Sunday I picked up a pair of #56 M & St. L Mine Transport switchers. One had a broken and repaired strut and the other has both struts intact. When I picked them up, I thought the one with the solid struts had been stripped of it's markings. I was finally able to look at them closely tonight.
The one with the broken strut has the lettering heat stamped into it. The other one shows NO signs of ever having been heat stamped on either side nor even any indication of red lettering. Both units appear identical in body color and railings. The only other difference that I see is that the stamped engine has solid rivets holding on the railings and on the non-stamped engine the rivets appear hollow.
Has anyone seen a #56 Mine Switcher with no heat stamping? I would suspect this could be counterfeit or some sort of reproduction but don't understand the purpose. I've included pictures below.
