Great to see the Frisco herald on these old trains!
I am not one to insist upon realism in tin toys, but I do like the use of real heralds to produce the colors and patterns that make old litho so cool.
[Note: the word colors in the previous sentence is there to replace the singular form which this forum’s inane software will not permit.]
Northwoods and El_Fixes - according to my acquisition records I got the first of this Ives series in 1994 and the last in 2022 - so 28 years on the hunt…and still looking because there are a couple of variations of these cars which differ from the offering - the main difference being the basic car color. I have found examples of these but none of them were in the condition I wanted. As for the catalog illustration, it is from the 1926 catalog.
While it took some time to build the collection photographing the cars was easy - I took all of the pictures yesterday. For some time I’ve wanted to present the cars in this form - one place where you can see all of them and with images big enough so a person can save them for future reference.
One aspect of the Ives offerings which I find interesting is the combination of “fact” with “fiction” to make a product that would appeal to a boy or girl at that time. The “facts” were the railroad heralds and the “fiction” was the choice of bright car colors to attract the eye of the carpet central magnate.
It is worth noting there were two and possibly 3 Ives cars which were almost all “fact” and very little “fiction”. The Union Line car was very close to the prototype and the Merchant Despatch Transportation (MDT) car was an exact copy. My guess is these two prototypes were so colorful Ives figured there was no point in changing anything.
The other car which might follow the prototype is the Rock Island. I haven’t been able to find a picture of a Rock Island reefer from the period but the graphics are a match for the graphics of pictures of other railroad cars from that time. The only issue would be the car color. The dominate colors for real reefers of the period were yellow, orange, and white.
The Frisco version is pretty doggone close.
Great idea! 
That is amazing 
Here is the #1813 Baggage that goes with the train above,
It has taken me a long time to find a decent example of this car, and even this one is not in the best of shape. Perhaps one day I will upgrade it.
This is set No. 1800 from 1931-1932
Photos from the Ives Train Society website. (Used with permission).
I wonder if there were other boxed sets that contained the other two cars.
Enjoying the World’s Greatest Hobby
Northwoods Flyer
I have a book with IVES’ set lists but it’s all by the numbers. If you have all of the car and loco numbers I can look up the corresponding set numbers.
Becky,
What resource book do you have?
I have the engine 1810, 2 - 1811s, 1 - 1812, and 1 - 1813. They were all individual purchases. I was just wondering in what combinations this equipment was sold as sets.
Northwoodman Flyer 
It’s a 1999 Krause Publications printing, edition 5. I also have the 3rd and 4th editions. For non Lionel products these 3 are the best references I have outside the Internet.
The sets are listed by year so since you mentioned 1931-32 that’s where I looked first. I don’t see any 1800 series listed prior to 1931.
Notice also that IVES assigned the same set numbers each year to sets with different consists.
Thanks Becky,
It provides some great information on the sets these cars might have been included in. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for the Krause Publications books.
Northwoodsman Flyer
It went up to a 6th edition. Random House owns the Krause brand now but they don’t have it in stock.
Do these have much information on Marx?
Here is a smaller Ives station that also has great lithography. One of the #114 station variations.
Mine is a little rough, but still a great example.
Ya gotta love the details that got worked into the art. There is attention to prototypical architecture, correctness of clothing and facial hair, and enough color to attract the eye.
There’s a lot. Editions 1 through 4 were written, researched and edited by Richard O’Brien and have differences from edition to edition. (I used to check editions 1 & 2 out of the library all the time.). Edition 5 was edited by Elizabeth A. Stephan and has less photos of some manufacturer’s products than the previous editions, most notably the IVES section which used to credit the “History of IVES” article to collector and expert Terry Amadon. I’ve yet to see the 6th edition which was edited by David Doyle.
Here’s the table of contents from Edition 3 copyright 1991:
This demonstrates the layout of the MARX listings in general:
Pricing of course is not accurate for 2025 of course, but even in black and white these are a fairly comprehensive accounting of item styles if nothing else. Pre Internet these books were invaluable.
Here’s the table of contents for the 5th Edition which, unbelievably, has things in both alphabetical order and shows you at a glance that the MARX section is 64 pages in total:
By the way, since these were plain paper paperback volumes as opposed to the full color glossy pages we’re more accustomed to today in guidebooks, I used them as a personal catalog for the items I collected.
Not the ones borrowed from the library of course
Thank you @pennytrains this is wonderful. I have the Greenberg Marx in PDF, but am always looking for more info on all brands, because as I’m sure you know it’s FUN
Here is an example of an Ives #115 Freight station.
Hmmm, I don’t seem to have a photo in the archive of the other end of the station to show the lithography. I wonder if both sides/ends are the same. The station is still packed away.
Enjoying the World’s Greatest Hobby
Northwoods Flyer
Love the detail!
Here is an example of the black #11I25. It is sometimes called the Black Vagabond. According to the Ives Train Society site it came in only one cataloged freight set. (The photo they show of the set has the Blue Vagabond engine.)
They Ives Train Society lists this engine as heading up one of their “Special” sets. I got the engine with this tender but I believe that it should have a different tender (type 17) with the round Ives sticker and a snake pull coupler.
As usual I assembled a representative set.
The cars are actually Lionel/Ives transition cars from approximately 1930.
Notice the solid frames (which are Lionel) snake pull couplers and brass journal trucks.
This is a picture from the Ives site that shows a boxed example of this set.
Another photo of a Montgomery Ward Special from the Ives site with their description:
Referred to as the ‘Black Vagabond’ by some collectors - this set is basically a black 1125 from 1930 with three orange cars in the 129/130 series with the Lionel base on them. Everything in the set is like equipment that could have been purchased from the 1930 Ives catalog. Just this particular set was not cataloged.
One last shot of my assembled set.
Enjoying the World’s Greatest Hobby
Northwoods Flyer
