Collecting -- and Collecting Information 33

I first discovered the Straco Express at a train show back in 2010. It was sitting in a box with some track and it was mine for $20.00.  I've written extensively about the set and companion H0 tinplate trains from Japan.

It's an area of vintage toys that has not attracted much interest. And therefore, it hasn't prompted many studies. Unlike Lionel Trains, there are no histories of these Japanese companies, or compendiums of their products, or even price lists.

I eventually discovered that the Straco Express was made for the Fred J. Strauss Company (STRAuss COmpany). They were one of the earliest importers of toys from Japan after the war, and were in business through the mid to late 1950s.

But who made the toys for Straco? That remained a mystery until I found a set box.

Mystery solved. The box shows the set was made by MRK.

The box art also provides some other information, too. First, it accurately depicts the train. I know definitely now that there are no cars missing from my set.

The set claims to have 51 pieces. The train itself accounts for four. The power pack would be the fifth. Twelve pieces of track to make the oval bring the total to 17. So where are the others? Probably on sheets of cardboard.

Often these sheets of figures, buildings, scenery, and signs were included. I have examples of such from Nomura and Cragstan/Distler. The sheets were usually perforated, and the bases of the punch-out pieces scored for easy folding.

And each punch-out was counted as one figure. So there was likely a sheet or two with 34 such images included.

It's also possible that the sheets only had 34 images, and the three signs on the box cover counted at three pieces. If so, it would help explain why the box for this set is so rare. If the top was cut up for the railroad signs, there would be little reason to keep it (or the bottom).

While the information on the box helped, it didn't answer every question.

MRK may have made the set, but "MRK" is a cipher. No one -- not even the few who have researched these postwar Japanese companies -- can say what company "MRK" indicates. No other types of MRK-branded toys have surfaced.

So the mystery continues -- for now.