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.

Straco Express Layout, Part 55b - Straco Steam

The original Straco Express train (l) and the
newer steam loco version (r).

Read all the installments of the Straco Express layout project here.

Last fall I wrote about a Straco Express variation I found (see: Straco and the Mystery Train 2). There appeared to be another version of the Straco Express with differently lithographed cars.

I was able to purchase the set and do my own first-hand comparisons. You can read about the unusual steam loco that came with the set in Part 55a. It had some surprises.

And detailed comparison of the rolling stock yielded an insight.

At first blush, it looks like the only changes to the rolling stock was the lithography. The yellow NYC gondola car was instead an orange Michigan Central/NYC gondola car.

The blue, white, and red US Mail box car was instead a a red, white, and blue State of Maine box car. Both based on Lionel 6464 box cars, apparently.

The Japanese State of Maine box car has the number 8864-275. Lionel's has the numbers 6464-275. Straco used 3428 for their Mail car. Lionel used 6428 for theirs. A little too close in both cases for coincidence, I think.

Original Straco box car (lower) and newer box car (upper).

 And those "borrowings" can help date the sets. Lionel offered their State of Maine box car from 1957-1959, and their US Mail car from 1960-1961 (and again in 1965-1966).  F. J. Strauss & Co. filed their trademark in 1960. I think it likely that both sets were made around 1960, when both Lionel box cars would still be on the market.

The black and silver Santa Fe caboose was instead a yellow Union Pacific caboose. And it had an important clue. Note the embossed window outlines. Their identical for both cabooses. The Santa Fe caboose's lithography has windows that fill the embossed frame. The UP caboose does not.

Original Straco caboose (lower) and newer caboose (upper).

That suggests to me that the Straco Express with the diesel locomotive and Santa Fe caboose was made first. The steam set with the Union Pacific set came later, I think, because the stamping doesn't match up. It was a design placed over the existing form, rather than being developed with the form as the original Santa Fe lithography had been.

Since the "borrowed" Lionel box car numbers suggest a very narrow time frame, I believe that what I call the original Straco Express was manufactured in 1960, and the steam set either later in 1960 or possibly 1961.

I still have one question about this set. F. J. Strauss imported the first set, and had it branded with their name. The steam train set has no such branding. So was this set also made for Straco to import, or was in imported by another firm? The set box may have the answer.

But whether it's an official Straco set or not, this little steam train decided looks good on the display layout -- even with its tendency to jump the tracks.

Layout construction:

• Pegboard: $4.95
• Flathead Screws: $0.40
• Molding: $2.49
• SilClear: borrowed from a friend
• Green Paint: leftover  from another project
• Wood Screws: $3.60
• Felt Pads: $1.99

Power Pack: $5.90
Small Houses: $3.00
Testor's Gray Paint for road: $1.29

Bandai Areo Station: $8.99
2 tinplate signs: $1.00
4 tinplate signs (with train) $5.99
Cragstan HO Light Tower $20.49
4 nesting houses $4.99
Tinplate gas station: $5.00

Vehicles:

• Two Japanese toy cars: $2.00
• A.W. Livestock truck: $4.99
• Taxi: $2.99
• Ambulance: $2.99
• Two Japanese patriotic cars: $6.99
• Haji three-wheel sedan $3.00
• Haji three-wheel tanker $5.00
• 1950's sedan $2.99
• LineMar Police Car $9.00
• LineMar Pepco Truck $8.50
• LineMar Bond Bread Van $8.00
• LineMar Fire Engine $4.95
• LineMar Dump Truck $12.99
• LineMar GE Courier Car $10.98
• LineMar County School Bus $9.99
• Nomura Red Sedan $5.00
• Nomura Police Car $2.52
• Nomura lumber truck $3.48
• 6 Nomura vehicles $16.99
• Orange Sedan $10.99
• King Sedan $9.95
• Indian Head logo sedan $4.99
• Indian Head (?) convertible $18.00
• Yellow/red Express truck $9.99
• Red limousine FREE

Total Project Cost: $238.35

Straco and the Mystery Train 2

This is a followup post to my 9/6/16 post, Straco and the Mystery Train. Some odds and ends had come up for auction on eBay, and just by comparing the photos, I guessed that they were made by the same Japanese toy company that made the Straco Express. Those particular items were priced too high for me to bid on -- but then another example became available that was within my price range (about $8.99). 

So I can at least make physical comparisons between the box cars. I think the evidence is clear: these box cars were made by the same company. 

The Straco Express box car (top) and the mystery set
box car (bottom). Identical construction and chassis lithography.

Straco Express (left), mystery train (right).
The ends were something of a surprise. There's no real reason
for a graphic redesign. All that was necessary was to change
 the red color plate to blue. Note that the couplers
are also identical. 

And here they are together. A colorful (and patriotic) pair of boxcars!

Some questions remain, of course. Who made these sets? What pieces were in the State of Maine boxcar set? Who was this mystery set made for -- was it also Fred Strauss and Co.? 

Based on this, though, I'm confident the caboose I saw in that auction is also a companion piece to the Straco Express caboose. That locomotive, though...

What's missing from this set?

Japanese Litho Train Sets 4 - Straco, Cragstan and Distler

My informal postwar Japanese lithographed train sets databasing project continues, and I continue to turn up some interesting oddities. Last time (Cragstan, Distler and Nomura) I wrote about two virtually identical HO train sets, one made in German by Distler, the second in Japan by Nomura -- and both imported to the US by Cragstan.

Distler made another HO gauge train set for Cragstan. (click on images to enlarge)

This set features an EMD NW2-style switch engine, a box car, a gondola car, and a caboose.

I own a very similar set made in Japan and imported by F. J. Strauss Co., Inc. I've written extensively about the Straco Express, which consists of an EMD NW2-style switch engine, a box car, a gondola car, and a caboose.

Straco and Cragstan were two different companies, and probably competitors. So it's a different situation then having an importer just change manufacturers. And there are some distinct differences between the sets. The Distler set is mostly plastic, while the Straco is all tinplate construction. The cabooses are distinctively different.

Of the two, the Straco Express is a more elaborate -- and therefore costly -- set to make. Perhaps Cragstan contracted Distler to make a knockoff?

And the track for both sets is identical, which is something I find curious. All of the HO toy train sets I've run across -- whether made by Straco, Bandai, or Nomura -- use this same track. And the Cragstan/Distler sets do, too. So where did it come from? Is it possible these competing companies used the same sub-contractor? Or was the design for this track "borrowed" as well?