First off, let me say that I am a pretty experienced HO scale model railroader but know very little about vintage (1960s) HO scale trains.
As a kid I had the chance to play with my grandfather's Lionel train. One of the things that my grandfather would keep in the box of trains for me to play with was a smaller train engine. It was mostly plastic, except for metal wheels and metal couplers and handrails. For couplers, it had metal tabs that extended out and then bent down- roughly in the same fashion as cheap plastic train sets today. The engine was roughly modeling an SW-7. It can be seen on the flat car directly behind the 44-tonner.
It was roughly HO scale, but I don't think it was designed to run on HO scale track. If you flipped it over, the inside was hollow... no motors, no gears, etc. Each "truck" was only one axle with tinplate flanges, and the trucks were actually like steam engine pilot or training trucks in that they pivoted on the inside of the body.
I played with it a lot, even though it didn't have a train. I could put it on the Lionel track between two of the three rails and push it with the Lionel engine. Since it didn't short out the engine I guess maybe the wheels were insulated. Whenever it got to the automatic uncoupler track it would ride up over it and sometimes come back down on the other side.
I later learned that it is a SAKAI brand engine. I don't know if posting links to other forums is acceptable, but pictures of the engine can be found here: https://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88...3278998.aspx#3278998
I would love to learn more information about this company and this engine. I would love to get one for my collection.
Thanks.
