Lionel's 1978 catalog features three trains illustrated as sets, but sold individually. These Steam Driven Passenger Trains of '78, along with the Mickey Mouse Express of the same year are very much the beginning of Lionel's Collector Series. By official name the Collector Series would not exist until 1980. Lionel introduces an O27 example of the 4-4-0 W&A Civil War General Steam Engine in 1977. In '78, two passenger cars and the horse carrying flat car of the W&A join The Historic General set.