I don't know much aabout this set except that it is qquite desirable so I will let the picture speak for itself.
For over ten years I kept this site purely Marx and did not even mention the name Lionel in these pages. I did this because I felt that Marx train collecting had finally arrived on the scene and Marx collectors deserved a site of their own without the contagion of the "holy name, Lionel". I was quite tired of the derision and condescension which many Lionel collectors felt was their right and duty to heap upon us "untermensch" train collectors (why don't you collect s omething with value, they'd say?). But now the bloom is off the rose. The vaunted "Lionel" has been thrown down from the heavens and stripped of its saintly status. The Train Collector Association regularly features Marx trains on the cover of its quarterly and other publicaations have taken notice as well. And now (thanks to the business tactics of K-Line) Lionel Trains is actually offering for sale trains made from Marx molds! That's right, some K-Lionel cars are actually re-issues of Marx postwar plastic trains. The Marx 333 lives on as the Circus train engine, and the 1998 switch diesel has survived as the UP 1103.
Louie Marx never wanted Lionel (else he'd have bought it) and Lionel could never compete with Marx at the inexpensive end of the market. But now the haughtiness of the Lionel purist is a thing of the past because Lionel sells Marx!
I can't stop laughing at he irony of it.
To his credit, Paul Wassermann is one of the first serious and well known Lionel train collectors (past President of the TCA) to openly collect and show Marx trains. It was obvious that many Lionel purists were secretly snatching up Marx for several years but few would admit it. Face it, it was train collecting heresy to collect Marx for many years, even as late as the mid nineties! Today it's acceptable in most circles. Tomorrow it will be preferred!