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| Last updated on January 13, 2021
Professor Carp thinks that Marx beat the giants - find out why in this episode.
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another great edition Prof Carp!! I inherited my Uncle’s trains, and with them were some Marx trains I never knew he had, including the crane. It is a great piece.
Great video. I prefer this type of short and sweet report rather than long, drawn out reports. My first train set was Marx in the late 1940s. I progressed to Lionel and then American Flyer. Now, as editor of the NASG Dispatch magazine, I would love to see more s gauge stuff here.
Marx really had a great product for a low cost! I have come to appreciate them in the last few years.
Hi Roger,
Even though I'm deep into Lionel (as you know), I have always appreciated Marx, for their ingenuity, solid construction and great prices. I don't have much Marx, but I really like what I have. My roster includes the Sears Happy Set with the 999 steamer, a great runner. I also have the UP silver articulated passenger set in the box. I will say that your comments on the Marx crane are right on. The addition of the light makes this car very useful for those nighttime operations. That is why when I put together my Lionel work train years ago, I included: 1615 0-4-0 swithcher, searchlight car, most assuredly, not the rotating head model, which i felt is useless for night work, a 6462 gondola, the crane car andof course, the wrecker caboose. Now that's a work train! Great work, Roger, keep 'em coming! Don Coghlan
Roger, I really enjoy your segments. Keep them coming. I am a Lionel guy mostly but I got a simple MARX set at a flea market 30 years ago that I would not let go. I fell in love with trains 50 years ago. Run almost everything I have. Postwar Steam locos are my favorite and still pick one up from time to time. Enjoy the History. Thank you
Absolutely correct on this the Marx Crane car. An aficionado of Marx since my 1st set in 1952 Christmas , still running Louis's products today. An F-7 estern Pacific just got wrapped up for next winter session . ty keep up the great presentations.
Roger , I've been around a long time and I didn't know Marx had a crane car , very interesting ! However , I'm afraid I'm a Lionel Man and always will be .
As far as Video's go , you have nothing to worry about , from what I've seen to date you are the most professional ! Best to you , Oilburner Jim
Great piece Roger! Had no idea Marx made a crane car!
Wouldn't work on my MILFORD & BRIDGEWATER. Too many tunnels and bridges to pass under.
COOL
NEVET SAW ONE
Thanks for not forgetting MARX. I run only MARX trains, two of them, bot 999 sets, one from 1949 and one from 1951. Both work like champs. The think the trains and accessories are top quality and have more realism. Keep up the good work.
I wonder if MTH and the other Producers watched your video. It would nice see more lights and automation on the various cranes.
Enjoyed the information and thought it was informative. Keep up the good work.
This article is very good and quite surprising. Why would Marx produce a crane car that appears on par with Lionel and AF products when most of their postwar items were, to my recollection, more cheaply made, lithographed tin products?? Another question that comes to mind is the couplers – I recal Marx couplers as being simple hook-and-slot affairs, not knuckle couplers. That would seem out of character on a car of this quality!
Roger, Roger think like the marketing manager at Lionel or Flyer. Their customer's night time crane car work scenes can be illuminated just as well. But you had to buy two of their cars to do that – their crane car AND their searchlight car! Better sales make happier companies.
Had the chance to visit with Roger at York last October and told him that I thought he had short-changed Marx in his book. I'm glad to hear his most appropriate comments about Marx's crane car. While it's true that Marx produced toys that were inexpensive, do not for a minute believe that they were "cheap toys." Louis Marx wanted to produce toys that would be durable and represent excellent value for the money spent. I think he succeeded very well indeed. I got my first Marx train set for Christmas in 1950 and it is still in excellent visual and working order.
I'd like to take exception to several of the previous statements. Regarding the comment that Marx trains ". . .were not really made to last. …", I have many sets from the '30s that operate flawlessly. I'd also like to argue that Marx's prewar 3/16 scale litho freight cars are more visually realistic than Lionel's offerings with the exception of a few die-cast freight cars. When we had to downsize, I was faced with the need to thin my collection. I elected to sell off my postwar Lionel but kept all the Marx. The sense of loss has been offset as I watch Marx values increase. I don't need to comment on postwar Lionel values!
I have one of these crane cars, one with the light and one without, I also have the lionel versions, I agree the marx crane car is the better one, the controls are also easier to operate,
Had not realized that Marx had such great detail especially that far back. Thanks to Roger for a very well-presented article.
Good video. Also good to see the car with the light on, and to see the various operating parts of the crane.
I love Roger's segments and the one about Marx was interesting. Roger showed how Marx trumped Lionel and AF on the crane car with one ups manship. However in the 1950/60's Metro NY area I grew up in, Marx was only good as a start up set and if you were anyone in your family and cared about status, then the pecking order was Lionel, AF (white wall tires on engines?), and if there wasn't enough money for this type of toy, Marx. They were inexpensively made, not really made to last and cheaper looking.
Rod
The crane car is something I've not seen before. (Didn't pay too much attention to Marx as a kid) Now, as a OLDER adult I have a better appreciation of the "play value" of Marx trains.
Great fun – The other great thing about Marx was how indestructable they were; not as detailed, less expensive, but for "play value" especially for a child, they are not to be under-estimated.
In retrospect, I regret I didn't take better care of the Marx trains I received as Christmas presents in my youth. They were windup as well as electric trains which were lithographed tinplate. To me they weren't as collectible as the Lionel trains so I never thought of them as more than toys. The crane car was quite a surprise as I remember only the tinplate items.