I'm astonished. It's nearly perfect. Loss for words and all that.
I spent some Canadian pesos on this on McBay and wound up super surprised. No photoshop tricks here either.
Can anyone tell me about this set? There's no mfg dates or anything like that on any of the rolling stock, loco or cardboard. It's amazing to think what it would be like in (what I assume) the early 50's, opening this up on Christmas morning.
The track... the box... well, look at the pictures!
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Amazing very cool 
A beauty - congratulations!
Great find, truly a beautiful set... congrats!!
Reminds me of a set I had as a kid, before the 1950s, that disappeared when I was at college. Might be prewar; I don't recall. I had the hopper, tank car, and caboose, but no tender. Figure 8 track.
What a cool looking set. Congratulations!! I home you receive much enjoyment from this set. I know I would. 
JoeG
Looking in the Greenberg book, the 1010 type loco was most likely first made in about 1938 based on available documents although John Hafner said "about" 1934. This whole line was virtually unchanged until sometime after the war.
Interesting tidbit, Lionel was a Hafner distributor. With clockwork popular overseas, Lionel opted to distribute Hafner trains to the overseas market.
Steve
Hafner #1010 locomotive sets were made from 1938 through 1951 excluding, of course, the WWII years. the most exceptional thing about this set is the condition and completeness. individually, the pieces are common.
probably the most varied locomotive Hafner made, the Greenberg (Doyle) book lists 35 different type and color variations of the #1010. tenders typically matched the locomotive which yours does, but the rest of the consist was often varied. Doyle also lists 25 different color combinations for the #1010 tank car, though i doubt even that number is inclusive. the #91876 sand car (Hafner referred to these as sand cars, not gondolas) is a design that was ultimately continued through to the Wyandotte years.
if you want to do a bit of investigation, get a small dental mirror and check the underside of the car frame spreader pieces and also look at the underside of the tubular track... not the ties, the track itself. this is where you are most likely to find reprinted (recycled) tin and in Hafner's case, most likely bottle cap printing. if found, this is typically a good indication that the set was made postwar.
nice find.
cheers...gary
I'm astonished. It's nearly perfect. Loss for words and all that.
I spent some Canadian pesos on this on McBay and wound up super surprised. No photoshop tricks here either.
The track... the box... well, look at the pictures!
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She's a beauty, eh? Great find there; congrats. My Hafner 1010 ( and many more) looks nothing like that. What a perfect set!
beautiful set.
That set looks absolutely perfect, like museum quality perfect.
Looking in the Greenberg book, the 1010 type loco was most likely first made in about 1938 based on available documents although John Hafner said "about" 1934. This whole line was virtually unchanged until sometime after the war.
Interesting tidbit, Lionel was a Hafner distributor. With clockwork popular overseas, Lionel opted to distribute Hafner trains to the overseas market.
Steve
Hafner #1010 locomotive sets were made from 1938 through 1951 excluding, of course, the WWII years. the most exceptional thing about this set is the condition and completeness. individually, the pieces are common.
probably the most varied locomotive Hafner made, the Greenberg (Doyle) book lists 35 different type and color variations of the #1010. tenders typically matched the locomotive which yours does, but the rest of the consist was often varied. Doyle also lists 25 different color combinations for the #1010 tank car, though i doubt even that number is inclusive. the #91876 sand car (Hafner referred to these as sand cars, not gondolas) is a design that was ultimately continued through to the Wyandotte years.
if you want to do a bit of investigation, get a small dental mirror and check the underside of the car frame spreader pieces and also look at the underside of the tubular track... not the ties, the track itself. this is where you are most likely to find reprinted (recycled) tin and in Hafner's case, most likely bottle cap printing. if found, this is typically a good indication that the set was made postwar.
nice find.
cheers...gary
Steve and Gary: Thank you for the history lesson. On the bottom of the "sand car", the back of the silver locomotive sideboards and on the reverse side of the ties on a few sections of track are bits of lithograph from something else. It's neat how companies recycled tin like this to keep costs down.
Thank you all very much for your comments.
Man, that is nice. I have to quit looking at it though. I am about to break the 10th Commandment and start coveting your train! 
Man, that is nice. I have to quit looking at it though. I am about to break the 10th Commandment and start coveting your train!
Cool story and photos.
Gary
Cheers from The
Beautiful!!!!! I had the same set, picked up by my grandfather as a companion to my fathers postwar Lionel set. Unfortuanly it got sold in my teens when I focused on postwar Lionel and nothing else. Now I am drawn to the tinplate side of the force! Mike
Beautiful!!!!! I had the same set, picked up by my grandfather as a companion to my fathers postwar Lionel set. Unfortuanly it got sold in my teens when I focused on postwar Lionel and nothing else. Now I am drawn to the tinplate side of the force! Mike
I have had a few tin pieces over the years, but took the leap and bought 2 Bassett Lowke engines, 1 clockwork and 1 live steam. Working on a second Hornby clockwork. Trying to stay away from electric power if I can. I love the look of a prewar clockwork/live steam layout. if I ever find a close version of my Hafner set, I will buy it if I can. Mine had the same engine and cars but the box wasnt as colorful, was more drab with just a simple line drawing and brand name on the box top. It was postwar as most all of it was recycled tin, I do remember that. It was also a bell ringer engine, same colors as his. Mike
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