???Antique Trains???

[Anonymous]

I have been searching all over the internet for antique train information. What i need exactly is an appraisal on a train i have. The train is made by MAR toys. It says Rock Island 99 on the engine and Rock Island 17858 on the side of the Cabooos. I know for a fact that it was made prior to 1965-66. If anyone can help me or give me a site to some information on whats this train is worth i would appriciate it. Thank You. [:)]

[Big_Boy_4005]

Sounds like a Marx train. The logo that you saw had a circle with an X through it and said MAR?

Without a photo of the trains themselves, it is difficult to give you an exact value. Are these trains plastic or metal? There are people who collect Marx trains, but not very many, since a lot were made, and the quality in the later years of production had seriously declined.

The type of coupler on the trains is a good indication of when they were made. Are they plastic? Are they thin and "V" shaped? Were there any pieces other than the engine and caboose?

Please don't get your hopes up that you have something of great value. My first train set was a Marx set from 1965, and it ended up in the trash, though I still have fond memories of it.

Knowing what to search for is tricky on the internet.... try this http://mywebpages.comcast.net/marxtin/site/marxtin.htm

[Anonymous]

Well, I am a Marx collector so I do know what it is you have. The engine is a Marx E7 type diesel. Marx manufacturered the Rock Island E7 from 1958-1974 In diesel engines like this there are A and B units. A units are regular engines with a cab on them. B units look like the engine but a straight on both ends and don't have a nose or cab on them. In real life the railroads used these on trains so they could have the power of more than one engine without the need of actually needing a place for the engineer to sit. The Marx Rock Island E7's were never sold just as a single engine. They were wither sold as an A-B or A-B-A set. In both cases only one A unit has a motor in it. The others are what we call "dummy engines" because they are there just to look like more engines are pulling the train and dont have a motor in them.

So, as far as value goes this is what they're worth:
RI E7 A unit (powered): $35 good, $70 excellent
RI E7 B unit (dummy): $40 good, $75 excellent
RI E7 A unit (dummy): $40 good, $80 excellent

The caboose is of the Marx 8-wheel plastic variety of cars. There were two different Rock Island caboose with this number. The first is a regular caboose with a cupola (lookout cab) on the roof. The other kind is a bay window caboose, which has a flat roof and lookout portions coming out of the sides. The regular caboose is worth $10 good, $20 excellent and the bay window caboose is worth $30 good, $60 excellent.

I imagine that there are other cars in the set as well. Marx made a large variety of different trains that have different values. If you tell me what the other cars are I can give you values on them as well.