While out and about just before the Christmas holiday I visited two of the best train stores in Southern California just to enjoy the feeling one gets watching all the holiday shoppers buying toy and model trains. One shop had a table set up with used Lionel at bargain prices. I bought a #6511 postwar pipe car even though I already have about 14 in a unit train of flats.

Priced at only $6.95 on the bargain table I just couldn't resist. The diecast weights above each truck really make a hefty flatcar. Back at home I cleaned it up a bit, added 11 metal stakes, and got to thinking about all the other Lionel postwar pipe cars that have been made.

The newest #6511 in BRIGHT RED added to my collection

I put my newest #6511 next to one from my layout and immediately noticed the difference between a BRIGHT RED flat and a DULL RED flat. Maybe the red paint dulls over the years but it certainly doesn't turn BROWN!

The #6511 in DULL RED	#6511 also comes in a LIGHT BROWN

For some unknown reason Lionel changed the color of the #6511 from red to brown and also changed those great diecast weights to sheet metal.

A short time later the number of the car was changed to #6311, still with the sheet metal weights and made in a DARK BROWN color.

The #6311 comes in DARK BROWN

Way back in 1946 Lionel produced the #2411, the first postwar pipe car referred to as "The Big Inch Flat Car with Pipes." Following years saw the pipes exchanged for logs and when the number changed to #6411 only logs were supplied. Collectors have been known to "create" a pipe car using the #6411.

The #2411 and #6411 with original pipes

No number appears on the sides of these cars but rather a stamped number on the bottom. These stampings can create some interesting variations that are fun to locate and collect. I have several unusual cars that are stamped differently.

Here is a #6411 that was stamped twice	#2411 with the normal stamping
A #2411 that somehow got stamped with the number 2465, a Tank Car

Another Lionel postwar pipe car was offered in 1957 that was different from all the rest. Called a "Miscellaneous Car", it was a full length flat car with bulkheads and came with 5 pipes. True collectable variations exist with this car because as Lionel switched from metal trucks to plastic trucks. They also relocated the number from the right hand side to the left hand side of the car.

The #6477 with numbers on the right or left

Several UNCATALOGED pipe cars have been documented as set components and these can easily be "created" by the collector using correct unnumbered red flat cars and 3 or 5 original pipes. The #6408 and #6409 are two such cars.

A pipe car created using flex conduit as a realistic load	A correct #6409, no # on flat and 12 stake holes
A pipe car 'created' using an 'authorized Lionel pipe load' and#6809 flat

Finally, as the entire Lionel line continued to be "cheapened" in later years the metal flat car #6111/6121 carrying pipes and logs appeared. These smaller cars come in a wide variety of colors and in at least two different lettering styles, so a number of variations for the collector exist.

The #6121 flat car with pipes

The real trick with these smaller flats is to latch onto an original box. Often the box is worth more then the car inside! This completes this plethora of Pipe Cars. I'm glad I left that 6464 boxcar on the bargain table!