Cast iron cars

[Anonymous]

I have been given two cast iron cars. I have no idea how old, who made them, etc.

1. One of them is a tender. Black with "P.R.R." in raised letters on both sides painted gold. Sides are connected with spot welds and one bolt near the back interior. Car is 4" long by 2 1/2" wide by 2 1/2" overall height. The four wheels are cast in pairs on to two axles. No tread is present, so it was probably meant to be a floor/outside toy.

2. The other car is a passenger car. Again it is black with raised gold lettering reading "WASHINGTON" and "44". The number is near the doorway on both sides of the car with the Washington centered between them. Steps are painted gold for clarity. Overall size is 8" long over vestibules by 2 1/2" wide by 3 1/2" tall. Again the two sides and wheels (eight of them this time) are made as the above car. In addition there are nine windows in each side of the car with the four end windows on each side having a smaller window above it.

Neither car seems to have much wear. A bit of the gold is worn on the lettering and steps. There appear to be no cracks or worn spots. I can also find no manufacturers markings on either car.

If anyone thinks they can help me with any information concerning either or both of them, please email me.

[Anonymous]

Well, I can tell you what it is you have there. Cast iron toys of all types were very popular in North America in the later part of the 1800's and up until before the first World War. Some were made later on, but in much smaller numbers. Of these toys, many were trains. Today, these are collectors' items and quite valuable.

However, the two cars that you have are NOT old antique toys from that time period. In fact, they are probably less than ten years old. They are simply decorative pieces made to look like the old cast iron toys of log ago and were probably made in China or Taiwan. These are quite common and have little value. These would have originally come with a black engine to match the tender and two other passenger cars (one red and one green).

Just because they aren't a valuable antique, it doesn't mean that they don't look nice and aren't something that isn't interesting to display. You have some neat items there, have fun with them.