lthough there were many prototype variants of this type of car, for some reason Lionel only issued two types of hopper cars during the post war period. The first, and smaller, two bin hopper began production in 1948, and Lionel would almost always use the Lehigh Valley road name on these cars that are known collectively as the 6456 Series. These cars were frequently found included in sets and were not nearly sold as often as separate sale items.

The second, and larger quad hopper, began production in 1954. This car was nicely detailed and offers an excellent addition to any collection.

Below we’ve listed these cars by their series type:

These Two Bin Hoppers Cars are among the most commonly found cars that were issued during the post war period. There were, however, quite a few rare variations that are listed among the six body types that were produced. Production spanned the years 1948 to 1969 — almost the entire post war era.

With the production of the No. 6176 beginning in 1963, Lionel would issue these cars with a variety of body molds and a combination of trucks and couplers. However, most of these cars came with AAR trucks with one operating and one solid non-operating coupler. Lionel would apply suffixes to these cars to distinguish them apart in 1963 and 1964, however, for some reason in 1965 this practice was discontinued.

By the mid 1960’s the production of the No. 6476 became confusing as Lionel, in fact often numbered these cars as "6076" and "6176," on the car sides and equipped these cars with various combinations of trucks and couplers. We’ve listed these cars in the table below with the suffix number that lionel used on the ends of the box.

See the Numerical Index for additional details about the individual hopper cars in this series.

Quad Hopper Cars were only produced in six different road markings. Some came with twelve roof covered hatches, while others were open with a brace to stabilize the side walls in the middle of the car. This brace was used in the prototype to prevent the sides from expanding due to the weight of the load, but Lionel used it to brace the sides from collapsing when handled by an over enthusiastic child.

See the Numerical Index for additional details about the individual hopper cars in this series.