I have heard of those trains. The steam locomotive had 2 "D" cells placed in the boiler and had a lever for direction. I am not sure if your steam locomotive had a plastic or metal body. One of those toys where it would have nice to have rechargeable batteries more readily available!

@@Petemonster62 Thanks for your reply. The Marx train set we had was different than in this video with the wound-up locomotive. Our set ran on the 2 batteries that you described in the locomotive which had no light and the body was plastic with the lever to turn the train on and off. There were three other cars but I think they looked a bit different than in this video. The oval track pieces had two rails and not three like in most tracks at that time in the mid-60's. And I wonder if rechargeable rails were even available for sale at that time almost 60 years ago. Sure wish I still had that train set and not sure what ever happened to it.

@@DougCeleste - I looked at my book "The Toy Train Department-Trains from The Sears Wish Book 1950-1969. Sears had Marx battery operated trains similar to this one in 1956,57, & 58. Marx made custom sets for different retailers, your '65 vintage set could have been in the Montgomery Wards or J.C.Penneys catalogs. Your set could have also come from a local store, like Woolworths. Your set may have had a Union Pacific tender, a Seaboard R.R. red gondola, and a yellow & Brown Union Pacific caboose. Rechargeable batteries did exist in the 1960s but were pretty much available only from mail order electronics firms. Radio Shack started their network of stores in the 1970s and had their line of rechargeable batteries locally available.

@@Petemonster62 Thanks for sharing your interesting notes. The Marx train sets my brother and I got for Christmas around 1965 had the battery-powered locomotive (with no light and steam) and maybe the three metal cars that you mentioned. The oval track came in maybe 10 pieces or more and were two-rail tracks. Since it has been almost 60 years and my parents are deceased, it will remain a mystery about where they bought the train sets for us. It could have been at one of the stores that you mentioned since we had those stores in San Jose, CA. which was where we lived back then. I will have to go on ebay and maybe will find the exact set for sale someday. And I remember the Radio Shack stores well when they were quite popular.

@@DougCeleste - This is a long shot, but if a model railroad club sponsors a Train Show in your area - a seller at the Train Show might have a Marx battery powered steamer.

I did not restore this train. It worked out of the box.

@ thanks!

O Gauge

I run all my Marx A/C