Designing the LCCA Krispy Kreme Boxcar

Have you ever wondered how a new boxcar is designed? When the Lionel Collectors Club of America (LCCA) product development team worked with Lionel to create the assembled-in-the-USA Krispy Kreme boxcar, the team encountered a new level of required detail.  

The team has always been sensitive to making sure brand logos met the companies’ design and color specifications. Proper branding is followed carefully for LCCA’s exclusive cars, and Krispy Kreme is no exception. 

The Krispy Kreme trademark is prominent on both sides and the top of the car, complete with the company’s familiar red and green colors, the unique design, and the ® legal registration mark.  But one very unusual element of the company’s branding presented a unique challenge.  

There is another subtle but important detail associated with the well-known Krispy Kreme brand − those green dots. The little green dots that adorn the bottom half of both sides of the boxcar are part of Krispy Kreme’s registered trademark design. Easy element to add to a boxcar design, right?  Not so fast. Every dot in the field of dots must be a whole dot. No dot can be reproduced on the car unless it is completely round.  Sort of like making doughnuts and doughnut holes, when you think about it. 

The LCCA and Lionel design team rose to the challenge of making sure each of the more than 100 green dots per side of each boxcar met the stringent design requirements. 

Members of the Lionel Collectors Club of America can now run this unique car while enjoying a Krispy Kreme doughnut and a cup of coffee while appreciating the attention to detail given to the car. All the green dots on the cars are completely round! 

These tasty LCCA cars (No. 2401190) are now available to members for $95 while supplies last. They can be bought on the club’s website, lionelcollectors.org, or by calling the LCCA business office during regular hours at 815-223-0115.

CTT thanks the LCCA for their help with this article.