TCA/Williams Brochure & 25th Anniversary Set

Good find, as usual, Papa!  Got any pics or video of the train that came with the brochure?

The 408E and the four car set is on display in TCA's National Toy Train Museum in Strasburg PA.

Ron M

ron m posted:

The 408E and the four car set is on display in TCA's National Toy Train Museum in Strasburg PA.

Ron M

It's a nice looking set. Not as gaudy as some club type pieces. I was lucky, this one has a pair of nice McCoy motors, but no reverse which is Ok with me. Need to get it all serviced in the next day or so and give it a work out.

Steve

Here are the cars.

Steve

Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

Here are the cars.

Steve

Lookin' Good -- this set is on my wish list.   I didn't realize the diner had tables/chairs in this set -- perhaps added by the previous owner?

Thanks for posting the pictures, Steve.

The brochure states they came with detailed interiors. Looks to me like they were made this way.

Steve

Great find!!!

Very cool!

To answer Steve's original question, there were no other cars available. The set came with the 3 cars and the Lois Marx car was offered later. The locomotive usually came with the dummy Williams motor blocks, but motors were available upon special order for $85 a piece.

I have an extra set of this train, with 4 cars I believe, if anyone is interested contact me via email. I know I have one set that is brand new in the boxes and still need the trucks attached.

Bummer Rob, If I knew it was on your list you could have gone home with one after your visit!

ARNO

Thanks Arno for the info. Cool set. I had the O GG1 25th anniversary set with extra cars and diner,  but let it all go, too much plastic for my tastes.

Steve

Steve, I had the brochure framed and hanging on the train room wall for a while: it's top center in this photo, sorry it's the only one I can find of this wall during the time I had it up, so please disregard the Richart for the moment:

Later I decided I needed that wall for train shelves, so all that stuff came down and the brochure went into an album with other train info.  

All this to say that if you'd like the frame I'd be happy to send it to you.  It's nicely made of western red cedar.  It's custom made to fit the brochure: as you can see, the order blank on the left side of the brochure is folded back so only the other panels show.

I really like this Williams TCA 25th Anniversary train, it gets a lot of run time on the layout.  Mine came with the dummy motors in it and I put in 2 MTH Build-a-loco motors.  I didn't bother putting reverse in mine either. Runs great, looks great.  

My set came only with the three cars.  It was 3-4 years later when I finally found the fourth Louis Marx car - but of course it was being sold as part of the complete set with the other cars and loco, and at first the seller didn't want to break it up.  Only by showing him the brochure, I was able to convince him that the 3-car set was how the train originally came.  He ended up doing okay: I gave him a pretty good price for the Marx car and he ended up selling the 3-car set for the same price he had asked for the 4-car set.  I'm glad he did that for me, I've never seen the fourth car for sale separately.

david

Dave, thanks for the offer, but I have the same problem. Being in the garage with doors on each end, wall space is at a minimum. I feel pretty good about the deal I got, especially with the add on Marx car. They wanted more, but being as I only wanted supplies when I went in, I wasn't armed with my play money. The store owner  accepted my offer and as I was paying him, the guy next to me in line wanted to buy it. He said a deal was a deal, so I took it and ran

Steve

I dug out one if the Williams TCA sets I have and thought I would share some pictures of how they were originally packaged. 

Each car was packed in its own box  the trucks were not mounted to the car for delivery. They were included, wrapped in newspaper and put in the end of the car box.

Enjoy. 

ARNO

how I wanted one of these,i bought the ogauge one when they came out,evey York same guy had one for big bucks,,,,i lucked out on the auction site,,,,for like 1/2 what this guy wanted,,,,,dont know what happened to the guy or his set,,,haven't seen him in years,,,,i have never run mine,,,guess I should

Arno, was that box for 3 cars and the locomotive?

Steve

Steve, this was for the 4-car set. The loco came in a separate box. These were the same boxes that Williams used for their regular line of SG trains. So they had both master cartons for either 3 or 4 car sets.

There were only 150 of these sets made. 

ARNO

moderneraSG posted:

Steve, this was for the 4-car set. The loco came in a separate box. These were the same boxes that Williams used for their regular line of SG trains. So they had both master cartons for either 3 or 4 car sets.

There were only 150 of these sets made. 

ARNO

Thanks Arno.

Steve

I realize I'm rather late to the party, but I just saw the set Ron M. was talking about, on the wall of the TCA Museum in Lancaster PA this weekend, Oct 9 & 10th. ( Technically that museum is in Strasburg, PA ).  The set they have on display is the four car version. But the locomotive appears to be un-powered. As best as I could see through the viewfinder of my Minolta set to maximum magnification, the motor trucks looked like empty frames.  ( Getting down on my knees to look up through the plexi-glass at an angle got me some very strange looks )  Still, none of that changes the fact that this is an attractive and elegant set.  If Arno ever gets a chance to visit Pennsylvania, I highly recommend the National Toy Train museum.  Anybody who loves trains, is certain to find something they will enjoy.     

Forgotten-Branch posted:

I realize I'm rather late to the party, but I just saw the set Ron M. was talking about, on the wall of the TCA Museum in Lancaster PA this weekend, Oct 9 & 10th. ( Technically that museum is in Strasburg, PA ).  The set they have on display is the four car version. But the locomotive appears to be un-powered. As best as I could see through the viewfinder of my Minolta set to maximum magnification, the motor trucks looked like empty frames.  ( Getting down on my knees to look up through the plexi-glass at an angle got me some very strange looks )  Still, none of that changes the fact that this is an attractive and elegant set.  If Arno ever gets a chance to visit Pennsylvania, I highly recommend the National Toy Train museum.  Anybody who loves trains, is certain to find something they will enjoy.     

 

Forgotten-Branch, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but we lost Arno. He passed away last month. A great guy and fantastic ambassador of our hobby. 

Forgotten-Branch posted:

  If Arno ever gets a chance to visit Pennsylvania, I highly recommend the National Toy Train museum. 

Arno was very familiar with the TCA museum and library.  He did a lot of research there and contributed to the displays and layouts.  He was an active TCA member, president of his local TCA chapter, and contributed articles to the TCA Quarterly.  For any of you who didn't know him, Arno was without doubt the world's leading expert on what he called Modern Era Standard Gauge – standard gauge trains made by home craftsmen and small manufacturers from the 1960's through the 1990's.  

In 2007, John DeSantis wrote a series of very informative articles on Standard Gauge for the TCA Quarterly.  He covered the vintage period in detail, but when he got to MESG he deferred to Arno's expertise and asked him to write the final article.  This appeared in the October 2007 issue of TCAQ.  The 10-page article is only a quick introduction and only scratches the surface of Arno's  knowledge; there were dozens of makers of MESG and Arno knew most of them.  The article also contains some excellent photos of Arno's amazing MESG collection.  As most everyone here knows, Arno was in the process of writing the definitive book on MESG.

Thank You for forgiving my ignorance.  As a new-comer to this forum, I had no idea anything unfortunate had taken place. From the impression I received, Arno was a long time student of train collecting who loved sharing his knowledge.  I regret that I shall never get to meet him, or learn from his experience.  I extend my condolences to his family & friends, and his fellow collectors who have lost someone who sounds like a really great guy.   

Forgotten-Branch

Steve what a great find, enjoy!

Forgotten,

I looked for a way to send you a private message, but no luck. So I apologize for telling you in public here.  Arno's death is a huge loss for our hobby and all who had the good fortune of knowing him.