My mother-in-law found these trains in her basement, she remembers her mother having them as far back as 1958 around the Springhill area of Nova Scotia, Canada, but doesn't know anything else about them as far as the guage (although I think it is "O") or the maker and approx. how old they are.
This is what I know: There is a working light on the front of the loco and apparently at one time smoke came out of the top of the Loco and it was made in Japan and the Loco is quite heavy, but I can't seem to find the maker of this model....does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks
Paul
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
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Thanks,
A lot of that is just dirt, I would like to get them cleaned up and checked over, someone told me that they thought the loco needed new brushes so I think they would definetly be a keeper
OH, I forgot to add a pic of the power supply
palallin wrote:Well, the cars are marked "Made in Japan,", and the transformer is marked "Vancouver, B.C." I do not claim to know Mark, but neither of those--along with the absense of any Marx TM (which King Louis was NOT shy about using) makes me very skeptical. Who are the japanese timplate makers?
Now things make sense. A lot of fly by night Japaneese firms made tinplate trains. They show up frequently in quite an array of variations. They mocked or reverse engineered Lionel, Marx, and American Flyer components which explains the confusion of a Lionel looking boiler on a Marx looking motor assy. They had trouble interpreting english which explains the "Hudson Pacific System" in NYC colors. They also construed American roadnames as American railroads would excercise their liscencing on name use. The Japaneese were still considered an ex WWII enemy.
That actually does make sense, She had told me that she has no interest in selling them, but It would be kind of neat to get them operational again to see how they run.
Thanks everyone for the help
What confuses me on that set is the track is Marx, the frieght cars look like Marx but have Lionel style trucks & wheelsets.
If it is Marx it should have a circle with the letters MarX inside it or something close to that.
Has anybody checked to see that the trains are either: Ives or American Flyer from before WW2. A.F. was into making O gauge before WW2.
Lee F.
I am going to a few train shows in the next few months and I will take the Loco with me along with one piece of the track and a bunch of pics of the rolling stock, I will keep everyone abreast of any juicy details I find out.
I would suggest getting ahold of Bob Nelson "lionelsoni" from this forum. He lived in Japan and has posted some experience with early Japanese trains. Look up any informational type threads and most times, you will see him give excellent advice. Just find his post and PM him to ask advice on this thread.
Dennis
TCA#09-63805
phillyreading wrote: What confuses me on that set is the track is Marx, the frieght cars look like Marx but have Lionel style trucks & wheelsets. If it is Marx it should have a circle with the letters MarX inside it or something close to that.Has anybody checked to see that the trains are either: Ives or American Flyer from before WW2. A.F. was into making O gauge before WW2.Lee F.
It's not Marx. It's Japaneese tin. He even posted it's marked "made in Japan". The Hudson Pacific System logo confirms it. Saki along with several Japaneese firms made track that looks almost identical to Marx. It could be Marx track added to the outfit but the trains are definately Japaneese tin. Nothing in Flyer's prewar O gauge line looks close to that. Flyer made realistic O gauge trains before the war but they were S gauge trains on O gauge trucks. 3/16" O gauge it was called. Much of it was carried into the postwar S gauge line.
Japaneese tinplate operations came and went like the wind. Much like the tin toys we used to see in Airport gift shops, they came out with different stuff practically every year with no rhyme or reason to it. That is why nothing looks familiar.
BTW, they got Pacemaker right on the NYC boxcar but NYC would of raised holy hell if they Put New York Central on the logo. There was still a lot of hate toward Japan then.
It's Sakai - Japanese firm - around before and after WWII. These sets show up from time to time on E-bay
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Bob Nelson
mersenne6 wrote: It's Sakai - Japanese firm - around before and after WWII. These sets show up from time to time on E-bay
Hudson Pacific HO tender by Sakai.
http://cgi.ebay.com/H0-Hudson-Pacific-Tender-not-Marx-maybe-Sakai-VG_W0QQitemZ140220344122QQihZ004QQcategoryZ1558QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
I am going to take this Loco and rolling stock to a train shop to see if they can clean it up and fix any problems it may have...I am a bit excited to see if it can be fixed and to see it finally run after 30+ years.
I will let you know and then take some pics & maybe a movie to show you all
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