Help with Hafner train info

[railfan23]

I just purchased what appears to be a Hafner set but am unsure if it is complete. It contains a 1010 green/copper engine and tender, 1010 silver/red tank car, 13877 green/red hopper, 3057 red caboose, 1 90 degree cross over, 4 straight tracks and 12 curved track. I have found little info in the O'brien book with these items or info on ebay. I am interested in when it was produced, is it complete and what its current value maybe. It has some play wear, track is dirty, still needs to be cleaned and the wind up mech does work. I have no plans to sell it. All help is greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.

[Anonymous]

I would imagine that your set is complete. Hafner made sets with literally dozens of different combinations of cars, ranging from 3-10 cars in a set. To collect every variation of every Hafner set would be a lifetime's work. So, even if your set had a couple of more cars originally, what you have would still be a representation of an original, complete Hafner set. From your description, all the pieces in your set are matching and certainly do go together. As far as when it was produced, it would date from the late 1930's to the early 1940's.

A tip is to carefully look over your train to see if there is any use of recycled tin. Examine the insides and undersides of the pieces and even the bottoms of the ties on the track. See if any of the tin is coloured or has any markings on it. If so, the train definitely dates from the early 40's just before production had to stop for the war. This is because materials were scarce due to the war. Sometimes this is ovbious, such as seeing the logo from a Pepsi can on the underside of the train (which I'm sure you would have noticed), but other times it's not (ex: the inside of a wheel is coloured). Of course, it could still date from the early 40's even if there isn't any recycled tin, but it's somthing that you should always look for on any prewar Hafner items you might see.

[railfan23]

Thanks for what to look for. I checked the bottom of the track and cars and nothing has recycled metal on the undersides.