Marx train set 52925 was a plastic postwar train set for the Canadian market, commemorating the Canadian Pacific railroad. It was a five-unit train featuring a 2-4-2 steam locomotive with a tender pulling two freight cars and a caboose.
Marx 52925 Canadian Pacific steam freight set
All of the rolling stock in the Marx 52925 train set is lettered for Canadian Pacific, which gave the set regional appeal in Canada. All of the cars have plastic tilt couplers on 8-wheel trucks. The box contained the following:
- Marx 666 2-4-2 steam locomotive
- Canadian Pacific black plastic tender
- 339234 Canadian Pacific gondola, black
- 259199 Canadian Pacific boxcar, red
- 2366 Canadian Pacific caboose, red
- 2890 whistling station
- 8 027 curved track sections
- 4 O27 straight track sections
- 1209 or 1239 50-watt transformer
The set included a tin lithographed train station to give the train something to run around. The station operated on batteries, rather than getting power from the transformer.
If you have one of these sets and you’d like to see it running again, I have some tips. Here’s how I go about setting up a Marx train set. I also have tips for servicing the locomotive and the model 1209 transformer.
Marx may have sold this set more than one year, but an ad from Eaton’s from 1957 exists. Since the Canadian Pacific gondola and boxcar in the set have 12-1956 build dates, this set cannot predate 1956. The original price of the Marx 52925 train set may have varied somewhat, but Eaton’s sold the set for $25 in 1957.
Eaton’s was Canada’s largest department store chain, existing from 1869 to 2002. It went bankrupt in 1999 and merged with Sears Canada.
The significance of 1957
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Marx released a Canadian Pacific-themed set in 1957. Electric trains were a huge craze in the years following World War II, but demand started to slow in the mid 1950s. Making regionally appropriate train sets rather than expecting everyone to like the New York Central was a logical move to try to keep train sales brisk.
Since the 52925 set isn’t common, it’s easy to conclude the effort wasn’t successful. But keep in mind Canada’s population in 1957 was about 16.6 million, about 10 percent that of the United States. So it would make sense that a train set built for a smaller market would be less common.
What was the Canadian Pacific?
The Canadian Pacific was/is a Class 1 railroad in Canada first incorporated in 1881. Headquartered in Calgary, it served seven provinces in Canada, stretching from Montreal to Vancouver and as far north as Edmonton, and also reaching Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, and Albany in the United States.
The Canadian Pacific acquired the Kansas City Southern in 2023, so the successor railroad is now called Canadian Pacific Kansas City.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.