Fatman: Thanks for the pictures of the lithographed 3978 in both blue and black. The blue tender version is really neat but I am afraid nothing very close to it was offered in the US. Marx did do an early lithographed loco, the # 897 available pre -war only '39 and '41-42 and of course the long body sheet metal loco in "Mickey Mouse" scheme in '50-51. The #897 does somewhat resemble the 3978 but with cow catcher not buffers. It is however, in my view, only a resemblance not a duplicate. It has always seemed strange to me that Marx, undisputed king of lithography in toys and trains used it so little in steam loco's , I guess to Marx steam loco's were plain black and that was that. Now diesels well that's a different story. I do have a Marx floor toy locomotive that has a really wild lithographed scheme. I have posted it before but here it is again and it does illustrate what Marx could do with lithography and trains when he chose to and makes one wonder..."what might have been".
