1960s Allstate electric toy train # 9619

[Anonymous]

i would like to know if the toy train i still have from my childhood is collectable and what it might be worth, the train set is in the original box sears and roebuck with 9619 on it, the track is all there but not in original box, locomotive has 1666, on it , still have a half of bottle of smoke oil, has red cattle car with fuctional door,  airforce rocket lauching car is yellow, blue gondola, and  working spotlight on caboose, the train is in 95 percent condition, not much use thankyou for any info

[jschmid]

Vertigo88,

It appears you have a Sears (Allstate) Marx outfit that appeared in Sears' 1962 and 1963 catalogs.  I'm not an expert on Marx and I'll leave that discussion for the Marx experts, but I did run accross a lot of similar Marx outfits on eBay over the years when I was doing research on my book.  The best way to find one is search for "allstate train" on eBay.  Most are listed without the outfit number.  I just did this search with the "completed listings" and four Allstate Marx outfits appeared from $8 to $49.  Once again, I'd leave it up to the Marx experts, but if it was listed for two years in the catalog, I'm assuming that Marx made a bunch of these.

Enjoy,

John Schmid - Author of the Authoritative Guide to Lionel's Promotional Outfits 1960 - 1969

Learn more at www.projectroar.com

[Dave Farquhar]

Vertigo88, the short answer to your question is yes, it does have collectible value. How much is tough to say. It will depend on the condition everything is in. But generally speaking there's always demand for a Marx box with something in it, since a lot of Marx collectors enjoy collecting sets, and they're perfectly willing to buy an incomplete set and then chase down the missing pieces (it's part of the fun).

The 1666 on its own is worth about $35. The cattle car is probably worth about $20. The gondola's not worth much (everyone who wants one has 14 of them), probably $5 and no more than $10. The rocket launching car and spotlight will be worth more but I don't have a good price guide handy. A price of $20-$30 each on those two wouldn't surprise me, but don't take that to the bank. I could be low. My estimate also could be high but I doubt it.

I usually tell people that $100 is a good starting point for a mid-range Marx set like yours, and depending on how rare or desirable the individual components are, the price can go up from there. Poor condition can knock the value down. Given the parts you listed, assuming the condition is OK, you're almost certainly at the $100 mark. Most Marx sets have most of their value tied up in one or two cars, because Marx varied its product line a lot less than Lionel did (it helped them keep their prices down).

If you want a better opinion, there's a Yahoo group where a lot of Marx collectors hang out. They're extremely helpful and tend to be pretty quick. You can find it at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MarxTrain. I know of at least two people there who should be able to help you out.

[Anonymous]

thankyou dave for all the info so quickly, my train set is complete without damage and little wear on it, no room in house, 1960s to leave track up. its a 9.5 rating on a 1 to 10 scale, i will check the site on yahoo, just thinking of letting go of some childhood toys, the train,  redline hotwheels, matchboxs, nylint steel trucks etc. all from the 60s,thanks again sincerly Nick Pavlovich in southeast michigan, [e-mail]

[cbq9911a]

The Air Force Rocket Launching car (yellow covered gondola) is rare, especially with all the parts intact.