As the name suggests. If you couldn't tell yet, I like the obscure. How many Mazda RX-7 FDs can you find? Canadian National HW set: • Hot Wheels Railroad Ca... Follow me on Twitter: / cobramerciless
As a late GenX, I remember seeing these as a kid. I have a couple of the Matchbox locomotives and some rolling stock myself from when I was a kid. You’re right about the Tyco and Bachman sets offering so much more for around the same money at the time as Hot Wheels sets have always been expensive even when I was a kid. Come to think of it, I think I had a Micro Machines train, but I don’t think I kept many of them unfortunately.
All cars did come with loads. Boxcar had a box, tipping gondola had steel pipes and the Amtrak baggage car had a weird round silver cylinder that looked to me like a giant milk bottle. I had all of these as a kid and probably still do in storage. I had no idea they had become rare.
They aren't HO scale, but they are actually HO gauge. You can set them on a piece of HO code 100 track and they'll roll just fine. The wheel flange dimensions are very different though, so they're not compatible with HO scale switch frogs and diamonds.
FYI, the box car (at least mine) came with a little wooden box that fit perfectly in that opening. I don't know if you'd classify that as a play feature or not, but I remember loading it on and off of my train when it came to different stations on my playset. Also, the baggage car definitely had an item you could pick up with that hook. You probably don't have it, since you got your set second hand. But I had the original playset and I remember it specifically coming with an item that you could grab with that hook.
Yep - i remember that too. Those were some of the pieces that got lost easily (though I think the baggage pack stuck around a little longer for me due to it being secured in there).
I think the baggage car came with a weird silver cylinder that looked like a milk container (I know, Amtrak didn't carry them). I thought the tipper car came with Pipes, and on the top of the station there was an area to unload/dump them. I still have the set in my basement, along with the Freight Yard set.
4:36 and 5:05, this is false, both cars had special loads to carry. In the Superails Station Set, the Burlington Northern pipe car had five pipes which could be loaded into it via a overhead dump bin, and above that on the upper level a place to dump the pipes back into the loader. The mail car had a small mail bag that could be caught from a small mail loading area on the upper level of the Superails Station, where it could also be unloaded.
The boxcar had a pallet of boxes that cud be pushed into it with the forklift in the freight yard set, ( it's on the front cover art- look closely) and yes their also were pipes, and a mail sac - that looked like a giant milk can. I think he got jipped from the used sets he got or hes making comment bait.😊
When I was a kid, someone left one of the sets at our town dump and I was able to persuade my parents to let me take it home... under the condition that it would be going back where I got it in a week or two. From what I remember the box was blue and showed the Rio Grande GP40, a boxcar, and the bulkhead flatcar. Unfortunately it was missing the actual trains I think, as well as one section of track. I understand why my parents weren't big on it, but looking back now... I wish I still had it!
Yep! Mattel also had a refinery switching base (same size as the freight yard). It had streets for cars and the track was an oval mainline with half a figure eight through the middle and two sidings: you'd take the tank car the oil siding, around the tracks, and to the unloading spur where it would transfer your imagination to the Hotwheels tank truck, lather, rinse, repeat -- good fun! I'd bought it with my own money, loved the set so much, but could never find any other components after that :-( I typed (typed!) several letters to Mattel asking if there were any other parts I could buy; they were very polite but the answer was no it seems... Haven't seen the exact base I had, tried Googling it recently out of nostalgia but will try again! (Good video!)
I have two of the Chessie engines that my parents got me from a gift shop in 1998. I never knew they were hotwheels brand or there were others! I did play with them alot, those couplers sure are tough, they never did break! I still have both of the engines, intact lol
I just had an outstanding flashback to that chessie system GP40 that I have the slightest memory of possibly owning. I belive that (according to my faded memory) that was my favorite train when I was little, I have no idea what happened to it or if it had any cars to go along with it but I remember carrying just it around. Wow, didn't realize it was so rare.
I've never heard of this line before, very cool! Shame it didn't work out for Hot Wheels, this would have made an excellent set for young children wanting to get into trains. On a side note, I heard Hot Wheels' parent company, Mattel, currently owns the Tyco name, makes me wonder why they haven't attempted to resurrect the brand, especially with the prices of higher end models skyrocketing! They could really capture the budget minded market who just want something reliable and fun to play with!
I would love for Mattel to bring the tyco name back for trains, but tyco train tooling fell under Mantua, who was bought out by MRC, who is now owned by uggh, Lionel
Younger me stumbled upon a reposted commercial for these trains on RU-vid. Even though I didn’t have the knowledge back then, I was still blown away at how “detailed” they were.
... I heard of them, and had most of them. Sold them off back after college when I was unemployed. Used to make layouts that would run though every one of the display sets, and through my bedroom. Kind of regret selling them, but I had nowhere in my small apartment for them...
I had these growing up when I little. I had no idea these were Hot Wheels. I clearly remember having the F40PH and I loved that locomotive. This video brought back so many memories!
These bring back a lot of fond memories for me. I had the smaller playset that had the orange girder bridge, came with the Rio Grande GP-38 and the Soo Line flatcar with logs, I remember my uncle giving it to me when I was four years old. Dad and I picked up, secondhand, the Stow-and-go folding set with a bunch of rolling stock. and lastly, the Chessie System GP-38 that was a prize a kid could win at our school's 'fun night'. I remember having to win a LOT of games to get that! The Stow-and-go set did have a working forklift that popped out of a building and could load a box into the boxcar. I still have that box. Over the years it has migrated as scenery to every single HO and O gauge layout I have ever built for myself. One downside of these trains, is the couplers broke easily. Most of mine ended up missing all their couplers but I used short pieces of steel wire rod from my grandfather's workbench to make new hook and eye style couplers. Hardly elegant, but it worked.
I have the same sets. An as you mentioned a few broken couplers as well. I used cut pieces of paperclips for hooks to connect the train cars lol when needed
My preschool had this, I remember when it was out for playtime, but all they had was an oval, the rio grande loco, and the BN geep that only had the lead truck lol, I always wondered what it was, and now I know, and now I can sleep easy, and just get the same stuff in HO.
These things are absolutely delightful! I remember watching videos on these when I was a kid. I always wanted the Sto and Go set. The idea of a train layout you can take along with you is genius. Too bad these didn't take off...
I have a bunch of these little battery trains called XTS (Expandable Train System) that, while they don't fold up like Sto and Go, are quite easy to throw into a shoebox and take places. They even are gauged to run on N-Scale track, though I haven't tested them with switches.
My grandpa had these as a kid and I loved them. If you had the set with the dipper car intact, it had six pipes, and they interacted with the receiver/loader in the set it came in.
I came across a few of these some years ago and got hooked, though I've never purchased any.. yet. They're really niche, sure, but they're just so cool.
I know I still have the Rio Grande engine and believe the Soo Line bulk-head car. Got to love Hot Wheels in the late 70's and early 80's. Dodge Aries, Mirada the Ford Grand Torino, Fairmont were my favorites
I have some of these too from when I was a kid stored away someplace or places, though not near as many as I once had. At one point I had 12 of the Chessie gp40s (This body better represents a gp39). I had several sets including the station and it did have some pipes that diffco dump car could dump from the top level. The baggage car could actually catch the mail capsule off the platform when it went by as well so they did have loads for them. I enjoyed these very much as a kid.
The box car came with a little box that the forklift in the stow and go playset could push onto a platform. The BN tipper car came with a with a load of pipes that you could dump into the hopper on the top track of the station playset and then load on the lower track. The baggage car came with a silver mail bag that the hook could pick up. To be honest I feel these were better than the average Tyco train set of the day, the track connections had a tendency to break but Tyco motors were complete trash as were the power packs. Always wanted the tanker car and the Rio Grande loco.
Legit I have the rio Grande locomotive and i don’t know where it is but it came from one of my cousins, and its pretty cool because im rio grande guy, id love to get the freight cars just to go behind my drgw gp38 and maybe ill find the other engines and stuff later on the road. Also fav hot wheels? Camero, corvette and Mustangs all years and make variations their a good chunk of my hot wheels fleet backbone
Quick amendment, curtesy of a friend, the tipper car and baggage car did have loads to dump, I couldn’t find any photos of them online, but the back of the original box of the super rails station confirms the tipper would dump pipes, and the baggage would kick a box out. And I forgot to mention that bringing this line back would be incredibly expensive since hotwheels used to destroy their old molds after producing the toy enough times.
There was a predessor to these in the UK dating from the fifties. Included track and buildings in the range. The Lone Star Treble O system of close to N scale. The success had them make a powered versions. By 1963 Lone Star started selling a motorised version using rubber band drive. Likely inspired by Athearn. The much more expensive motorised version was called the Lone Star Treble O Lectric system that has sone vids on RU-vid. This was so early that N scale was more commonly called OOO. The paperwork of a Kadee wheel cleaning brush around 1990 still stated on the paperwork instructions that it was suitable for OOO. Lone Star made a mix of UK and US models like an F7 for the US market. German makers soon after called their much superior models N scale and the pioneering Lone Star system faded out after not making much impact.
My brother and I had a trainset that came in a red suitcase. It had a track (circle, switch, a few straights) and an engine in there. Maybe it was Matchbox? A neighbor had a TON of rolling stock and extra tracks.
Thank you for the video. I had the Trains-to-go set. I had wondered where the tracks that went off the layout were supposed to go. I had never seen the accessories or the other sets. Toy departments at major retail stores were not as big then as they are now and I don't remember the stores in my town stocking these except perhaps at Christmastime.
The boxcars actually came with a small plastic box that was used on the freight rail yard set (the small forklift in the one of the stations, you can see it poking out over the boxcar in the picture of the Canadian version of the set but both the box and forklift came on the American version) but was sold with every boxcar. If you can get your hands on any maybe you should do a video on the matchbox toy trains that where made in the 1970s they have some sets as well as a piece of rare rolling stock in the form of a caboose that came in only one gift pack.
This video was fantastic, I liked it a lot. The detail and info you put into the equipment was awesome, and I loved the Mattel headquarters part. I actually had these as a kid, I still have all three of the playsets. My favorite trains were the Chessie System GP38, it was the first one I got (Sadly I haven't seen it since 2017) And the other being the Amtrak F40PH and baggage. Wish I had the stesm locomotive though.
Hello. 44 year-old man here. I actually have vivid memories of owning many of the Hot Wheels trains including the railyard playset around 1984/85. As a young boy I was into model railroading, and owned an HO model trainset. I also had quite the collection of Hot Wheels toys. Imagine my excitement when I saw an ad for these flash on the TV during a commercial break for Transformers, Heathcliff, or whatever I was watching at the time. I remember owning the BN electric car, and the Chessie System engine (which was sold individually). I also recall owning a rather soft carrying case I could store and transport my Hot Wheels trains in as well.
Never saw the hot wheels trains before your video, but a personal favourite car is the Twin Mill, such a ridiculous design and then I vaguely remember them building a real one for some unholy but amazing reason!
I had it all except the steam engine. That tipper car is called a side dump car on the prototype. That rpo car did grab a mail contianer in one of the sets. It was a silver tube like thing. Was pretty cool.
A version of the power express train was made before 2001. It is very similar but the locomotive was more realistic and looked like an F unit or E unit. I got it sometime in late 90s and still have it.
I got the stow and go freight yard for Christmas 1983 or 1984. I still have it along with the Santa Fe, Chessie, and BN engines and most of the rolling stock. Never had the Amtrak vehicles, tipper car, or steam engine. The box cars were made to work with the freight yard set. There was a fork truck that pushed a box/crate into the open sides. And the lumber and logs could be unloaded with the crane on the second level. Hours of fun back in the day linking the freight yard playset with my other Hot Wheels stow and go playsets and Hot Wheels City USA. Even my kids enjoyed them 25 years later.
I’m nearly 27 and have been collecting HW since I was little and continue to do so. I’ve never heard of this line before, but that probably is because I live in England, but these things have never popped up when I search HW online. I’m definitely going to have to see if I can pick some up.
The complete sets are hard to find. They are sometimes missing pieces, decals missing, broken track ends, couplers broken. I have some posted on my channel way down on earlier posts for you to look at. If you have questions feel free to ask. Good luck on your search.
Great video! I didn’t know too much about these, but I do have an incomplete Sto-and-Go Truck and Train set. It’s missing the trucks, and every train part except a Conrail flatcar. As a fan of both trains and Hotwheels (My channel is named after one) as well though, I’d definitely like to get more!
Pending on which version of the "Trucks & Trains" you have... You might be missing signs, lightpoles and short stubby sections of race track. I have both versions. Not sure if i have them both posted on my channel. I know i have the complete "freight yard" posted
Oh yes! I had all three sets! The Amtrak was my favorite and I wish they had more passenger cards. I had all of the trains, including the Burlington North - except the Steam Engine. I only had seen the Steam Engine in the wild ONCE and BEGGED my parents for it but they said “maybe another time” and it was never seen again. These things were SO MUCH FUN!!!!
OK....I was a Hot Wheels tester before the cars hit the market. I was paid for my work in Hot Wheels when they went into production. I have all the US sold HW Trains and sets. My Baggage car came with a cylinder that you could pick up or drop off via a pin on top of it. I am sure you know about Hot Trains HW line......it was part of the Sizzler line....I have all those too. Well done story on a rare HW line! Thanks
I had no idea that was a thing! I'm not really even a train guy but holy cow those are so fun!! (P.S. great vid, mate. Glad YT decided to share you on my wall!)
I had them when I was a kid... in the 80s! I was way into trains and my mom would pick them up whenever she saw then in closeout stores, usually cheap cheap cheap. Pretty sure I had all but the BN electric loco and the Iron Horse. I wish I knew where all that stuff was now 40 years later.
I do not have those locos (but i would love to have). Im not from US and not old enought to even remember them. But i have still a nice colection of rapid transit locos. Its sad those rail series dont sell well
I'm happy to have a couple of these around, and holy shit where they hard to find, I ended up paying 100 dollars for a rio grande SD40, and a sto and go set
Awe they looks so cool!!😮 I swear hotwheels made some cool stuff before I was born and not gonna lie but I might need to attempt to find some of them and now I'm slowly wanting to buy old Hotwheels things
They also had a GP38/40 Santa Fe in the blue and yellow paint scheme for that train set, I'm pretty sure it was a 3rd party bootleg as it was only obtainable through carnival and state fair gaming as prizes. I hate to admit but I spent way too much on one in a coin pusher when I was a kid. I had quite a few if not all official trains stock and 3rd party bits for that set, well all that I could find anyways. I think the main selling point intended for this train set was the fact it did not require batteries or the AC mains power that a traditional electric train does so in the logic young kids were safe from live electrical current from metal track that would introduce not only a shock hazard but a possible fire hazard if the cheap electric train was run on the living room carpet on Christmas morning. Parents that were over cautious would opt for the Hot Wheels or other un powered trains however they never even considered the more realistic choking hazard of such toys with small removable or easily broken off parts vs small kids that put everything in their mouths.\ Tyco Lifelike and Bachmann were the affordible train sets and can be considered as entry level to model railroading but due to things like internet and such the train hobbies lost the eye of kids and was replaced by train simulator games and social media platforms we have now. Today only Bachmann survives from the old days to join the ranks of model railroad companies by setting their quality higher to match the likes of Walthers mainline series in some aspects today. No more 3 pole pancake motors and rubber bans for tractive grip on plastic wheels, horn hook coupl;ers are left in the past and replaced with knuckle type couplers as stock. Their locomotives now have all metal wheels and 5 pole central drive motors and most are adaptable for DCC upgrades
Wow! Awesome cool. I am now and in scale empire builder. However getting this for Christmas in 1983, even though I had Tyco trains on a 4 x 8 board, this could be taken with me! Why cannot wait for the micro machines series! Keep up the great nostalgia!
I've been looking for these pieces whenever I can. Managed to find the Amtrak, Rio Grande and european electric locomotives, plus the BN box car and Soo flat (loads missing). I would love to find the Sto N Go set, I had all the non railroad ones. Thanks for going through the pieces that are available.
1970s era Matchbox had some decent train pieces of English aesthetic. In the 2000s Maisto made many lower quality, roughly N scale sized trains with small HO scale style horn-hook couplers. Micro Machines and the Hot Wheels line of Micro Machines sized vehicles also had trains.
I had a bunch of these as a kid. When they were discontinued and/or lost popularity, they were commonly found at yard sale and flea markets. I even got an entire box a newly packaged Rio Grande GP39s, which I still have most wrapped to this day. The GPs were more patterned as a GP39 rather than a 40 due to there only being 2 cooling fans over the radiator section. I use to set up a freelance with the idea that the Rio Grande and the Chessie interchanged, due to my abundance of both roads units. The other locos, like the F40s, would be foreign power
You ever watch something that triggers a memory that's so vague you thought it was a dream? Yeah that just happened for me. Whenever my family visited friends far away, they would take out their son's old toys for me to play with. All I remember were trains running on a beige playset. It might've been the freight yard set, but I'm not sure.
I remember the Freight Yard set was the first Hot Wheels Railroad set ever to come out. Rolling stock included the Santa Fe diesel locomotive and caboose, the yellow Rail Box boxcar, and the blue Conrail flatcar. It also had an operating forklift that pushed the crate inside the boxcar.
There was actually another Hot Wheels train set. It had a hot rod painted locomotive, three carriages, and black plastic track. I had it as a kid and I loved it because of the car loading crane. From the late 90s I think
I had the Trucks and Trains Freight yard as a Kid, early 80's, and I still have it in Storage. It is played with but all the parts are still there. It was a lot of fun.
I had the freight yard set with the Santa Fe engine. Blue Conrail car, Yellow RailBox car and Caboose 1984. Fun time to be a kid. Let me tell ya. We had it made.
Another example of a toy I wish I kept. I literally had the whole HotWheels railroad collection. Its now someplace in a landfill now, next to my complete Voltron. :(
I had the 2 larger sets my sister had the smaller set that came with the Rio grand loco. The tipper car came with a pipe load the could be dumped on the top and released back into the car below. The baggage car had iirc a cylinder that could be grabbed as the train goes by. My parents still have the one set that the amtrac came with that my kids now play with when they go over to visit
Glad you mentioned the micro machines trains right at the end. I had a bunch of those but, they never seemed common at all. I think I only saw them in shops once. Looking forwards to your video on them :)
I still have all of my hotwheels engines except the steam locomotive. The rolling stock, expansion tracks, the main train set that folds up, a smaller one that also folds together, and a single platform with a bridge and a building. All of which can have the expansion track connected to them. Sadly, some of the decals have faded or peeled off. But what can you expect after 40 years. They also put out a construction site set that was similar to the large train set, in that it folded up into a case. Also, have that one still.
I distinctly remember having the Sto & Go playset. I remember the thr brown plastic and rolling a diesel engine around the tracks. I don't remember having any rolling stock. Maybe it came from a garage sale or flea market and they were missing. Never knew they went all the way back to 1983 or that a steam engine was made. Pretty odd that Mattel made only made an Amtrak baggage car but no other cars. Very cool and informative video. Thanks.
Great video. I used to have the freight and truck train yard set when I was a kid. Shame I don't have it now. Also had quite a few micro machines cars and train set as a kid as well.
I'm from Canada and I had that CN Train set you showed in this video. I remember my buddy had another train set that was different, almost like a square shape with tracks all through it, and it came with the CP (Canadian Pacific red engine) instead of the CN (Canadian National black engine) set. As a kid in the 80s, (I was born in 1980) I loved these trains. My dad had a huge train set that was an actual hobby trains, so to play with my own version and not worry about damaging them because they were toys, was pretty neat. I didn't realize how many were released in the USA though. I remember in the 90s Micro Machines did trains and I thought they were even cooler than the Hot Wheels versions. It's a shame that trains aren't really loved by the kids now like they were in the 80s and 90s. Great video though! Just subscribed to your channel.
Oh boy I wanted to talk about the Canadian releases more, but info on them is so scarce, and I wasn’t even sure all the items even released, as I could only find one photo of some of them lined up. As for kids and trains today, I think they’re back on the rise again in popularity thanks to easily accessible entertainment via the internet. I grew up watching train documentaries here. Last of the giants, why trains crash, all the old History Trains Unlimited programs. Great stuff! Thanks for the sub!
@@cobramerciless the other train set my buddy had which I was telling you about was called Hot Wheels Railroad Trains-To-Go. It came out in 1985 it looks like. That one had the red CP engine, the CP box car, carrier car and the caboose I believe. Like I said, I didn't have it, my buddy did, but from what I remember, that was it.
i remember seeing something similar to this. it was form an old video about a hot wheels layout with various facilities, one off them being an oval of track, where a train with 2 cars would run around it. i remember one of the cars was a car transporter, where you would put cars on it, and the train would start running around with a flick of a switch, meaning it had some sort of motor.
@@cobramercilessyes i have one of the two versions that the locomotive is battery operated and has a remote control for forward, stop an reverse. I have it posted on my channel of you care to glance. Plus i have the "Freightyard" posted as well
I had to beg my parents for months to get the freight set. They kept insisting i wouldn't like it because it was not a powered set. Finally at a store's going iut of business sale the $29.95 set was 75% off and they conceded. I played with it so much, that Christmas, they got me the Amtrak set. My favorite delight was combining the two sets in different ways, much like a fully customizable model train layout. For me it was huge fun "running" the trains right along the cars. I never knew about the 3 car packs or you can bet I would have pestered my parents for them as well. But i must have, or they did on their own because i had both the silver & red A7 and black & gold Santa Fe engines, 2 box cars, and two tipper cars, but 1 red roof caboose.
Not the first HW foray into railroad subjects. Around 1973ish Mattel expanded the HW Sizzlers line to include a futuristic looking train that ran on HW track in a silver color with railroad track graphics. Best description from memory is engine and passenger cars ( did come in a freight set as well) that looked a like the angular, futuristic looking Super Train from the series that'd come out 5ish years later and molded in that metal flake gold plastic popular in the 70s.
These were a little before my time (I wasn't born until 1987), but they are interesting. I had a lot of the Micro Machines trains when I was a little kid though, so I look forward to seeing you talk about those!
You missed this Hot Wheels Train: In 1971, Hot Wheels offered a futuristic train line called "Hot Line" (Google "hot wheels hotline train") that had both freight and passenger train sets and used the Hot Wheel's 4 "D" battery "Juice Machine" a.k.a. filling stations looking gas pump to power this train engines. So you had powered trains moving around the track. Complete with blue storage box for the rail cars and instead of orange Hot Wheels track, it had black track with two painted silver rails and special curved turns and switcher. I got mine in 1971 for Christmas when I was in 1st grade and I LOVED playing with my Hot Line train. So awesome. Always loved trains. Go watch some You Tube videos out there to see what it was like. it was a great toy!
The boxcars came with little plastic "wooden" boxes that could be loaded and unloaded with the Freight Yard set via a forklift that would push the box out into the waiting car. The "baggage" car came with a little cylinder of "mail" that could be picked up/dropped off on the top of the Superrails Station. The "tipper" or dump car came with plastic "pipes" that could also be dumped into the overhead bin on the Superrails Station and then picked up below by opening the bin.
I had one of these toys! It was fteaking awesome! Also, i hope you make a video on the micro machine trains. I had so many of those sets growing up as a kid. I would take the leftover tube from paper towels and make tunnels with them. Lol I also had quite a few Star Trek and Star Wars sets as well.
I had hot wheels since they came out in '68(?), they were "it" , everybody had to have them (of course we all only had the Deora as that was the only set the store had). Then when they came out with Sizzlers, I thought I had gone to heaven. I loved the little battery powered gas pump. Years later my friends got Sizzlers also; theirs were faster but mine had waaaay more endurance it would just keep lapping long after theirs died. Then I got Earthshakers, the Sizzler earthmovers offshoot (I got the bulldozer, it could push quite a bit considering it still fit in hot wheels track). Then I had the Sizzler train, Hot Lines, I think. It ran on the same plastic track as hot wheels cars, but painted more like railroad track. It was OK but I liked the Earthshakers better. While I was at college, my mom without asking sold the entire collection for like $3 in a garage sale, prolly worth thousands today. She didnt even give me the $3. But I never heard of these.
I have seen a different set without track, contained in a small russet brown colored vinyl case. 1983 manufacture. It is nearly mint, missing some of the cargo pieces. It's also still in it's original owners hands. I'm 58 and still collecting Hot Wheels. My favorites were the first generation Red line cars I enjoyed as a child. All of them got biggest rear tires and narrowest fronts that would fit the particular model. Had a 2nd generation Charger, 1st generation Camaro, a 32 Vicky, and a couple VW Beetles as favorites.
