Finding Beauty in Ephemera: Line Mar Match Box Construction 062

Friday, August 18, 2017

Line Mar Match Box Construction 062 - Locomotive

I found a Line Mar Match Box Construction Set from the 1930s, complete and with instructions. The box claimed the set made 100 different toys. I decided to test that claim -- one toy at a time. You can read all the posts for the Line Mar construction project at 100 Toys.

062. Locomotive

This build begins a mini-series. Models nos. 62-67 form a train. It features a locomotive, coal tender, and several railroad cars. The set is prominently featured in the instruction booklet.

That illustration greatly over promises.

First, there's no railroad track. The models use the same unflanged wooden discs as the other wheeled vehicles. Second, the models are nowhere near as big as the illustration suggests. And third -- you can't build the entire train with just one set.

Each car uses the biggest set piece for its chassis. And there's only one in the set.

And the problems don't stop with the entire train.

The locomotive can't be built quite as depicted -- either in the cover art or the instruction sheet versions. In the cover art, the boiler is made up of a three-hole piece followed by a one-hole piece. In the instruction sheet, those two pieces are reversed.

The dowel holding the cab to the frame is blocked by the dowel serving as the rear axle. It can't go down any further. And the shorter dowel doesn't reach down far enough to secure the cab to the frame.

The smoke stack and boiler domes look pretty tall in the illustrations. That's because they're shown using the thick wooden discs stacked on the dowels. But the set only comes with four such discs, and they're needed for the wheels.

As you can see, the thinner fiberboard discs don't quite have the same effect.