The Marx/Allstate steam freight train set number 9610 was an steam freight train set featuring a plastic steam engine pulling plastic freight cars with 4 wheels and fake trucks to make them look like 8 wheels. It replaced earlier sets Marx made for Sears like the 9644, replacing metal cars with plastic. It was similar to the 9611 set, replacing the diesels with steam.
Marx steam type electrical train set 9610
The set consisted of a Marx 400 locomotive and tender and unnumbered caboose lettered for the New York Central, a storied railroad that covered the mid-Atlantic and Great Lakes region of the United States.
The engine and caboose flanked the following 4-wheel plastic cars to make a five-unit set:
- Erie flat car, maroon, with tractor load, unnumbered
- 9553 Allstate Motor Oil single-dome tank car, blue
A 25-watt transformer provided power, a further indication of the cheapening of the set. Similar sets from previous years had a 50-watt transformer. The 9610 did still come with a loop of wide-diameter O34 track in the form of 8 curved sections and two straight sections. This gave a bigger loop of track than Marx typically delivered with its 4-wheel plastic sets. This made it a good second electric train set. This was because a smaller set with an O27 loop could be set up inside the O34 loop and both trains could run together on separate loops.
If you have one of these sets and you’d like to see it running again, I have some advice on setting up a Marx train set.
What was the New York Central?
The New York Central was a railroad that served the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. It connected New York City and Boston to Chicago and St. Louis via cities like Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Rochester, and Syracuse. Most of the major population centers in the late 1940s would have recognized the New York Central.
The New York Central existed from 1953 to 1968. Today, most of what once was the New York Central is now part of CSX.
Marx lettered a lot of trains for the New York Central. In the 1960s, railroad merchandising wasn’t the big business it was today. Marx approached several railroads early on asking for rights to use their names. New York Central was one railroad that agreed with few conditions. Marx didn’t want to pay royalties and didn’t want to commit to giving the railroad a bunch of sets.
Other Marx sets lettered for the New York Central include 4205, 4218, 9605, 9624, and 52875.
Value of Marx train set 9610
Sears sold the 9610 set for $9.84 in 1960. The locomotive, tender, and caboose are all really common, but the Erie flat car with tractor load is not. Neither is the tank car. I haven’t seen one sell recently but would expect one of these to sell for $75 or more in reasonable condition.
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.