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Grey Tender Set


This set has to be one of the rarest sets Marx ever produced. The grey clockwork Commodore Vanderbilt is fairly rare on it's own but the tender is down right impossible. I never believed I would own one of these but fate smiled on me. Of course lots of searching at train shows, flea markets, yard sales and auctions also had something to do with it!
All these cars have sliding tab and slot couplers. Have you ever seen the 1935 U.S. Mail car with sliding tab and slot couplers?
Now you have!

The engine and tender of this set do not match in color. As with most Marx engines this one is painted. The tender, however, is lithographed, which employs ink. It's hard to tell whether these pieces were the same color when new. The grey CV in this set is your typical clockwork, sparkling Commodore Vanderbilt. The grey tender is also the typical, stripe litho coffin tender, except the base color, of course, is grey!

Grey Tender Set Box

The box for the set is unnumbered, lightweight paper, and I love the artwork!

Grey Tender Set Box

The open box shows how Marx packaged these sets. Every other piece is in a cardstock sleeve with the track neatly tucked in so as not to touch the trains but still inexpensively. Remember, that though rare and valuable today, this was just another cheap little $1.98 clockwork set when produced.