MARX 50's mixed NYC box contents

Yes,  most definitely....while I am not an expert on "six inch" sets as others are...Marx

included little boxes to load on gondolas and flatcars in some of those prewar sets.  They

were miniature containers of popular products of the time.  I have guessed that Marx

had an advertising deal with the companies..... Somebody on here probably knows for

sure.

Haven't seen that before, but it would be a clever low-budget Marx trick to make loads for the train cars.

i wasnt sure if was original or not... the trains have almost no wear to them, and the engine didnt even have any wear on the pick up... so i dont think it was ever ran, untill i got it, but it is mostly a shelf queen. the NYC passenger car's 2071's and 2072 in good shape dont come around often, i'd like to keep them as i found them. but what threw me off as to the contents of the box was the trestle pieces. it was all elevated? and there were two straight pieces of marx two rain track in the box? thats what made me think it wasn't original.

Yes, Marx included that style box with some of their sets. Different brands of razor blades, cough drops, tooth paste, candies etc. They can get somewhat pricey on e-bay. To add to your collection, look for Dots, Milk Duds ec around Halloween. Enjoy the candy and fill your gondolas. They were also used on some plastic flat cars with the side rails.

Steve

On the gondola loads, according to the source I have Louis Marx originally had an agreement with Bon Ami cleanser and Luden's cough drops.  No royalty fee to be paid by Marx; free advertising for the products.  Marx employees at first assembled the boxes, but a cost analysis showed that this labor cost considerably.  After that the workers were instructed to simply put a rubber band around the flat boxes.  It looks like yours in the picture have never been disturbed.  Wonderful!

That answers a question for me too! I just came across a nice boxed Marx Allstate set that contained four empty Domino sugar boxes. I thought that some imaginative youngster had come up with the idea for using them for loads. Now I know the whole story. Thanks!

Jim

I'm glad that we could help you a bit, Jim.  You've helped and inspired so many folks.

here is a composite scan of Marx box loads i've picked up over the years...

a few look like regular product packages.  i can remember being able to buy those small 2-packs of cough drops OTC or a few cubes might have fit in the Domino box.  others look to be scaled down large boxes (eg: the Sunshine Crackers box).

the boxes were usually in sets containing the #552G - Grocery & Sundries gondola.

unfortunately most modern small boxes have those huge barcodes. but i've recently found a source with hotel soap boxes.  usually meant as samples, they typically don't include a barcode and the size is right for many of them.

cheers...gary

staying on the subject of loaded Marx gondolas,

may as well also mention the #548 Guernsey Milk car...

a find with the original load, but repros of both the cardboard insert and the cans are available.  also a nice companion car to the #552G.  personally i'm still searching for the elusive (to me at least) 8-wh tab/slot coupler version of the #548.

cheers...gary

Got a "6 inch" question,  which I don't collect and so am not knowedgeable on....I had discovered and traded away, because it didn't have the tilt fork couplers, but tab and slot, a six inch Marx flat with a loading ramp.  This flat did have the 3/16 four wheel trucks.  I don't think that flat was made with the tilt fork couplers, but please correct me if I am wrong.  I do know this was not a common pair to find, and with those trucks and the T&S couplers, an odd duck flat.

the Automatic Unloader is truly the oddball of Marx rolling stock...

even though the box shows automatic couplers on the car, ...

...it only came with tab/ slot couplers.  alway painted OD, the civilian model was usually packaged with the Deluxe Delivery truck and trailers (though i believe the ramp on the non-mil version should be silver).

my guess is that the scale couplers wouldn't allow the unloading ramp to tilt properly so Marx chose to stick with the tab/ slot.  more of a 7" car in length, it was only included in 6" sets as far as i know.

the mil version included the critter tank...

with an original load (resin cast reproduction tanks are available), this is a very desirable car.

cheers...gary

Thanks, Gary.  It has been over a decade ago, possibly 20 years,  but I think I only had the box, the car, and the ramp...no load.   I probably bought it because the box showed the tilt forks, and I was disappointed to find just the T&S, which didn't fit my "theme"

of collecting.  I have kept hoping, in the wonderful world of Marx, where nobody is

sure what all they made, that it was done with the tilt forks.