The Three-Digit Orange-Stripe Streamliner Set
			The four orange-stripe streamliners with metal name plates were made only in 1956.
		#960 Columbus Combination
	#961 Jefferson Coach
		#962 Hamilton dome car
		#963 Washington Observation Car
		These cars were sold in the #5670TRH New Haven Clipper set in 1956.  Leftover inventory was sold in 1957 as set #20070.  It is one of my favorite sets.
	Here's the whole train on my layout.
			The set was pulled by #4945 twin Alco engine set, also made only in 1956. It comprised the #494 powered engine and #495 dummy with railsounds and horn. The set also came with 12 #702 Curved Track, 8 #700 Straight Track, #706 Remote Control Uncoupler,  #690 Track Terminal, 20 #693 Track Locks, #4B 100-watt Transformer with plastic case, and #708 Air Chime Whistle Control Unit.
		In the transition year of 1957, some of the leftover inventory of these cars were sold in the #20340 New Clipper set, and in the #20940 New Clipper for Export set.  Both were pulled by the #497 New Haven Alco.
			The interesting thing about this set is that it was sold in 1957, the year of transition to 5-digit numbers.  The engine and cars are the 3-digit version (as the books say they should be), but they're in 5-digit boxes.  In the early years of 5-digit catalog numbers, cars and engines often came in boxes from unsold inventory with 5-digit numbers stamped on boxes already stamped with the 3-digit number, even though the car inside bore the 3-digit number.  When there was no box in inventory, the 3-digit car or engine was put in a new box stamped with only the 5-digit number.  Notice also that the box numbers are not as you might expect: when a car was packaged for sale in a set, Gilbert gave it a different number than when it was sold separately.                                               (All three photos courtesy of Neil Bishop.)
			But the billboard horn is in a 3-digit box, whereas the books say it should be a 5-digit.  To give the company maximum flexibility, the catalog didn't give a number for anything in the set except the engine, which it listed as #21561, even though the picture in the catalog showed a #497 and some of the engines shipped in the #21560 boxes were #497s. The #20340 set also included 12 #26720 Curved Track, 4 #26700 Straight Track,  #26752 Remote Control Uncoupler,  #26690 Track Terminal,  and #22020 50-watt Transformer.  The #20940 set included the same, except for a 220V transformer in place of the #22020.
		#48943 Madison dining car made by Lionel in 1996. It was made as an add-on to Lionel's 1995 set of orange-stripe streamliners, but it looks great with the original Gilbert set.
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