Guide to Lionel's Refrigerator Cars

After the 6572 was discontinued, the refrigerator car went into hibernation along with many other Lionel engines and cars. It would not reappear until Lionel's train operations had been taken over by General Mills and their subsidiary, Model Products Corporation (MPC).

The Reefer Returns Under MPC

Following the MPC takeover, Lionel slowly began to revive Postwar favorites. Announced in late 1972, the refrigerator car returned to the regular catalog in 1973.

However, the refrigerator car reappeared in a much different format than the realistic cars of the Postwar Era. Instead, many MPC-era refrigerator cars carried the names and logos of private companies. Nearly all of these are what the public would consider 'fun' brands, such as beer, liquor, and junk food.

Electrocal Changes the Look

Lionel was able to offer these cars with more elaborate graphics thanks to advances in decorating technology. In the Postwar Era, Lionel's only choices were to use paint, rubber stamping, heat stamping, or water-based decals. Painting intricate schemes involved expensive masking.

Heat stamping, though effective, could only be applied in one color. Rubber stamping and decals were more flexible and less expensive methods, but were not as durable.

Electrocal--a type of electrically-applied decal--solved this problem for Lionel. In the early 1970s Lionel started using electrocal extensively throughout its freight car line.

The advantages of electrocal were numerous--it was durable, could be printed in just about any pattern imaginable, and was easy to apply. More than any other development, electrocal permitted the explosive growth of color and variety of Lionel trains.

MPC Construction Changes

These cars also featured the changes common among all MPC-era cars, namely the use of plastic door guides instead of metal, and 'fast angle' wheels with beveled wheels and needlepoint axles, giving the cars much improved rolling qualities over their Postwar-era predecessors.

The Beer Car Series

The beer cars were among the first MPC refrigerator models. All were made from 1973 to 1980.

Unlike many other MPC-era pieces, the beer cars have held their value well. The reason is because the logos of alcoholic beverages can no longer be put on toys.

As Lionel still considers itself a 'toy' company rather than the maker of 'collectibles', this meant the end of the Barley and Hops Express. As with most Lionel refrigerator cars, the more popular the name (Budweiser, Miller Lite, Coors) the higher the value.

From Beer Cars to Famous Spirits

The beer cars were a great success and were quite a departure from Lionel's normal line. But in 1983 Lionel upped the BAC level of its line by introducing the 'Famous Spirits' Series, a run of refrigerator cars decorated for popular brands of liquor. Sixteen were made, with four new cars introduced each year from 1983 to 1986.

The cars were so-so sellers when introduced. Unlike the beer and candy cars, which appealed to the mainstream Lionel collector, it seemed a bit jarring for some Lionel fans to see a Jim Beam or Johnnie Walker car made by the same company that made the Mickey Mouse handcar.

However, like the beer cars, the value of the 16 Famous Spirits cars has climbed a bit over the years, as these cars fall under the same laws that prevent the beer cars from being reproduced.

How the Numbering Worked

These cars were made after the beer cars, despite their lower model numbers. When Lionel created its new numbering system in the early 1970s, 9850 to 9899 was assigned to refrigerator cars, and 9800 to 9849 was reserved for the new scale-sized 'Standard O' cars.

Lionel made the refrigerator cars at a faster rate than the Standard O cars, so in 1983 Lionel started using the lower 9800 numbers for refrigerator cars, picking up where the Standard O cars left off. To add even more confusion, the first cars made in this series were 9834 through 9837, and 9827-9830 followed the next year.

Collector Interest

The 9845 Bailey's is the most valuable car in this series, followed by the Wild Turkey and Old Grand Dad cars. The others all fall into line after these three.

Along with the beer cars, in 1973 Lionel also began to produce refrigerator cars with names of popular types of food, drinks and restaurants. Nearly all of them were made between 1973 and 1982, but two more suddenly popped up in the 2005 catalog, and then went away again save for an uncatalogued car made in 2008.

The first six listed, 7509 through 7514, were part of the Fast Food Freight series, which also included a matching engine (the 8160 Burger King GP-20 Diesel) and Caboose (the 6449 Wendy's). The others were all sold individually, although a few, such as the 9860 Gold Medal, were used in sets.

Of course Lionel did not ignore the real railroads or the companies that actually operated refrigerator cars on railroads. This group includes all of the cars that match this definition that have been made since 1970.

The prototypical refrigerator cars took a back seat during much of the 1970s and '80s, but returned with a vengeance in the mid-1990s and still make an occasional appearance in the line today.

The final group of refrigerator cars are the special production cars that do not fit into any of the categories listed above. These can be divided into four subgroups:

The first are the three cars included with the Lionel 75th Anniversary Set in 1975. This set included a diesel and eight cars; three boxcars, three refrigerator cars, a hopper, and a caboose.

All of the cars except the caboose commemorated famous engines, catalogs, accessories, or innovations throughout Lionel's history. These sets are relatively common today but the individual cars are usually not broken up from the set.

The second group are the four Toy Fair cars from 1982-85. These uncatalogued specials were available only at the annual Toy Fair in New York. Very hard to find but not overly expensive, these are among the rarest of all Lionel refrigerator cars.

Lionel also made two cars for collector's organizations, one for the Train Collectors Association (TCA)'s annual convention in Seattle in 1974, and one for the Toy Train Operating Society (TTOS), for their annual convention in 1980, held in Oklahoma City. Both cars are inexpensive and pretty easy to locate.

Lastly we have a straggler, the 9849 Lionel Lines car. It was part of the very popular separate-sale Lionel Lines series from the 1980s and is one of the easier cars in the series to find.