Just adding to your knowledge 
@vc posted:Cool! I actually got mine for Christmas when I was a kid, but I don't have a Wheaties car, so it might have been a year or two later than yours. My cars are a shell oil tanker, white Motorcraft boxcar, a green open car that held yellow cylinders which i believe were for shipping milk...
the "green open car" is known as a gondola car. Also, the yellow cylinders represent canisters used to carry dry cement. I myself didn't learn that one till a few years ago, and I also have (still do) a set from the mid-1970's
...a blue open one that i think was for gravel...
That one is called a hopper car. Mostly used for coal during the era this set represents, but also carried similar commodities (like gravel or similar crushed rock) that didn't need protection from the elements.
, and a red log carrier (for which I've lost the logs and stakes that came with it). And of course a yellow caboose. I took mine to a local service guy before trying it and he made a few small repairs to the locomotive and coal tender (probably did the foam replacement that @KOOLjock1 mentioned since i haven't had any problems with it), and it's been running well ever since. The 50 year old incandescent headlight even still works, which I find mind boggling. The horn and choo-choo sound work too. They really built these things to last.
---PCJ
