I bought this nice boxed set today from the original owner's widow. It might have come from Quackenbush Company in Patterson NJ. There are two layaway cards for other toys in the box.
Here's the set:
The owner added a 119 tunnel and a Type A transfomer to the set. There is probably an 068 warning signal missing from the set.
The loco is a Terra cotta 248 without handrails. It comes with one of the two flags and the remains of the original 390-76 flag packet.
Loco has a later style motor with gear cover. The Greenberg book calls this a type 8 motor. :
Cars have standard frames with nickel journals and 4-wheel oil labels.
Set box is dated 1930 and has Label that says "Special 1" on end:
Box is for cataloged set 234 and dated 1930.
Here's the set box, and train boxes with train:
Here's the contents in the box. Ten sections of straight and eight curve for a nice oval. Everything fits with enough room for the boxed 068 warning signal.
I'm not sure of the correct number of straight tracks that came with the set.
Type A Transformer was sold seperatly, and came in a box is dated 1931.
The most recent Greenberg O gauge book shows this set on page 163 and again on page 165 with a loco that has handrails. This loco has a differnt pick up plate than the one shown on the loco without handrails in the book.
The 234 set from 1930 came with the three cars shown above and a 258 Steam loco and tender. I bet this set did come with all this straight track because a set with few sections of track would have fit into set box 294 which had a 252 and tyhese three cars with 4 sections of straight track.
Or maybe since the 234 set was not cataloged in 1931 Lionel was just using up left over boxes?
Neat set.
