Let's see some complete vintage sets!

I believe your #526 Marx mechanical set would be from the early 1970's.  Not sure of the exact year that Marx began using that box, but I know it was used in 1972.  It was at the very end of 6" tin car production for Marx - their last mechanical sets switched to 4 wheel plastic cars with a similar #401 windup loco. 

WindupGuy posted:

I believe your #526 Marx mechanical set would be from the early 1970's.  Not sure of the exact year that Marx began using that box, but I know it was used in 1972.  It was at the very end of 6" tin car production for Marx - their last mechanical sets switched to 4 wheel plastic cars with a similar #401 windup loco. 

Would not have guessed '70s. Thank you for the insight!

This page from the 1972 Sears Christmas catalog shows the Marx #526 Mechanical set.  I got this set for Christmas in 1972, and it has the same box as yours.

I do like the Hafner mechanical trains... Especially that box art!

 

Not exactly a complete set... but a set nonetheless!

Here is a Marx 528 set (I don't know what the difference is with a 526 set) and a Gilbert American Flyer NYC Hudson set:

More and all kinds of vintage train-sets here: http://sncf231e.nl/presentation-of-boxed-train-sets/

Regards

Fred

Here's 2 of mine. The Sears set was my brothers who received it Christmas 1960. He passed away in Feb. 1961.

The other set is a Marx Battery operated set which I never ran when I got it in the 50s. Has original oval and 4 pieces of straight track also.

1954 set headed by 2065 steamer and coffin style caboose:

Some of you know the number for this set. I think it starts with WS.

Dad saved the trains, but no boxes or paperwork. Arnold

Here's  mine from about 1963 still proudly displayed in my office

Only one I have.

The Lionel set should be 1952.  The Marx set, I have no idea.

Bill DeBrooke posted:

The Lionel set should be 1952.  The Marx set, I have no idea.

Auto coupler sets were only made for a couple of years, so it’s going to be in the 1938-41 range.

Steve

Some of my O and HO...

My father's set.  I think the tanker was an add on item. 

More Lionel postwar please, and THANKS!  ☺

Cool thread idea!  I have nothing to contribute so I'll be lurking! 

My originals are all incomplete. I could assemble 3-5 I don't have a list A really miss the postwar sets by year site. Anyone know what happened or who owned it etc.? It vanished after the new postwar sets site showed and the new one is incomplete and hard to use compared to the list by year site. Gone about a year, two tops, but some months it was gone as well. My device doesn't work on the wayback machine archive or I'd do a file assembly in word or PDF.

I posted these images in another thread back in July and ADRIATIC gave me some information about it.  

This item and the story is about as vintage as I can get. 

I found this in the attic rafters of my grandmother's home in Baltimore when helping to clean it sometime in 1979.  My Aunt told me it was to be a Christmas present for my father and it was forgotten about or hidden too well.  

sncf231e posted:

Here is a Marx 528 set (I don't know what the difference is with a 526 set) and a Gilbert American Flyer NYC Hudson set:

Fred

Fred, that #528 Marx Mechanical set is interesting.  The only difference I can spot between your #528 set and my #526 set is that you locomotive has the cover over the bottom of the motor.  For most of the years of production of the 401 mechanical, the motor was open on the bottom.  I know for a fact that the #526 set sold up to 1972 didn't have the cover on the bottom of the locomotive.  The later #530 sets (with 4 wheel plastic cars and plastic track) include a 401 locomotive that has the motor cover, but is made of a gray colored plastic instead of the black plastic typically seen in the earlier 401's.  

I have quite a few 401's - I believe I have all the variations - and I do have one that appears to be completely original with a black plastic body and motor cover.  I've always left it as-is, and now I'm glad that I did.  I'll be on the lookout for a #528 set for my collection - thanks for sharing the video.

Here is a #530 set from my collection, circa 1975ish.  Note that the cover shows the set with a 401, tender, yellow SCL gondola and red Santa Fe caboose - that is how most of them came.  However, a few have surfaced like this one that include the green Erie flatcar instead.  Marx has a lot of fun variations to collect!

My all-time favorite - I didn't receive it in 1953 like I had originally wished for. But, finally fulfilled that wish many years later.

Jim

 

Me, too.  Still waiting for mine.  Any kid back then that didn't pray for that set didn't have a soul.

SteveC posted:

I posted these images in another thread back in July and ADRIATIC gave me some information about it.  

This item and the story is about as vintage as I can get. 

I found this in the attic rafters of my grandmother's home in Baltimore when helping to clean it sometime in 1979.  My Aunt told me it was to be a Christmas present for my father and it was forgotten about or hidden too well.  

Wartime Lionel paper trains. My guess is that this might be very valuable.

From 1952, here is my 2183ws Lionel set headed up by a 726RR Berkshire.

726RR Berkshire

2046w whistle tender

3464  ATSF operating boxcar

6465 Double dome tank car

6462 NYC gondola

6457 Caboose 

I found this set mislabeled and mispriced on Craigslist as a “scout set.” Bad photographs and all. I couldn’t make out exactly what it was, but it didn’t look exactly like a scout set. When I inquired on the set, I found out that it was actually this very nice, top of the line set from 1952. I told him it was worth probably double/triple what he was asking and it was out of my budget and too nice for a toy train for my toddler son.   He said he appreciated my honesty, but was happy to sell at the listed price to someone that appreciates it.   It is a beautiful set and it will be my son’s when he is able to appreciate it too.

 

Some of my sets, all original except the girls train...I’ve been piecing it together......Pat

Here is the Pre-War Hiawatha Freight Set # 757W with all the original boxes.  

The set on top has never seen the rails...as mint as mint can get with out being in a sealed box....belonged to one of my co-workers grandfather.....got it many many moons ago...have all boxes, and set box....nothing rare, just a really nice outfit....Pat

harmonyards posted:

The set on top has never seen the rails...as mint as mint can get with out being in a sealed box....belonged to one of my co-workers grandfather.....got it many many moons ago...have all boxes, and set box....nothing rare, just a really nice outfit....Pat

Is that a 675 leading the way? 

JD2035RR posted:

harmonyards posted:

The set on top has never seen the rails...as mint as mint can get with out being in a sealed box....belonged to one of my co-workers grandfather.....got it many many moons ago...have all boxes, and set box....nothing rare, just a really nice outfit....Pat

Is that a 675 leading the way? 

Early 2025.....47 model......Pat

Cool back story on that set JD, the fella who owned it was a die-hard American Flyer youngster.....the lionel set was gifted to him by a family member......it stayed in a cedar trunk till 1995 when the fella handed it down to my buddy at work, who wanted nothing to do with it...I tried to pay for the set, but he insisted I take it and be the custodian of it.......the set to this day smells of  perfect cedar........Pat

A couple of American Flyer sets.

My original Lionel set.....brought by Santa, Christmas 58.....

Peter

A couple sets probably from'42.  Most of the boxes came with.  763 and 226.

A few more PostWar sets......

From 1956:

Marx from about 1955....

From 1957....

The steam set in the front is an Abraham & Strauss department store special set from about 61.....

Peter

Gilbert pioneered the use of set display boxes and continued to utilize this format for trains during their entire existence in order to promote sales.  Fred's 1938 Gilbert HO set posted above is an example. Taking the term "complete" literally, two Gilbert American Flyer sets are shown below in their display boxes as a young person might have first viewed them on Christmas morning. The first is a difficult to find 1940 3/16" scale No. 4021 O gauge NYC Hudson Freight Train set in which the J3a Hudson, tender, and the rolling stock are (mostly) all die cast. The second is from 20 years later; a 1960 S gauge No. 20605 Arrow set in which the Reading Atlantic locomotive, tender, and rolling stock are subsequently (mostly) all plastic. Note the display flap with artwork illustrating the Arrow as assembled on its prototypically correct  2-rail track. Although two decades apart, both sets are consistently built to 3/16" scale.

Have fun!

Bob

Surprising (to me) how many Marx sets have been posted already... 

Mark in Oregon

A few of my sets......Jesse  TCA

I have three post-war sets to show.  All sets have their original boxes and in the case of the two Lionel sets the  component boxes are present.  The first set manufactured in 1958 is Lionel  freight set#1590 and is still in excellent operating condition and I still love the the orange/red stripe on the 2-4-2 engine and its tender. 

The second set manufactured by Lionel in 1948 is set#1423W. The set still operates flawlessly and the engine's tender still operates very well but is a tad raspy.

The third set is a Marx freight set manufactured in either 1957 or 1958.  The set # is 52282.  The engine is a little 2-4-2 and still smokes beautifully.  The set is in great operating condition.  All three sets belonged to my Dad and Grandfather.

T

Jim Policastro posted:

My all-time favorite - I didn't receive it in 1953 like I had originally wished for. But, finally fulfilled that wish many years later.

Jim

 

I imagine very few people got this set in 1953. At a price of $90, using the inflation index, that set would cost $850 in today's dollars. In 1953, that was a boatload of money. Only fairly wealthy people could spend that on a toy train.

A few more of mine......

New Haven set, circa 62......

Top shelf: UP set, 1951........

Set of all the 6464s.....but not the originals, the redo’s fromthe 90s......

Peter

In 1977 I purchase a 1956 American Flyer Northern Pacific passenger set. Here is a picture of it sitting on my layout. When I had it, I never ran it.

 

Jim,  that NP 'North Coats Ltd' was my dream set. Only ever saw one under a Christmas tree in a bank lobby in New Orleans when I was a boy...

Putnam Division posted:

A few more PostWar sets......

Marx from about 1955....

From 1957....

The steam set in the front is an Abraham & Strauss department store special set from about 61.....

Peter

What a NEAT little train set! Love those little litho FM's!  Such simplicity, yet altogether enchanting!

Now THIS is a fun thread!

Andre

Came across these two from the original owner about a year ago. The UP '50th Anniversary Set' is an all-time favorite. The Alco Texas Special is especially nice - the locos are shiny and almost Like New. I may offer this set on the FS board soon if anyone is interested. No display room anymore...

Someone donated these two sets to the club awhile back. The UP M1000 Tinplate is of unknown origin (I don't remember) and the Gilbert NH Alco PA set is somewhat uncommon.

c.sam posted:

Someone donated these two sets to the club awhile back. The UP M1000 Tinplate is of unknown origin (I don't remember) and the Gilbert NH Alco PA set is somewhat uncommon.

The UP streamlined is prewar Marx.

Steve

Lionel Set #1523 from 1954

Here are a few of my older set.

These are the most "vintage" sets I have.  In the rear is the Lionel #1700 streamliner set that my grandfather bought for his elaborate Christmas layout during the depths of the Depression.  I never saw the fabled layout, but my mother and her sisters told me about it in the most glowing terms for years.  The power unit and two trailing cars are in near-mint condition, since Granddad was very careful about taking care of them -- to the extent of not letting his three girls handle them!  For some reason, when I tracked it down, the pickup slider shoes were missing, but once I installed replacements, it ran like new.:

On the bottom is my father's set, a Christmas present in, I believe, 1929.  The #252 locomotive came to me dismembered and thoroughly dead, in a shoebox that my mother nearly threw away.  I put a lot of time into restoring it, and now it gets run every Christmas.

95% of what I put on the shelves were complete, catalogued sets.

American Flyer set 1227. Picked the set up from a forum member. The set had mostly Marx track in it. Did some research and found at what track configuration should be. Had all the banked pieces already, but had to buy the switches and 45 degree crossing.

Steve

Not sure if this counts a mono rail from Woolworths approx. 1960's

My recently acquired pw 400 and 404 Budd sets.

 

 

What a great topic !!  I have a few sets that I've wanted to show off but not sure how to go about it.  Now that I know, I'll begin with a real oldie. 

I didn't even know this was a set until I had the good fortune a few weeks ago to read the section about the 152 locomotive in Greenburg's new O Gauge book.  IT's a 152 locomotive with an 800 box car and 801 caboose that I'm refurbishing for a friend.  

The locomotive has to be from 1924, given that it is dark green with a type 4 motor.  According to Greenberg, this is Outfit 261 that was cataloged in 1924.

I'll also show another 152 that I am restoring.  This locomotive has an unusual combination of features that indicates it must have been early 1918 production using a left over frame from 1917.

  It has a type 4 motor which was first produced in 1917.  Look very closely at the photo and you can see that the coupler has the rivet attachment.  In 1918, this was replaced by a coupler attached with a bent tab.  Thus an impossible engine unless we assume 1918 production with an old frame.

And finally, here is a closeup of the 152 that shows the decals.

Putnam Division posted:

A few more PostWar sets......

From 1956:

Marx from about 1955....

From 1957....

The steam set in the front is an Abraham & Strauss department store special set from about 61.....

Peter

The LV  44 Tonner set was my first train set as well. I have about ten different 44 Tonner engines now.

American Flyer set #5. Picked it up from a friend a few weeks before he passed.

Steve

Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

American Flyer set 1227. Picked the set up from a forum member. The set had mostly Marx track in it. Did some research and found at what track configuration should be. Had all the banked pieces already, but had to buy the switches and 45 degree crossing.

Steve

What a nifty layout!

Here are some of my Lionel Postwar sets in action as they appeared in the catalogs. TJ

Wow!  That is awesome.  A bunch of really nice postwar sets in action.  I enjoyed that immensely.

TonkaNut posted:

Here are some of my Lionel Postwar sets in action as they appeared in the catalogs. TJ

Outstanding! Could watch that all day.

Here is my Lionel 1527 set. On the outside box, it was marked, "1955 Outfit".

I received it for Christmas in 1955.

Here's the same set - one year later

My train book posted:

Here are a few of my older set.

LOL! These sets ARE VINTAGE... as requested by the O.P.!

Lionel 2150WS from 1950 with a 681 turbine and passenger cars

Lionel 1513S from 1954 (my grandfathers childhood set)

 

 

 

I don't know much about American Flyer, but based on circumstances I think this might be a a set. It was given to my father's family by a relative way back when.  Not a great runner, but at nice shelf queen.

One more view of my former office with the shelves of sets, this time at Christmas time. This is the one that made it into the December 2009 issue. 

pennsy484 posted:

I don't know much about American Flyer...

Me neither... except I know I like them! That's a handsome engine!

I could definitely be interested in AF if there was only a connection for me of some sort. When I was but a lad, none of my friends had them (they had Lionel or Marx 3-rail), and I had a Marx 3-rail set way back in my elementary years, so I simply wasn't around AF in order to be smitten with them at the time.

So, though I can oooo and ahhhh when I see them (like your set) or pick one up with my hands to take a better look at a train meet... I don't "feel" 'em. (Does that make sense?)

Not so when I pick up a Postwar steam engine, or a set of PW Alco FA's: Instant connection. The good 3-rail memories waft through my mind and I'm a kid again.

Andre

laming posted:

pennsy484 posted:

I don't know much about American Flyer...

Me neither... except I know I like them! That's a handsome engine!

I could definitely be interested in AF if there was only a connection for me of some sort. When I was but a lad, none of my friends had them (they had Lionel or Marx 3-rail), and I had a Marx 3-rail set way back in my elementary years, so I simply wasn't around AF in order to be smitten with them at the time.

So, though I can oooo and ahhhh when I see them (like your set) or pick one up with my hands to take a better look at a train meet... I don't "feel" 'em. (Does that make sense?)

Not so when I pick up a Postwar steam engine, or a set of PW Alco FA's: Instant connection. The good 3-rail memories waft through my mind and I'm a kid again.

Andre

I kinda feel the same way.  This set has been in the family for many decades. I remember my dad saying  meh, it derails too much, so we pretty much quit setting it up at Christmas.  We were Lionel guys  Today was the first time in probably 40 years that the track has been laid out (I cleaned it too)  ran the engine a bit and yeah the front truck derails and the engine can't pull the train (even with a ZW).  I don't have the interest or time to get it tuned up so to speak.  So I was thinking, yeah, even now same as my dad said, it derails too easily.  Really makes it even more clear to me how amazing the post war Lionel is.  Nice set to look at though. 

Watching TONKANUT's excellent PW Trains video above, I realized that I probably was given the No 2175W Santa Fe freight set from 1951 recently. A fella gave it to me after attending a train show down in Gastonia NC last year and no one would buy it from him. Just thrown into an old cardboard box, it certainly wasn't attractive. A shame as it was his childhood set but had been not cared for or stored properly all these years.  There was a duplicate set of freight cars with it so I kept the 'nicer' of the two and sold the other 5 on eBay as a LOT receiving $29 for them all!

There is a short in the lead motor of the powered chassis but I should be able to get it running fine. The cabs are in very bad condition with paint loss and the dreaded hump very pronounced behind the screens. Interesting that the red paint is still in decent condition as you can see compared to the New Lionel replacement shells that I will be using. I received $11 for the two cabs on eBay. They have most of the parts - grab bars, horns, windshields, screen vents with retainers. Only missing one step and one number board plus all the portholes.

Does appear to be a complete and original set however.

Will hopefully get these cleaned and running sometime in the next month or so.  They are still out there fellas...

70 years of dirt!

Replacement cabs from Lionel on the right and below

 

Thought I would Show some pics of my NYC Empire State Express set. I have set box and separate car boxes.

Merry Christmas!

Great thread, thanks to all who posted!!

Let's see, Prewar Sears 8102W set, and a couple of 140W sets.

Also, the last cataloged  set with a 265E loco from 1940.

Here's a few Flyer sets, two 3/16ths O and two S.

well well well....look who the Grinch drug in........  

Call this one the biography of a vintage set.

This first pic is NOT of the set which is the subject of this post, but it is related.  Christmas, 1964.  My maternal grandfather insisted that I have a train set under the tree even though I was but 7 months old at the time.  He bought an HO set whose manufacturer is unknown to me.  It included a loop of track, a scenery mat, and paper buildings and signs.  Grandpa glued the mat to a piece of Masonite roughly 3' x 4', and set the whole thing up for me to see on Christmas morning:

Much to his chagrin and disgust, the darn thing wouldn't go.  So, on the morning of 12/26/64, he stripped the HO track and train off the board (but kept the mat and the paper houses and signs) and marched into Sears, Roebuck, & Co. to exchange it for a Lionel (such as he had bought my uncles decades before).  Alas! only one set remained on the shelves by the time he got there:  a Marx #15765 (and this set IS the subject of this post).  Still, it was 3-rail O, and he understood such things, so it came home, and he installed the 3 rail track on the board, and set the train in motion.  Unfortunately, no one snapped pics of the new train that year.

But, the cameras caught it the next year, Christmas 1965: (as an aside, most of the ornaments you see hanging from the tree are hanging from one of the trees in my house this year).

And again the next, Christmas, 1966 (I include this picture because my mother captured my grandfather in it with me; he is setting up a toy car transport truck like the one he helped develop for Shell Transportation in the '50s):

The next two pics show this same set passing by the flag stop in Bethlehem (somewhat the worse for 43 years of wear) on my layout this year, Christmas, 2018:

The next pics show the set boxed--it's not the original box, which, Alas! was lost years ago, but it is the correct box for the set.  The transformer and some of the track are original.  I have a set of logs on the way to replace the ones I lost.  Somehow--and I don't pretend to explain--the instructions are not only original but nearly pristine.

Thus, the life of a vintage set.  I should point out that the double-reduction motor runs like crazy, the reverse unit works reliably, and the cars have held up very well--the only breaks are on the engine (courtesy of a childhood friend's wind-up set.  The front truck of the tender is a bit distorted from my 7-year-old foot accidentally stepping on it, but Grandpa, bless his soul, managed to put it to rights.

Once again, as I do every year, I have to pause and thank my grandfather for getting me started.  I wish he could see my layout today!

Here are my two sets that I took over from my brothers. The 2234W Santa Fe was purchased at Christmas 1954. My grandparents, my parents and my brothers contributed towards the purchase. (I was only 3!) I still have all of the boxes including the outer box with the $89.50 store sticker. Clearly, I don't run it anymore.

I did not know the 2020 engine and our freight cars were from a set. I was in a train store and saw the 1415WS on a shelf. The owner informed it was a set from 1946. It is on the bottom of the next picture. I would like to get a catalog photo of it. Still have most of the boxes. I do not know how we acquired all of the other pieces on the top row.

Charlie

Robert S Butler, Your Set was #1549, but used the 1615 & 1615T for motive power.  I own two 1549’s, & three 1527 sets.

I don't know how to post a picture but I have my dad's set from 1915 its a 704 loco 2 coaches & a baggage I have the track and transformer but no box. I think it came in a wooden box.

Al Smeraldo posted:

I don't know how to post a picture but I have my dad's set from 1915 its a 704 loco 2 coaches & a baggage I have the track and transformer but no box. I think it came in a wooden box.

1. learn "where" the photo is stored on your computer/phone. 

2. As you tap/click the site composer box for writing a reply, an option appears in lower right of the text area; "attachment tool". Set the cursor where you want the photo to be, and open the tool, (granting permissions) find your photo, choose it. Choose another if needed, no need to wait to set up the next one.

3. Do wait for "loading" to change to "processing" then finally "success". 

4. With "success" of all comes a new, 1 choice, option line (not big, but there). Check off the little box for "insert all photos full sized" then "finish" or wait on "insert"(or if you forget to check it)  and later you can choose smaller sizes and better individual placement when you return to the regular composing screen.

 From the bottom of the composing screen you deal with photos individually using the "insert into text" option, also blue, at the bottom of each loaded picture's box.

Here are the sets, to which I had immediate access, down by my layoutin my basement(2 vintage, 1-well it was my first set ha). My dad also has some mpc era sets- Coca-Cola, Spirit of 76, and I think the Virginian. Besides the Virginian engine, those are in storage upstairs and I don’t feel like breaking those out.

The first set is from my grandfather, the 1479WS with all boxes present except the engine and the caboose. The other set is his Marx set, which you’ll notice is headed by a 8042- I believe he traded the original Marx engine for that engine back in the 70s but don’t know. The last set, well, it’s not “vintage” but it’s my first set from when I was 4 and besides the engine I’m not sure if we ever ran the cars(Love those industrial switchers though!)

First run Wittrock clockwork set from early post war Denmark

Nordespressen ... Copenhagen to Paris

Hand painted and lettered

Later "proper" Litho version ( also in my collection )

And Tender ...

Unfortunately I dont have the box lid for it , but it looks like this

 

Here's an interesting set that I didn't even know existed until it showed up in a collection of mostly Lionel tinplate stuff that I'm handling for our model railroad club (NSMRC).  IT's American Flyer HO.  Although I converted to HO in 1949, I was unaware of AF HO.  

After some research, I found this exact set in the AF catalog for 1938.  It is set "HO 100 4 Car Freight Train".  The locomotive has an AC motor with spur gears, later replaced by a permag motor with worm/gear drive.

I believe this was the first set that AF made with two-rail track.

 

This set is 1928-30 vintage standard gauge Outfit No. 352E.  It's a passenger train with all original boxes.  The 10E has a Bild-a-Loco motor.  My uncle was the original owner.  In 1950, I has switched to HO model raIroading and lost interest in my extensive Lionel O gauge.  My uncle wanted trains that he could add to for my much younger cousins, so I swapped him my O gauge for the standard gauge set.  

This train was a Christmas feature in the Laughlin household for 40 years, now with 70 feet of track making a loop through three rooms..

1949 675 passenger set with red tin cars

Here is my recently acquired Lionel 646 with its 6 axel Pennsylvania tender and a consist of pennsy boxcars that span from the 50’s to now. Also have the 2037 Adriatic.

120% complete ...?

OldO27collector posted:

Here is my recently acquired Lionel 646 with its 6 axel Pennsylvania tender and a consist of pennsy boxcars that span from the 50’s to now. Also have the 2037 Adriatic.

The 646 is also one of my favorite Postwar steamers. I think the 646 and the 736 are the perfect size for a classic Postwar tubular track layout. Great combination of heft and power while still very agile navigating through sharp 031 curves. They are also probably good handling 027 curves.

@mlaughlinnyc and @LIRR Steamer those are awesome sets. Love the tin!

I have a bunch, but this is the only pic I have access to at the moment - 

2533W - 1959

 

To do the first two sets I have 1/2 in each of the first two pics. then in the third pic the top three sets are actual early postwar sets also. There is two extra cars in each of the first two sets. the top one didn't come with the 6464-475 or the 6844 missile carrier. The second set didn't have the B&O Automobile boxcar 6468 or the NH boxcar 6464-425

This prewar 229 set was in the trash pile at my local junk haulers warehouse. Runs good

A fairly common set from 1951.

Steve

cpowell posted:

Here are my two sets that I took over from my brothers. The 2234W Santa Fe was purchased at Christmas 1954. My grandparents, my parents and my brothers contributed towards the purchase. (I was only 3!) I still have all of the boxes including the outer box with the $89.50 store sticker. Clearly, I don't run it anymore.

I did not know the 2020 engine and our freight cars were from a set. I was in a train store and saw the 1415WS on a shelf. The owner informed it was a set from 1946. It is on the bottom of the next picture. I would like to get a catalog photo of it. Still have most of the boxes. I do not know how we acquired all of the other pieces on the top row.

Charlie

Here are some photos of the 1946 catalog pages that include the 1415WS set.  The catalog shows an unpainted aluminum 3459, but most of the actual cars were black.  The one eBay sold listing of an aluminum was $170.  The merchandise car is shown in tuscan in the catalog, but most of the cars were silver.  The tuscan car is rare.  So the set that you have is what a buyer would have usually received.

Bill DeBrooke posted:

The Lionel set should be 1952.  The Marx set, I have no idea.

With the exception that my 671 had 'RR' under the number, that is the same set that I carried home in my lap in 1952 from Joske's in San Antonio.

...and to further make this a scene out of the 'Twilight Zone', I have that same Marx Set sitting in my office.

Lionel land sea and air gift pack. My first Lionel train set. Shocking that it wasn’t destroyed with the amount of play time this provided me. I even have the original missiles, helicopter and rocket.  The box sits safely under the layout. 

This Red Comet is my favorite of Lionel trains currently passing through my workshop.  It was headed by the short-lived 264E (1935-36 only) painted red pulling a set of the ubiquitous 603 Pullmans and 604 observation.

My Red Comet will be running on the O-27 test loop at the 3/01/2020 NETCA meet.  If I keep to my restoration plans, it will be run with new red paint at the 5/03/2020 meet.  Then it will be available for the best offer.

My favorite trains set of those that I am keeping is this 352E, first cataloged in 1930.  This was my uncle's  train set.  Around 1949 going into 7th grade, I was transitioning from playing with Lionel trains to scale model railroading in HO.  My uncle had this standard gauge set from his youth and wanted to have some trains for his kids for which he could buy more cars, etc.  So I traded him my O gauge trains for this Standard gauge passenger train.   It has worked as a Christmas display for my children and grandchildren in six houses and apartments for 50 years on loops as long as 70 ft.

Here's the view of the train that you can see entering my basement workshop.  In the foreground is the tinplate passenger car part of my 1946-49 collection - every tinplate passenger car that Lionel made in those years.

After removing the O gauge cars, we see the 10E in its current home with a train of 332, 449 and 341 passenger cars.  The 10E still runs well, after replacing a wheel that expanded a tenth of an inch due to zinc pest.

The freight cars above and the locomotives in the far background are more of my 1946-49 collection.

This set came in its original box and the individual boxes for cars and locomotive.  You can see that it has survived a flooded basement floor.