Marx train set 52844 was an electric train set from Marx from 1955. It featured arguably Marx’s second-best steam locomotive pulling deluxe 8-wheel plastic freight cars, lettered for the Santa Fe.
Marx stream line steam type electrical train 52844
Set #52844 was an upper midrange set as far as Marx trains go. It featured a 2-4-2 diecast locomotive with smoke, and it could pull a much longer train than what came in the box.
Marx lettered this set for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (ATSF, or Santa Fe) railroad, teaming up its diecast 666 locomotive and a plastic tender with deluxe 8-wheel plastic cars.
It consisted of the following:
- 666 diecast 2-4-2 steam locomotive with headlight, smoke, and reverse
- 1951 Santa Fe plastic tender (unnumbered)
- 51170 Erie gondola with hollow diamond, moveable ends, black
- 249319 Marlines boxcar with man in door, red
- 4427 ATSF caboose, red
- 5 telephone poles
- unloading platform
- uncouple here sign
A 50-watt transformer, model 1249, and 12 pieces of O27 track rounded out the set. It also included instruction sheets IS-262 and IS-264. Robert Whitacre documented this set on page 100 of Greenberg’s Guide to Marx Trains, Vol. 3: Sets.
Based on the presence of the 249319 boxcar, I thought this set dates to either 1955 or 1959. Marx collector Paul Slavens told me the hollow Erie diamond on the gondola and the high trucks indicate 1955. So this particular set requires more than one clue to zero in on the date.
If you have one of these sets and want to get it running again, I have some tips for setting up Marx trains.
What was the ATSF railroad?
The ATSF, or Santa Fe, was a Class 1 railroad in the western half of the United States. Founded in 1859, many of its tracks were laid directly over the wagon ruts of the Santa Fe trail. It reached the states of California, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Illinois, eventually operating 13,115 miles of track.
In 1983, the Santa Fe attempted unsuccessfully to merge with the Southern Pacific, but the Interstate Commerce Commission denied it on the basis it would create too many duplicate routes. The Santa Fe ended up merging with the Burlington Northern Railroad in 1995, forming what we now call the BNSF Railway.
Marx produced a lot of sets lettered for the Santa Fe, including 26259 for Montgomery Ward, 55950 for Spiegel and W.T. Grant, the treasured 25760 Allegheny, the 4362 Cannonball from 1974, and, of course, anything featuring the big tin litho #21 diesels like set #45225 and 9640.
Positioning
Marx positioned this set as a value-oriented set. The 666 locomotive was a 2-4-2 like Lionel put in a typical entry-level Lionel Scout set. But where the Lionel engine had a headlight and forward and reverse, Marx gave you smoke. The Marx engine could also pull more than the Lionel engine. And where Lionel provided fixed couplers, Marx provided automatic couplers. For a comparable or somewhat lower price, Marx gave you more capability, and the train and more of the cars were lettered for real railroads than in a Lionel set.
Value
I frequently get questions about the value of old Marx train sets. As for the value of set 524844 today, I would estimate it at around $150 if it’s complete and in nice condition. The two deluxe freight cars aren’t especially common, so they push the value of the set up a bit. The ends on the gondola flip up, which means they can be removed and sometimes they are missing. Reproductions are available, but missing ends decrease the value of the gondola considerably.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.