# Appropriate cars for Lionel 262E locomotive?



## trenes115 (Dec 9, 2011)

I have a 1930's Lionel 262E but no tender or cars. According to a relative, those were lost in a flood eons ago. The engine is black with copper trim and red spoked wheels. What type of tender and cars would be appropriate for this engine? Also, which coupler style would have been used on these? Thanks!


----------



## pookybear (Feb 3, 2011)

Hello there and welcome to the forum

Passanger set http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/5059360

freight set http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/4839699

And those would be latch couplers.

Hope this helps out

Pookybear


----------



## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

The 262E was a cataloged loco in 1933-1934, and also ran in uncataloged sets 1935-36. It's essentially the same loco as the 261 and 262, albeit with an e-unit. Also similar to the prewar 249.

Doyle lists sets as follows:

#181E: Freight, 262E, 812, 814, 817

#144E: Passenger, 262E, 613, 614, 615

#245E: Freight, 262E, 804, 806, 807, 831

#246E: Passenger, 262E, 600, 601, 602

Probably some others, too.

TJ


----------



## newB (Feb 3, 2011)

One of those freight sets listed uses four-wheel (two axle) freight cars which I already have several of. And I can say this to anyone that expects to be able to actually 'use' these four-wheel cars on a layout that is anything more than a simple oval... beware!

I have found that these four-wheel cars do not track very well between O-31 rails. They dance slightly between the rails from left to right as they go. This is different behavior from 'eight-wheel' (4 axles with 2 trucks) cars which track the rails perfectly. 

If one of these four-wheel cars is doing its little dance while it's going over one of my 022 switches, it will almost always derail. My workaround for this problem is to make sure a four-wheel car always has an eight-wheel car before and behind it. The eight-wheel cars seem to add stability to the four-wheel cars. But then my four-wheel caboose (#807) never gets used as it would need an eight wheel-caboose behind it in order to survive going over the 022 switches.

Now having said all that, if someone were to be looking to collect these cars to sit on a shelf, go for it. But if you want to actually use them on a layout, beware!


----------



## trenes115 (Dec 9, 2011)

Thanks for the info! Went to a train show and found a couple cars of the correct era. I did like the eight-wheeled cars I got better than the four-wheeled ones I saw.


----------

