Circa 1928 - This car was part of the Blue Racer set. Cheaper versions of the earlier 135-136 cars in this same color, they have only one brass plate, no window material, no lights, no journals or vestibules. These cars always have snake pull couplers.

Circa 1928 - Light orange 133, only one plate and brass journals. This car was part of the Oriole Limited.

Circa 1929-1930  - This car came with the Southern Set and can befound in lighter orange or darker orange. Also Ives added the second brass plate over the windows in 1929 and these cars can be found with one or two plates to a side. See below

Circa 1930 - this car came with the Knickerbocker set. Sort of a 'baby black diamond' car it always had two brass plates, brass journals, snake pull couplers and had a single light in the observation.  

This car may not look unusual but with the number 133 it was. A late car with both plates it would normally be black with a red roof. This would be normal for a 135 car, but this one had no lights and was numbered 133.

Circa 1928 - This car was part of the Blue Racer set. Cheaper versions of the earlier 135-136 cars in this same color, they have only one brass plate, no observation trim except the deck, no window material, no lights, no journals or vestibules. These cars always have snake pull couplers.

Circa 1929 - Light orange, only one plate, brass vestibules and brass journals. This car was cataloged with a matching 3260 locomotive

Circa 1929-1930  - This car came with the Southern Set and can be found in lighter orange or darker orange. Also Ives added the second brass plate over the windows in 1929 and these cars can be found with one or two plates to a side. 

No. 134 observation from Knickerbocker set

Again looking like a 136 observation in this color combination, rare in this reverse color red/black for a cheaper 134. Note the crackling like the 136 this car was originally orange and over painted red by Ives. A very distinctive car.

Circa 1926-1927 - Tan or Buff color car, these came with no vestibules, type D, M-style trucks, automatic couplers held on by rivet. They had window material and window shades. These cars came with a matching 3254 in 1926 and matching 3255 in 1927.

Circa 1927 - Cadet blue car came only with 3255R in 1927, same as buff cars above. 

Circa 1928 - This car gets no respect, 1928 only, very rare, came with the equally rare 3255 in orange with die-cast pilots or the cast iron 1120 Steamer in a set called The Sunbeam Limited.

Circa 1929 - Red body with black roof, snake pull couplers, tin or cast iron wheels and brass vestibules. 

This is also a 135 Parlor car from 1929 with no number on the brass plate.

Black/Red 135 - unusual, normally came with red body and black roof. This car came in a box numbered like a Knickerbocker Set, but that set normally contained 133/134 cars in this color.

Circa 1930 - Red body with black roof, snake pull couplers, usually die cast wheels (instead of tin) and no vestibules, although the slots are still there where they had been inserted the year before

Circa 1930 - This car is from the Patriot set and comes in a very bright blue and red, similar colors to the wide gauge National Limited. Characteristics for this car are identical to the red/black car above. 

Circa 1926 - This is the first brass plate observation in the 135 series. Note that they didn't have the separately tooling completed yet for the observation, so they used the tooling for the pullman. See details below.

Circa 1926-1927 - both the tan car above and the cadet blue car below are early observations, but the car pictured below is one of the first ones sold in 1926 before the IVES had the separate tooling for the observation used in the tan car above. Note the back window and the rivet detail on the car below - this is just a 135 observation that has been bent into the shape of an observation.

Circa 1927 - Here's a later cadet blue 136 observation, where Ives actually used different tooling for the observation car, note the special lavatory window on this car and compare it to the one above.

Circa 1928 - Observation car from Sunbeam Limited Set - light orange.

Circa 1929 - 136 observation with brass vestibule.

No 136 above is unusual in that it only has one plate.

Circa 1930 - Observation from Patriot set in National Limited Blue and Red. If you look closely this car was originally orange and repainted by IVES. This practice was not unusual during this period and can be seen on locomotives and passenger cars from the 'Lionel period'.

Circa 1928 - Only in 1928 and only in the Interstate Limited Set, the 137 car above and 138 observation below were in between the 133/134 cars and the 135/136 cars in that they had no journals and only the observation had a light in the platform. Strangely the example pictured above has the window material but most that have survived do not. They have snake pull couplers.  Maybe the rarest 'numbers' that Ives ever made.