sets offered individual item boxes and came in protective cardboard box
The February 2014 issue of TLR contained Bill Schmeelk’s (RM 6643) article which provided the specific details of SSS sets including the year produced, consist, and other details of each SSS set.
Click Here and view Bill’s past article reprinted here.
