This set would not really be considered rare but finding a very nice boxed example is not easy. I have a copy of an ad from a 1940 McKenzie catalog showing this set. It is priced at $5.95 which is the price shown on the reciept in my box. This is, without doubt, one of the nicest Marx passenger sets. Chromed front on the red Mercury, red stripe litho tender, lighted coaches, and the dual lighted observation bringing up the rear! Any working class kid in 1940 would have been happy finding this set under the tree on Christmas morning. I purchased the set from a visitor to my website who had given it to her son many years ago. He did not want it anymore (lucky for me), and judging by the condition, he didn't much want it then!

For the collector who doesn't have one, the lighted coaches have a switch on the side between the frame and body to energize the bulb. The dual lighted observation (light inside the body and one in the drumhead) is fairly hard to find. Most Marx lighted passenger sets had an observation with solid windows and only a lighted drumhead. Newer collectors often believe the observations have been switched.

Again, a beauty of a set in an ordinary box.

Red Mercury Passenger Set-number

The box end showing the number. I believe it is 3886M.