Marx Allstate train set 9725

Last Updated on March 9, 2024 by Dave Farquhar

Marx train set 9725, also known as Allstate train set 9725, was an unassuming low end electric train set Marx produced for Sears starting in 1967.

Allstate train set 9725

Set 9725 was lettered for the New York Central railway, and the humble but hard-working 490 locomotive pulled The consist. It was a four-wheel plastic set, making up a basic four unit train that Sears could sell for less than $10. In later years, Marx substituted a Penn Central tender and caboose, as Penn Central was the successor to the New York Central.

It consisted of the following:

• 490 locomotive
• New York Central or Penn Central tender
• 715100 New York Central gondola, blue
• Unnumbered New York Central or Penn Central caboose, orange

Rounding out the set was a 25-watt transformer and a circle of 8 pieces of O27 track. Sears called it an 84-inch circle in its catalog description, but that’s the circumference. That’s marketing for you.

Set 9725 was very much a starter set, and Sears sold it at a rock-bottom $9.88. That’s $89.96 in 2023 dollars, so this set wasn’t as cheap as it sounds. But compared to set 9816 on the same page, it was about $5 less. It was also about half the price of the cheapest Lionel set.

Marketing strategy

Sears sold this Marx set under its Allstate brand, a common arrangement for the two companies. Marx and Sears hoped a child would receive this set as a gift, ideally with a bit of add-on track (sold on the same page), fall in love with trains, and graduate to a more expensive set in subsequent years. The cars may or may not be compatible, but the engine and track would work with a new set, and an inventive relative could swap some couplers around so the old set would work with the new set.

If you see one of these sets containing more than 8 pieces of track in the box, it indicates someone bought extra track with the set. The extra track fit in the box, but didn’t come with it from the factory.

Value of Allstate set 9725

As for the value of set 9725 today, I would estimate it at $25-$35. Nothing in the set is rare. Sears sold this set in big numbers, and nearly every other retail chain had a similar set they sold in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The most valuable item in the set is the 490 locomotive, which is worth around $10.

Marx and the Penn Central

Marx lettered a number of steam sets with the Penn Central name, such as the 4351, 4965, and 21337M. But Penn Central never ran steam locomotives. The New York Central retired its steam engines in 1953, and the Pennsylvania was the last of its predecessor companies to retire its steam engines, having done so in 1957. That means parents who bought Marx train set 9725 were buying them for kids who probably never saw steam engines in operation. Marx’s Mohawk set, number 41850, was a better depiction of what Penn Central actually ran.