Hi guys,
I was hoping someone could give me some help. I have a johnson was train - ho scale that I purchased about 15 years ago. It’s packed away right now so I can’t tell you how many cars but offhand – I’d say train, tender, and 3 cars. Does anyone know where I can find any information about this set? Thanks Joella
Sounds like a sponsor set, not modeled on real life.
It sounds like you may have a TYCO train set. This was a promotional product done by Johnson Wax,and TYCO in the early/mid 1980’s. The train set consisted of a Baldwin Shark Nose diesel painted in Santa Fe’s silver and red passenger scheme,lettered for Johnson Wax.There were 3 - 50 ft. boxcars featuring Johnson Wax products consisting of Shout,(painted black)Glade-Clean’n’Clear (painted white), and Future-Pledge painted yellow),along with a red caboose with the Johnson Wax logo.Seems that if you had purchased products from Johnson Wax,and sent in the proof of purchase seals,along with some postage and handling fees,you would get the train set. There is a web site: http://tycotrain.tripod.com/tycotrains/id26.html. And by the way,if it is still in very good condition,which I’m sure it is,it IS a collectable,and could fetch big bucks if you decide to sell it,though personally I would not. Hope this helps you out.
A lot of the major companies in the '80s had special train sets made for their corporations. I had a Zenith train set that I got for free as my mom worked for a Zenith distributor. I was planning on keeping mint but when I went in the Army, she used the track and power pack for a Christmas layout. So it was no longer mint. I sold it on eBay a few years ago and got $225 for the engine and cars. I believe that is the exception rather than the morm.
A bit off topic … but Johnson Wax did have some plug door boxcars, and either Athearn or MDC had them in HO – maybe they are still available. The funny thing was the reporting marks: JWAX – a neat use of the traditional final letter “X” in freight car reporting marks.
Dave Nelson