This past weekend, I was reading an issue of CTT from 1994/95 time frame, and happened upon an article about making an under the tree layout. The train on that layout was an O gauge 3 rail Polar Express. The cars looked amazingly like the ones in the current Lionel set, but the locomotive looked like a K-Line Pacific. Many of the buildings were noted as being K-Line, but no mention of the train set’s manufacturer was made.
Did K-Line make a Polar Express set 12 years ago?
Jim
What you probably saw was a K-Line set of Erie Lackawanna heavyweights made around that time. The PE color scheme is pretty close to EL’s and these may have been custom decorated.
Only Lionel has made the Polar Express–the one seen in the movie and book–in O gauge.
I don’t think any O gauge set was made prior to the Lionel one, but Bachmann made a G scale version of the train a number of years ago. It had an 1800’s 4-6-0 and wooden passenger cars-certainly a far cry from the train depicted in the book and movie! I believe the set included a copy of the book and a sleighbell.
I remember that article. What you saw was a K-line Pacific based on the Marx 999 and a set of Williams Lacawanna Madisaon cars. It made a nice representation of the Polar express for the time.