Model Railroading > Lionel stock certificate

I found these in a collect of a Lionel collector. They were in an envelope that was sent in March of 1961. Reading the letter, I am assuming this is not really "stock" in Lionel but some kind of promotion they did? Any one have one of these or know the history behind it?

Tim



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/15 14:59 by njmidland.

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I have one someplace... made out to me. Seems like my dad got it as part of a Christmas present... someone else older than I am might know the promotional particulars... I know I got a Santa Fe AA Alco FA set (power and dummy) as that present!

Mine is slightly different, it references the layout that was set up in Manhattan (20th St.?), again I'm rambling, but the same one that was used in the promotional video that year.. may have been the 1959 or 1961 "share."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/15 15:10 by RichM.

As the man said, somebody older might be able to answer this question. If you've been in model railroading 50 years or so, you might remember the sub hobby of pass swapping. It is still done today, but to a much lesser degree than it was way back when
the cost of a first class letter was 4-6 cents. RMC, NMRA Bulletin and other publications had a column where you could list your
railroad pass that was available for swap. You would send one of your passes endorsed to the lister and he (or she) would recipro-
cate and send you one of theirs. It was REALLY BIG in the 50's and 60's. I would come home from school and find numerous envelopes
arriving each day with a pass enclosed. They ran the gammet from hand drawn, mimeo, spirit duplicator or professionally printed
varieties. Exchanging stock certificates to your railroad was another aspect of the hobby, although never as popular as the
pass exchange. The greater majority of these were professionally printed on stock blanks provided by Goes Lithographing in
Chicago..the same blanks that many corporations used in the creation of their "real stock certificates". The idea was to make your
passes, stock certificates, stationery, tickets, etc. as realistic as you could. I know all this because I owned and operated
"Railroad Printers" in Boston from 1956 til just recently and the specialty was all the above items using old type faces and designs. My own collection of model railroad passes is somewhere between 1500 and 2000. We did not print the sample shown above,
but it definitely has the flavor of what we used to do...even to the list of office holders down the left side. If you were around
back then and we printed your passes, send me a PM, would love to hear from you.
Frank30 (LaPrise) Boston, MA

Tim: Is the seal at the bottom "Raised"? If it is good chance it a real stock certificate.

And email to one of the big trading companies (like TD Ameritrade) with the same photo would probably get you a solid answer.

Northridge Switcher

northridgeswitcher Wrote:
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> Tim: Is the seal at the bottom "Raised"? If it
> is good chance it a real stock certificate.
>
> And email to one of the big trading companies
> (like TD Ameritrade) with the same photo would
> probably get you a solid answer.
>
> Northridge Switcher

No, it is not raised. Also there is none of the standard stock transfer info on the back of the certificate.

Tim

If I remember correctly, mine has a foil raised seal, but as Tim says, it's not a real share of anything. I think the words "Biggest model railroad in the world" are what I have a share of.

If you want to see a real Lionel Corporation common stock certificate, go to trainpaper.com and click on the Showcase button on the right. I see them on Ebay all of the time too, so do a search there.

Enjoy the hobby!

Greg