What do I have?

Would like some history on a cast iron train engine. It is 26"long x 8"wide x 10"high. I remember as a child sitting on it with my feet on the sides, hanging onto the smoke stack - my brother would give me a push and I would glide down the side walk in front of our home. What I don’t know is where it came from and what it’s purpose was. A friend told me he saw one on a TV flea market show. They told this person that it was a childs riding toy made in Rock Island, Illinois by a My Buddy company. It has no markings.

What you might have is a Buddy L engine. Buddy L was a toy company that made a very large train back in the 1930’s that was strong enough even for an adult to sit on. There were quite a few different freight cars made to go with it (boxcars, tank cars, gondola cars, flatcars, cattle cars, cranes, cabooses, etc.). The train wasn’t motorised, but it did have a track to be pushed on. Today these a trains are prized by collectors and worth a great deal of money. A website with an interesting story about how a colelctor found one including a picture of the train is www.train99.com/howto/finds/finds1.html . Is this the train you have?

We’re curious!! IS IT??!! IS IT???!!