On this page I have shown a couple other streamliners that competed with Marx. There were many and I am only showing three. The one above is a
Hafner M10000 with the Zephyr front. This was also sold with a cast iron M10000 nose piece. Though "O" gauge these are considerably smaller
than the Marx sets and were clockwork only. Many color variations of this set were produced. Some were hideous!
This set is an American Flyer Burlington Zephyr. The actual train set is preserved in the
Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. It is well
worth going to see and if you are going from south or east make ture to stop at the Auburn, Cord,
Duesenberg Museum in Auburn, Indiana while you're at it.
This clockwork version is harder to find than the electrics. These sets make Marx look like real quality. All were inexpensive but this set
is very cheaply made. The coupling system leaves much to be disired and no doubt was a frustrauion to many little boys wanting the train to
remain coupled during operation. Flyer made several variations on this basic set including a "Comet" which was correctly produced with
power cars at each end. Not bad for inexpensive manufacture! Flyer trains were produced in Chicago.
Here is another streamliner sold contemporaneously with Marx. It is a little known Hoge No. 900 Stream Line Passenger set, also a Chicago
production. These are very well made of heavier steel and chrome plated. It is very hard to find these with the chrome plating unblemished.
I had this one restored years ago when you could still get chrome replating done at a reasonable price. I paid $100 to have this replated.
The plating was peeling off in several places.
While "O" gauge these sets are considerably larger than Marx. Hoge, while a small player in the toy train market, produced a fair number
of different train sets including some that are absolutely adorable. On my "Bucket List" is to own a Thom Thumb freight set with the pink tank
car. If you have a duplicate to sell, trade, or donate, please let me know!