Last Updated on April 11, 2024 by Dave Farquhar
The Marx diesel freight train set number 8142 was a late 1950s electric train set featuring twin diesel locomotives pulling 6-inch freight cars. It’s an attractive set and a very good example of post-war tin lithography, which was becoming something of a lost art at the time.
Marx diesel type electrical train set 8142
The set consisted a diesel locomotive A-B lashup numbered 54 and a caboose numbered 5563 lettered for the Kansas City Southern, a Class I railroad that operated from Kansas City to points south.
The KCS diesels and caboose flanked the following 6-inch cars to make a five-unit set:
- Seaboard gondola, brown, number 91257
- Pennsylvania Merchandise Service boxcar, number varied
A 25-watt 309 transformer provided power, and it came with a loop of O27 track in the form of 8 curved sections and two straight sections. It was a good first electric train set, providing a low-cost introduction to trains.
Sears sold a similar Marx set numbered 9644. The Sears version had a bigger transformer and wide O34 track.
It was a colorful and attractive consist, and it featured a surprising degree of realism in the paint schemes, especially for such an inexpensive set. Robert Whitacre documented this set on page 42 of Greenberg’s Guide to Marx Trains, Vol. 3.
What was the Kansas City Southern?
The Kansas City Southern was a Class I railroad that connected Kansas City to Mexico and to saltwater ports in the southern United States. It had the nickname of the NAFTA railroad in its later years. It operated 3,984 miles of track. Founded in 1887, it existed for 134 years until the Canadian Pacific purchased KCS in December 2021 for $31 billion.
I’ve heard that Louis Marx chose a few regional railroads because he liked their paint schemes. As a Kansas City native myself, I’d never fault him for his choice of KCS.
Value
The Marx KCS diesels and caboose are uncommon, and the brown Seaboard gondola is much harder to find than the common red variety. So those four components drive the value of this set. The PRR boxcar, track and transformer are all common and easy to acquire. But the powered KCS diesel and the caboose can sell for over $100 on their own. So $300 or more for a boxed example of an 8142 Marx train set wouldn’t be at all out of line. Not bad for a set that originally cost less than $10.
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.