I am writing from England as a first timer to the Lionel forum. I have a couple of questions that I hope your combined wisdom can answer.

I have inherited my Great-Grandfathers Lionel trains, although I have previously played with them as a child many decades ago. My Great Grandfather was the council transport manager in an English town in the 1920/30's, with responsibility for their electric tramways. Perhaps he had a leaning towards electric traction as he had a 150, 254, and a 256; all being electric-outline locomotives.

I wanted to buy a few extra pre-war carriages etc. to add to what I have and give me enough to display in a case. I have bought a copy of "Lionel Trains Standard of the world" and "Lionel, prewar O gauge, volume1". I would buy more Lionel reference books, but they are rare in England, and the cost of postage from the USA is often more than the cost of the book.  The value guides probably aren't a lot of use here.

Is there a particular book I should get as a guide to Lionel prewar O-gauge?

I recently bought at auction a set of 254, 610, 610, 612 (8-window) carriages. My book says these should have type V or VII trucks, but these have type II trucks (without journal boxes). Is this to be expected (but my book is out of date), or perhaps an example of obsolete stock being used-up on export trains?

I also bought at auction: latch coupler 1630, 1630, 1631 carriages in Tuscan with black roof and observation veranda. As these colours aren't in the book, I assumed they would be a rough repaint in later life, but when I received them the paint quality is very high. Either someone took great care to dismantle them etc. or there is something odd about them. Have these carriages ever been reproduced in more recent times?

Any comments would be appreciated. Thank you.