Bing Clockwork Set #5120?

[zubillaga]

Happy New Year everyone!!! I've been lurking on this site for about a year now and have obtained all kinds of good info from Big Boy, Buckeye, Chief, Spankybird and many many more. Last night my brother-in-law showed me a train set he inherited from his father,and altho it's a clock work set, I figured someone here would know something about it or know where to find out some info. The set box has a large #5120 stamped on the side and the top says "Bing Clockwork Miniature Railroad System". The loco just says Bing below the cab windows and the tender has the number 1012 in white on the side. There are two tinplate pulmans marked for the "Pennsylvania Lines" both numbered 516 and a U S Mail car "Pennsylvania Lines" numbered 501. The track ties are marked "Patent G B Bavaria" and there are 6 cardboard cutouts of what appears to be WWI soldiers wich may or may not have come with the set. The set is in pretty good condition since my brother-in-law wasn't allowed to play with it as a kid [:(] Anyway if anyone knows anything about this set or where to continue looking, the info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and Happy training in 2005.

Slim

[Dave Farquhar]

"GB" trademarks and "Bavaria" tend to be indicative of pre-WWI Bing. A capital "B" with a sideways "W" next to it and a mark of "Germany" indicates something made between the two wars.

[mersenne6]

The cars, tender and engine you list could have been made anytime between 1912 and 1928. As Dave noted you may be able to narrow it down a bit more by looking at the hallmark. Gebruder Bing Nuremberg (GBN) with the G,B, and N inside a diamond shape is thought to be the earlier hallmark. The stylized B lying face down and nestled in a W (for Bing Werke) is thought to be used after about 1920. The BW logo can also be found in conjunction with KB trademark on trains from the early 30's. Bing was a very large exporter of trains to the U.S. and Canada and it was probably the most focused of the European toy train makers when it came to fidelity to American outline style of engines and cars.

It is known that the graphics for the Bing freight cars (with the exception of the reefers) were taken directly from pictures in the 1903 ACF catalog. The passenger cars came in two sizes of 4 wheel and two sizes of 8 wheel cars. The litho treatment could be either Pennsy, NYC, CP, CM&StP, or Erie.

The number 1012 was used on every size of Bing O gauge tender.

I suspect the cardboard cutouts were not part of the original set.