I too have a soft spot for these cheapy battery sets.
The Toys are Us stores in San Diego have these sets. I have seen one painted for construction and one for the army.
TRU also have a similar battery powered set decorated for Caterpiller. The cars are not so interesting but the engine is a pretty good looking foreshortened GP40. These sets are $35 but the engine seems exactly the thing that everyone on this board is moaning for, a modern starter set diesel. Since it doesn’t have the right pedegree it is dismissed out of hand. Too bad some easy surgery would repower this one.
Last year and the year before Target had some battery powered sets for $10 a pop. One had a 0-6-0 that looked like it was in the shop for a new boiler jacket because all of it’s rivits were exposed. The other was a nice 1880s era 0-4-0 switcher it looks good with a General. One of the five cars in the sets was a two axle box car painted for BN. Fun stuff.
In a flea market in Mexico I found a nice RC battery powered O-scale set. It seemed the engine and cars were direct Lionel “reimaginings”. The RS3, three dome tank, a box car, and the SP type caboose round out the set. A fun part about the set is the wild copy on the cars. The engine is marked “CITY Surmount Train”. The box says "TOP Best Train Express New Country Superior Train. The best part about the set bar none is the blue plastic rail oval that has THREE RAILS! Three rails for absolutly no reason as they are plastic and the engine is battery powered.
emmaandy, It’s great to see someone else who likes these trains! I’ve lost count of how many battery operated sets I own. I’ve always been fascinated by them. That set you found in Mexico intrigues me very much. I’d love to have one! Is this the set you’re talking about?
I just found this picture yesterday when I was searching for a picture of the Goldlok Green Line Express. It comes from the website of a South African toy store chain. Talk about coincidences! Could you post any better pictures of your set?
Those qoutes from it are awesome! One of the funniest examples I can think of comes from the box of a New Ray G scale set. It reads, “BOO! BOO! THE TRAIN IS COMING! To own an exclusive railway station with a peculiar locomotive that gives sound likes a real train and a private railroad. Placing yourself in this enchanting train set will make you feel marvel.”
Old 2037, Be sure to let us know if you get a GLE set and do a conversion on it.
Wow. That’s amazing. I opened the page and started laughing because that is exactly the set I have. How funny.
Unfortunately my set box is in much worse shape (I have no camera) and it seems the plastic is not entirely stable or it was in the sun for a bit because the trucks are warped a bit as is a spot on the tank car. All of the distortion is on the side that is shown in the front. The cabboose and tank bodies seem like possible direct copies of Lionel and the Box is a copy of a PS-1 with the door closed permananty. The trucks are all new and the axels are all internal the truck frames are a facade. It is this part that is distorted on my set. The Rs3 is interesting it looks from the side like the Lionel one but when you look sriaght on or from above it is a good bit wider and has no end windows so the engineer would have to lean out to see.
Overall these are a fun inexpencive distraction. I recomend the “Train Express Railway Play Set Hot”. The # is 3306K.
For more funny copy the Caboose is marked “The Super Train The Western Express of new country new design”. The tank claims “Express best surmount train, Classic new country new design”. The markings are just stickers. The couplings are just a solid round shape that is clasped by a C. I am debaiting replacing the trucks they work but the damage looks so bad.