A few Lionel locomotives

A few years after Athearn began prodiucing plastic models, Lionel approached Irv Athearn, asking if he'd manufacture HO scale trains, for them, their agreement with Rivarossi having gone sour. The agreement lasted only a couple of years, and, for the most part, the Lionel.items were simply stock Athearn products, with the addition of a small Lionel logo. But what a difference that logo makes! The Wabash loco in this picture will cost you 100 dollars more than an equivalent Athearn loco, in the same scheme, and condition. This is the primary reason I have a very few Lionel pieces. The Virginian locomotive is also an Athearn produced item, coming from molds owned by Lionel that were designed to fit the Athearn GP9 chassis. After the agreement ended, Lionel never repeated the Virginian scheme, instead using the NH scheme, shown, and a Pennsy scheme, in tuscan (these were on a redesigned chassis, made by Lionel). During the production run, Athearn was allowed to sell his own copies of the Virginian loco, without the Lionel logo, so you can find these in Athearn boxes, and train sets, as well, again, at a significant price difference.