toy train identity - O

[dafish]

I have an O train set with 999 on the locomotive and various cars that are tabbed sheet steel and looks like screened with NY Central etc.  Made in USA looks like from the '50s. I cannot find a mfg.  Question is what is it and when?

 Thanks

[mersenne6]

 Sounds like Marx.

[dafish]

Can I send you a photo?

[sir james I]

It is Marx the metal trains were made until the gov. declared it was not safe for children, where have we heard that before? Anyway later Marx trains were made with plastic cars. It will run on lionel type track but as you can see the couplers are different.

[Dave Farquhar]

Marx's trademark was the letters "MAR" in a circle with a big "X" going through the circle. Most likely you'll find it placed inconspicuously somewhere on the locomotive and on some of the cars. It may be stamped onto the bottom of the car in some cases.

I agree that it's almost certainly Marx. The 999 was one of Marx's most common locomotives, and of the manufacturers making lithographed trains in the 1950s, Marx was the most common by a long shot. Not only that, Marx was extremely fond of the New York Central.

The 999 and the 3/16 scale cars it was most frequently sold with started production around 1940, resumed after WWII in 1945 or 46, and continued into the mid/late 1950s.

As plastic got less and less expensive, Marx phased out metal cars (commonly referred to as "tinplate") in favor of plastic, although Marx continued to use stamped tinplate in some sets into the early 1970s. Marx's safety standards were good enough that they were able to continue it that long, but I think it was 1972 or so when it became impractical to comply with the newer safety standards. But it had a good run; Marx's 6-inch tin was produced for almost 40 years.