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Picked Up this Set at a Pennsylvania train shop. Pair of NYC 4000 F3 diesels with usual tin freight cars and box in excellent condition including all interior compartments. 

My question is who did Marx make this for and is this an original or made up set? 

 

 

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Images (2)
  • 45F0C088-FC56-4817-8819-0A0CC6725632: Box Too
  • 46888624-E1C8-4281-A661-C021CEF648FE: Contents, Dummy F3 underneath the powered unit.
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From photos, that set LOOKS original and with plastic diesels and metal cars, l would consider it an uncommon and desirable set.  What is the set number on the end of the box?  Bob Whitacre's Greenberg book on Marx sets puts sets with plastic E-7's in #40000-44999, and 45800-46975.  Sears (Happi-time) sets were numbered 9500-9999. Diesel freight sets with 1095 plastic Santa Fe and 3/16 metal cars are common and two are listed in Bob's book.  With the NYC diesels it is less common but  believable.

Dave Warburton,

I remember the All State Brand from Sears. It was from the late sixties and early seventies time frame. I always wondered why Sears chose that name for these trains. I seem to remember that the All State Insurance company had a kiosk set up in our local Sears store when I lived in Florence, Alabama. I guess they sold insurance products inside the store. Could there have been some connection between the two?

Thanks to everyone who replied. Sadly, I can’t find a set number on the box anywhere, but am glad to know that it’s an original set. The most surprising thing to me was the condition of the box. A few frays at bottom edges of the box lid, and slight rust on the staples holding it together, but otherwise a total brick with all interior dividers present and in excellent shape. I’ve owned (and sold) Marx sets before, but this is the best I’ve seen in terms of condition. A keeper!!

tncentrr posted:

Dave Warburton,

I remember the All State Brand from Sears. It was from the late sixties and early seventies time frame. I always wondered why Sears chose that name for these trains. I seem to remember that the All State Insurance company had a kiosk set up in our local Sears store when I lived in Florence, Alabama. I guess they sold insurance products inside the store. Could there have been some connection between the two?

Marx transitioned to the Allstate name in the 1955-56 timeframe. My bet is it was to promote and tie in to their insurance business. I believe Lionel Trains were also sold under the Allstate name.

Steve

Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:
tncentrr posted:

Dave Warburton,

I remember the All State Brand from Sears. It was from the late sixties and early seventies time frame. I always wondered why Sears chose that name for these trains. I seem to remember that the All State Insurance company had a kiosk set up in our local Sears store when I lived in Florence, Alabama. I guess they sold insurance products inside the store. Could there have been some connection between the two?

Marx transitioned to the Allstate name in the 1955-56 timeframe. My bet is it was to promote and tie in to their insurance business. I believe Lionel Trains were also sold under the Allstate name.

Steve

I don’t recall Lionel being sold under the All State brand, but perhaps. I know that Marx made many All State marked freight cars - tank cars and gondolas mostly - but I am not aware of any Lionel cars marked for All State, at least in the postwar period. I have several of the Marx All State cars myself.

So, I examined every surface of the box I could see with no results. I decided to start unloading the contents to look at the interior. I got as far as the track section and discovered an envelope at the bottom. Nothing unusual about this except for the fact that it was from the County of Northampton prison in Easton Pennsylvania. The contents, carefully removed, were generic instruction sheets with codes at the top right. The prison still operates in Easton, but what is its connection to the set? Possibly a train collecting warden?CAE283F1-053D-48F6-8E56-835B28B9F317C2B4FE2E-AFBE-4CE9-B85C-798A8B8C8080F54C57DE-F3F5-4849-A3F8-47E2688B069D05884E83-F2B2-4596-867A-2D98A585FCC280F5CE12-FBB7-493A-9589-81859D66DC6473931562-2046-4C2C-8642-62F2567CDCCF4F17317E-BA1F-4D74-8829-23779DA3CE0D

Attachments

Images (8)
  • D199AE20-EA18-497C-8119-6AA38E8898ED: Transformer instructions
  • CAE283F1-053D-48F6-8E56-835B28B9F317
  • C2B4FE2E-AFBE-4CE9-B85C-798A8B8C8080
  • F54C57DE-F3F5-4849-A3F8-47E2688B069D
  • 05884E83-F2B2-4596-867A-2D98A585FCC2
  • 80F5CE12-FBB7-493A-9589-81859D66DC64
  • 73931562-2046-4C2C-8642-62F2567CDCCF
  • 4F17317E-BA1F-4D74-8829-23779DA3CE0D

You can take pride in the fact that the NYC sets are much less common than Santa Fe sets, which are very common in several variations, with litho tin #21 ATSF diesels and plastic ATSF #1095's.  Lionel in that period offered those two roadnames: ATSF and NYC.  Marx offered New Haven, Rock Island, and Union Pacific plastic E's as well as those two roadnames, with the UP's maybe the least conmon.

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