The Guide to Lionel's 9400-Series Boxcars

Part 1: The 9400 Series

9400 Conrail 1978

9401 Great Northern 1978

9402 Susquehanna 1978

9403 Seaboard Coast Line 9403

9404 Nickel Plate Road 1978

9405 Chattahoochee Industrial 9405

9406 Denver and Rio Grande Western 1978-79

9407 Union Pacific Stock Car 1978

9408 Circus Stock Car 1978

9411 Lackawanna 1978

9412 Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac 1979

9413 Naiperville Junction 1979

9414 Cotton Belt 1979

9415 Providence & Worcester 1979

9416 Minnesota, Dakota and Western 1979

9417 CP Rail 1979

9418 Famous American Railroads 1979

9419 Union Pacific 1980

9420 Baltimore and Ohio Sentinel 1980

9421 Maine Central 1980

9422 Elgin, Joliet and Eastern 1980

9423 New York, New Haven & Hartford 1980

9424 Toledo, Peoria and Western 1980

9425 British Columbia Railway 1980

9426 Chesapeake and Ohio 1980

9427 Atlanta and St. Andrews Bay 1980-81

9428 Toledo, Peoria and Western 1980-81

9429 'The Early Years' 1980

9430 'The Standard Gauge Years' 1980

9431 'The Prewar Years' 1980

9432 'The Postwar Years' 1980

9433 'The Golden Years' 1980

9434 'Joshua Lionel Cowen' 1980

9435 Central of Georgia 1980

9436 Burlington Route 1981

9437 Northern Pacific Stock Car 1981

9438 Ontario Northland 1981

9439 Ashley, Drew and Northern 1981

9440 Reading 1980

9441 Pennsylvania 1981

9442 Canadian Pacific 1981

9443 Florida East Coast 1981

9444 Louisiana Midland 1981

9445 Vermont Northern 1981

9446 Sabine River and Northern 1981

9447 Pullman Standard 1981

9448 Santa Fe Stock Car 1981-82

9449 Great Northern 1981

9450 Great Northern Stock Car 1981

9451 Southern 1983

9452 Western Pacific 1982-83

9453 Maryland and Pennsylvania (Ma & Pa) 1982-83

9454 New Hope and Ivyland 1982-83

9455 Milwaukee Road 1982-83

9456 Pennsylvania 1984-85

9460 Detroit and Toledo Shore Line 1982

9461 Norfolk Southern 1982

9462 Southern Pacific 1983-84

9463 Texas and Pacific 1983-84

9464 Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis 1983-84

9465 Santa Fe 1983-84

9466 Wanamaker Railway Lines 1982

9467 Knoxville World's Fair 1982

9468 Union Pacific 1983

9469 New York Central 1984-85

9470 Chicago Belt Line 1984

9471 Atlantic Coast Line 1984

9472 Detroit and Mackinac 1984

9473 Lehigh Valley 1984

9474 Erie Lackawanna 1984

9475 D&H 'I Love New York' 1984

9476 Pennsylvania 1984-85

9480 Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern 1985-86

9481 Seaboard System 1985-86

9482 Norfolk Southern 1985-86

9483 Manufacturers' Railway 1985-86

9484 Lionel 85th Anniversary 1985

9486 Grand Trunk 'I Love Michigan' 1986

9490 Lionel Employee Christmas Boxcar 1985

9491 Christmas Boxcar 1986

9492 Lionel Lines 1986

Part 2: Relative Values and Notes about the Cars

As a group, the value of the 9400 boxcars peaked in the 1990s and has dropped somewhat due to the proliferation of newer and similar cars on the market. Exact values of the cars vary, but as a general rule the series can be divided into three classes:

Class 1: This is all of the common, regularly catalogued 9400s available for separate sale. All are relatively easy to find, though the ones made in 1980 (9420-9426) are bit less common. If the car's number is not listed in one of the two classes below, it is part of this group.

Class 2: These are 9400s that were catalogued but only available in sets. Most are still pretty easy to locate, but may command a slight premium. Some have die-cast trucks in place of the more common plastic design. This class includes the 9408, 9411, 9417, 9428, 9432, 9433, 9436, 9437, 9440, 9441, 9448, 9461, 9468, and 9474.

Class 3: These are uncatalogued cars. They vary in relative rarity, but overall these are the hardest 9400s to locate. The uncatalogued 9400s are the 9418, 9434, 9435, 9460, 9466, 9467, 9475, 9486, 9490, and 9491.

The 9490 is by far the most difficult car in the series to find, followed by the 9466 Wanamaker's and some of the cars included only with sets, like the 9461 and 9448.

The 9402 Susquehanna is among the scarcest of the early regular-production 9400s.

The 9417 CP Rail was only included with the Great Plains Express set (#1866) from 1979. The previous year, this car was numbered 9729, so for a collector to get both cars, they had to buy the set twice. Needless to say this tactic did not go over well and was not repeated.

The 9418 was an uncatalogued special made to commemorate Lionel's Famous American Railroad Series, which consisted of five top of the line sets made between 1979 and 1984. Six FARR cars are in the 9400 series--9419, 9449, 9450, 9451, 9456, and 9476.

The 9428 was only included in the Cross Country Express Set from 1980-81. Like the 9417, the set was packed in a box with a liner, so it does not have an original, marked box.

9429 through 9434 were part of the Joshua Lionel Cowen series, a set of cars made to honor the 100th birthday or Lionel's founder. 9429, 9430, and 9431 were all available separately, but 9432 and 9433 were only available in sets (the 1071 Mid-Atlantic Limited and the 1070 Royal Limited, respectively) and the 9434 was an uncatalogued end-of-year special. Interestingly, the 9434 is a bit more common than the 9432 or 9433. The first three cars in the set are very common.

The 9448 Santa Fe Stock Car is among the more difficult of the 9400 cars to find. It was included in only one starter set, the #1153 Reading Yard King set. Like the 9417 and 9428, it does not have an original box.

9440 and 9441 were only sold as part of the #1159 Maple Leaf Limited Set in 1981. Because of their Northeastern road names and nice appearance, they are among the most in-demand of all 9400s.

All of the boxes for the 9464 were mislabled 'North Carolina and St. Louis' instead of the correct 'Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis.' Whoops. . . .

9460 was an uncatalogued special made for the Lionel Collector's club of America in 1982.

The 9466 was made at the request of Wanamaker's Department Stores, which has a long-standing relationship with Lionel. The car was originally only available through Wanamaker's Philadelphia store. It is hard to find.

Although part of the 9400 series, the 9469 was made using a body mold from Lionel's 'Standard O' line of full scale-sized cars.

The 9475 turned out to be the first of the popular 'I Love. . . ' line of Lionel state cars, a series that continued well into the 2000s.

The 9490 is nearly impossible to find, as it was made especially for Lionel employees. Reportedly only a couple hundred were made. This photo is of the only 9490 we have had at Trainz.com.

Part 3: Selected Variations & Overstamped Cars

Compared to their 6464 and 9200 predecessors, virtually no factory variations other than overstamped cars and factory errors exist for 9400s. The reason for this is that Lionel had perfected their decorating techniques by the late 1970s, and the in-production alterations that created factory variations were almost completely eradicated.

Another reason was shortened production runs. Whereas many 6464 boxcars were catalogued for several years and were produced several times, most 9400s were produced only one year, and often were produced in only one production run. Even cars that were catalogued for more than one year were made in one run, as the cars were re-catalogued to sell the remaining inventory. (For a fascinating look at how Lionel made trains in the 1970s, see Volume 4 of The Lionel Collector's Guide and History by McComas and Touhy, which has a chapter showing Lionel's plant and assembly line circa 1979).

Throughout the 1970s and 80s Lionel and some private individuals overstamped some 9400s for collecting organizations. By the mid-80s, this practice had largely given way to cars made specifically for the occasions. The 9400s were good candidates for these projects as their large flat sides lent well for special lettering and decoration. Here are some of the overstamped 9400-series cars:

9401 Great Northern Season's Greetings 1978

9414 Cotton Belt LOTS 1980

9420 B&O 'Guiness Book of Records--World's Longest Model Train' 1981

9423 New Haven NETCA 1980

9445 Vermont Northern NETCA 1984

9486 I Love Michigan 150th Anniversary 1987

(Author's note: This is not a complete list of all overstamped 9400 cars. The 9400, 9412, 9413, 9415, 9452, and 9466 were all known to have overstamp variations. If you have any photos of the other ones, we'd like to copy them for this article. Thanks!)

Part 4: Boxes and Packaging

9400 Series cars came in three types of boxes. Until around 1983, most were packed in white boxes with black and red lettering. In 1983, Lionel began using an orange box with blue lettering, reminiscent of the boxes used during the Postwar Era:

9416 with white box 9472 with Orange Box

Six cars included in limited edition sets, the 9436 Burlington, 9437 Northern Pacific, 9440 Reading, 9441 Pennsylvania, 9461 Norfolk Southern, 9468 Union Pacific, and the six Joshua Lionel Cowen cars (9429-9434) were packaged in special gold-colored boxes with black lettering:

9461 with gold "Limited Edition' Box

Separate-sale 9400s always had the number and name of the car stamped in black on the endflap. Some 9400s included in sets, such as the 9411 Lackawanna, came in boxes with no markings on the ends.

9400s were shipped from Lionel in cases of 12. Unopened cases show up occasionally on the collector's market.

Lastly, it should be noted that three cars in the series--9417, 9428, and 9448-- do not have original boxes. They were all sold in sets packed in cardboard liners.