Wow that tranformer and the flag man realy doo look russian.
Just what any post war set needs a cold war add on.
Those are easier to find now than 20 years ago, but still far far from common. The price is usually pretty steep as well. I have part of that set, the engine, boxcar, flatcar and one coach as well as one block signal. The engine is missing its motor though. I “intend” to someday put either a lionel or AF prewar motor in it so I can at least run it since its so unusual. That asking price is more than 20 times what I paid for the “parts” I have.
Now to me this set has always been one that seems to fall in as the type of set MTH might reproduce. It would only reqiure one large casting for the shell as it is made of two identical halves and all the engine wheels are the same ( I think).
The Toy Train Museum in Strasburg, PA. has an example of Russian O Gauge. I believe it is complete from the carrying case to the accessories.[2c]
Holy Cr_pski! Very cool, looks like prewar Lionel or something? But that price is pretty insane! I’m sure some collector will really enjoy it with deep pockets - or maybe a club somewhere will pool there money? I wonder what kind of power corrections would be required?
The train and accessories will operate on Lionel track. The transformer is not compatible with US household current. Too bad it could not be mass produced, it would make a great conversation piece.[:D]
“[Block-post N1](http://cgi.ebay.com/Electrical-RAILROAD-Train-SET-1960s-Extremely-RARE_W0QQitemZ390016705451QQcmdZViewItemQQptZModel_RR_Trains?hash=item390016705451&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A1|29#Post N1) (assistant station-master) - When the train comes nearer to a post - assistant station-master lifts-up right hand holding machine gun and shoots passengers.”
[(-D]
In “All Aboard” Ron Hollander noted that the USSR often didn’t recognize foreign patents, so they felt free to copy US or other western products like Lionel to create products to be sold within the Soviet Union.
It is nice, but I am a bit suprised it is labelled C-7 “excellent” as it is not. The gateman’s chimney is missing a piece, the roofs are all scratched, and looks like a fair bit of wear and tear. Again, it is nice, but not “excellent” which the price would seem to indicate.
dennis
There are a number of interesting things about the set.
The set came with a very specific instruction sheet and a wiring harness. Each piece of track (switches and bridge too) has a small metal tag with a number riveted on the underside. The reason for all of this was that, based on the instructions, there was ONE way to put the set together and the numbers were there to insure that you had put the set together exactly as specified.
The gateman has a green, not red lantern and he is, as noted, an almost perfect copy of the Lionel version with the exception of the lack of a cross buck. The steel stampings for the gateman mic out to a little over twice the thickness of the steel used in the Lionel version. I have one of the gatemen and many years ago I put it in a Lionel box and took it with me to a local gathering of train nuts. One of the guys was really into #45 variations. When I arrived we sat around for awhile and then I casually mentioned I had found a #45 variation I didn’t think anyone had ever seen. The guy who collected the #45 just sort of rolled his eyes and shook his head. I handed him the box. The look on his face when he pulled the Moskabel station out of the #45 prewar box was something to see. It took him several minutes to realize he’d been had.
There are variations. The set offered is from the post Stalin period and it has the later bridge. The engine in the earlier version was painted green.
A great place for a very thorough discussion of the Russian trains can be found at Dave’s Trains
http://www.davestrains.com/sovfaqs.html
One final item - the comment about the machine gun. Back in the 1950’s (when
I have one of the passenger cars in my collection, it is a bit bigger than most of my O-27 fleet (width and height). The car is very simple and rugged to say the least.
I would have to check which issue it is, but there is an article on the Russian train set in CTT, I believe it was the same issue that had an article on the “Scout” type locomotive.
Definitely an interesting set, but to see one intact is so rare, which is why it is so much.