Lionel’s 2025 Catalog Volume I updates some landmark prewar and postwar locomotives individually and in incredible sets certain to delight operators and collectors. While exploring the brand-new 252-page full-color catalog as legwork for developing the upcoming edition of Greenberg’s Pocket Price Guide to Lionel Trains, 1901-2025, I discovered several impressive and desirable new models.
Frankly, the number of great models being introduced by Lionel in its hefty new catalog shouldn’t surprise anyone who has been in the toy train hobby for very long. It’s no secret that 2025 represents the 125th year the venerable firm has been in business. That’s right. Since William McKinley resided in the White House, Lionel has been influencing the American experience as a manufacturer of miniature toy trains. And there’s no end in sight — just hundreds more state-of-the-art engines and accessories plus realistic and attractive pieces of rolling stock.
Homage to prewar giants
Right from the opening pages of Lionel’s 2025 Catalog Volume I you catch glimpses of updated versions of a handful of giants from the pre-World War II era. A terrific place to start is with the magnificent versions of the Commodore Vanderbilt 4-6-4 Hudson steamer and tender. Blue- and red-painted examples with cool nickel trim can be purchased by themselves or with matching groups of four passenger cars. There’s also a Vision “Loco of the Year” Commodore Vanderbilt in black with gold details. Like the other two, it goes for $1,799.
Even more stunning is the No. 2531125 golden 125th-anniversary Commodore Vanderbilt with the name of the firm’s co-founder, Joshua Lionel Cowen, printed across the shrouded boiler. This extraordinary locomotive, priced at $1,999, will look absolutely regal pulling freight cars or passenger coaches.
Another wonderful nod to the later years of the prewar period is the No. 2522030 Vision Hudson freight set. An updated version of the classic No. 763E is shown on pages 10 and 11 of the catalog pulling three freight cars and a caboose.
Postwar memories
The post-World War II was a high point in Lionel’s grand history, based on the company’s financial profitability and cultural and social impact. Paying tribute to a few of the greatest locomotives from that great era made good sense.
Two diesels that defined the postwar success of Lionel were replicas of the F3 cab unit from the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors and the Train Master road diesel from Fairbanks-Morse. Wisely, Lionel has brought them back for this special year, each as the motive power for an impressive O gauge outfit.
New York Central F3 A units (one powered and the other non-powered) lead a reissue of the No. 2133W freight set cataloged in 1948 and ’49. The diesels in set No. 2523060 come in the NYC’s famous “lightning stripe” scheme and pull three freight cars and a caboose. The double-door automobile boxcar has Southern Pacific graphics — exactly the way it was shown in the consumer catalog more than 75 years ago. The powered F3 uses both LionChief and Bluetooth control.
Nearby in Lionel’s 2025 Catalog Volume I appears set No. 2522080. It features a Legacy-equipped version of the Lackawanna Train Master from way back in 1954. The powerful road diesel pulls three freight cars, set apart by the Rutland boxcar with FreightSounds. At the end rides a bay-window caboose.
Contemporary highlights
To be honest with you, I could easily devote the remainder of this look at Lionel’s 2025 Catalog Volume I to other new versions of prewar and postwar locomotives. I mean, there are more Commodore Vanderbilts and other Hudsons to announce and extol. But I feel an itch to jump to models influenced by the motive power and rolling stock observers are likely to see when they glimpse an Amtrak passenger train or one of the long and colorful freight trains around now.
An immediate hit with me is the No. 2533640 Florida East Coast ES44 road diesel looking so beautiful in a “GrupoMexico” dark blue with teal and white detailing. This Legacy-equipped General Electric behemoth is available by itself or in the No. 2522070 FEC Auto Rack Set that has four scale-length car decorated with some of the most realistic and eye-catching graffiti ever seen in O gauge.
Even without bold and brassy graffiti, auto racks distinguish the new line. All you need to do for proof is turn the page of the catalog to check out six new models that look as clean and proper as the day they left the factory and were added to the rosters of the Chicago & North Western, Conrail, Santa Fe, and Union Pacific, among others. All of them use Legacy to generate loading and unloading sequences as well as the authentic and accurate sounds expected.
Speaking of ES44s, Lionel took notice of the merger of the Canadian Pacific with the Kansas City Southern and issued a pair of the GE road diesels in the new paint scheme. In addition to the Nos. 2533651 and 2533652 Legacy units priced at $750 each, you can order nice ones in a Canadian National scheme.
Love of tradition
There is so much more to talk about and admire in Lionel’s 2025 Catalog Volume I that I have decided to return to the topic in another couple of months. In the meantime, though, I want to wrap up this overview with some great O gauge diesels that hearken back to the glory days of the 1940s and ’50s.
Planners at Lionel must have known that new editions of the classic Santa Fe F3 A and B units would gratify every collector and operator, in particular those who opt for LionChief Plus 2.0 controls. And so we have the Nos. 2534060 A-A pair and 2534069 F3B in the always-popular red-and-silver warbonnet scheme.
Other F3s hitting the market this year will dazzle hobbyists thanks to their wearing paint schemes associated with the Florida East Coast, Reading Co., and Southern Pacific. Behind them you can couple aluminum passenger cars as well as diners equipped with StationSounds and thus assemble fantastic streamliners.
Read more commentary:
Lucas Iverson’s thoughts on the 2025 Volume I catalog
