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I recently had the opportunity to acquire a nice Marx O gauge set from (I suspect) the mid 50s. The shipping label says Montgomery Ward in Baltimore as the point of origin. No date. Destination was northern Virginia.

The set has a 2-4-2 steamer and four cars. A standard Marx transformer is included and the O27 track includes a pair of manual switches. Can anyone tell me something about this set?

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Peter

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It has an interesting mix of scale cars, deluxe plastic cars and tight radius O-27 track. It's almost like the engine, tender, gondola and track are from one set and the three deluxe plastic cars are from another set. Marx was known for not following the normal conventions, though.

The 999 was designed for the 3/16" scale metal cars, but by the time the plastic deluxe cars came along, the 999 was eclipsed by the 333 diecast Pacific for scale cars and then the 1829 plastic Hudson for the deluxe cars.

It's always a treat to get something old in nice condition like this.

Last edited by RoyBoy

A great puzzle. Nothing quite matches, but it is interesting. The box has 4313 on the end. In the 1953 Wards catalog, that would translate to their item number 3027 and has no resemblance to what you have, a plastic 400 engine, plastic tender and 7" tin four wheel cars.  Again, the 1953 catalog, the item number 3029 on your label is a completely different critter, a 1829 Hudson set with cars on tall metal trucks. Now logically, the tin car does not belong with the others, so if you remove the gondola, again the 1953 catalog, your set DOES match Wards item number 3028. While unusual, in this case the 999 did come with the deluxe plastic cars in this set.

Steve

Here are some more pics....

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These are my Marx references. I also own the compilation of the Sears Toy Department Catalogs.

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I looked at the track....there is a pair of manual switches.

9 straights (one with an uncoupler piece).

9 O27 curves....missing one if there was an oval and a passing siding.

2 lock ons......so, there may be a mixture of sets....we'll never know...

Thanks for all the replies. I love a good mystery!

Peter

 

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Putnam Division posted:

I recently had the opportunity to acquire a nice Marx O gauge set from (I suspect) the mid 50s. The shipping label says Montgomery Ward in Baltimore as the point of origin. No date. Destination was northern Virginia.

The set has a 2-4-2 steamer and four cars. A standard Marx transformer is included and the O27 track includes a pair of manual switches. Can anyone tell me something about this set?

IMG_8298

Peter

I know little about the older postwar trains, but it's really neat to see an address with the old postal Zone instead of a zip code. Now I have to go look up when zip codes were implemented. I can't remember any of our old zones (we moved a lot), but I can remember my grand mother's which was Zone 09 and became 64109 when they implemented the zips. 

Sorry about the off topic post, but is was still a nice piece of neat trivia, at least to me anyway. Thanks for posting the pics!

 

FWIW, an update (that didn't take long):

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 

ZIP Codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan,[1] was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly (zipping along), when senders use the code in the postal address. The basic format consists of five numerical digits.

Last edited by rtr12

Amazing my unckle had a marks set ina box like that. Graffics were different. Amazing how just cardboard inserts and a cardboard box was how sets were sold and packaged back in those days. Probably arrived better then than now.being shipped to your door or store. The sets today are thicker carboard with molded foam inside to hold each car and such. They have to be to stand up to UPS handelers and such. Wish I still had his old set. Enjoy yours.

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