To be fair, if you talk about ertl without talking about the thomas stuff, you ain't said enough. There's a reason they're still saught after even though they're 30+ year old children's toys.
For those asking "why didn't he mention Ertl Thomas?" He says at 6:29, "this set was the only time that Ertl would release anything train related *in this line* " He is referring to Ertl Farm Country. Ertl Farm Country and Thomas and Friends are two seperate things. Stop complaining.
Growing up as a kid in rural towns, this was one of the coolest things a train kid could have...or one of Athearn's John Deere train sets. Fun fact: Ertl also sold HO scale rolling stock with novel removable loads (as in the whole floor/deck could be unscrewed and swapped with one that has a load).
This kinda reminds me of a toy train set my grandma got me (bless her credit card-indebted soul) from Toys-R-Us back in, like, 2004. I totally forget what the line was called, but I think it also had similar expandability issues. It might also just be a hazy childhood memory, because I cannot recall many details about it.
It would have been fantastic if they included a grain hopper or livestock car in this set, you could put cows in the livestock car and if you had the grain elevator you could unload you grain hopper. Or track packs and maybe a small town station. would have been great.
Since this set is compatible with American Flyer S gauge trains, you could use an American Flyer S gauge operating cattle car. The AF cattle car & stockyard used a vibrator mechanism (with directional fibers under the bases the cows feet were on) to enable loading & unloading the cattle into the stockyard or loading back into the car. American Flyer also made an operating passenger car & commuter station using the same mechanism (with similar bases under the passenger's feet). If you wanted some real hilarity, you could have the passengers troop into the cattle car, or the cows unload onto the passenger platform! 🤣
They could have also had like a track expansion pack and maybe some additional Rolling Stock you can assemble and add to the train but sadly they never happened but it would have been cool though
You got my attention when you mentioned the set was built to 1/64 scale,& confirmed it when you showed it running on an American Flyer layouy next to the beautiful AF Missouri Pacific streamlined passenger train. 😊
okay okay hey. I HAD THIS AS A KID!! and I LOVED it because to me it was the most realistic toy train i had had to date. i still think about it from time to time, then i see this in my feed! wow
@@BIG_RED_PRODUCTIONS_official I'd hardly call ERTL's Thomas line "flawless"; it had its share of issues; durability, proportions, and a coupling system where engines could pull rolling stock but not other engines (though this was somewhat rectified at the tail end of its lifespan).
I found the caboose from this set at the TCA meet in York, PA, for a quarter. Missing trucks, but interior parts were inside. I bought it, and used the interior pieces to interior detail a friend's American Flyer Reading caboose. Turned out nice.
Strange that they went with the Soo Line out of all railroads for this set. I guess it makes sense since the Soo was a very agricultural-focused railroad? The red scheme never gets enough love.
The nearest soo line served would have been in dubuque. In the 1994 time frame, dyersville would have been served by the chicago central & pacific, and later Candian National. At least they did a midwestern road though.@@modelrailpreservation
@@andrewebensberger235 True. I grew up in Davenport, IA, which was Soo Line territory (That and the Iowa Interstate, and, at the time the DRI LIne), I would have been 10 years old in '94. Dad took me to Dubuque after report cards came from school. Two rides on the Fenelon Place Elevator for every A, one ride for every B. Plus a stopover in Dyersville for some inexpensive Ertl toys. Usually we could get ones that the box was damaged, and as a kid back then, I didn't care if the box was torn! Soo Line stands out in my memory far more than the Chicago Central, though I do remember seeing some of their locos.
They should have considered molding the boxcar in brown plastic since Soo Line had brown boxcars with white lettering. Or included stickers for Conrail!
He is referring to the Ertl Farm Country line. Ertl didn't make any of trains for the Ertl Farm Country line. You are thinking of Thomad and Friends. Two seperate Ertl ranges
Huh, somehow I missed this set. Despite it being battery, and the other issues you pointed out, it actually seems to run at a reasonable speed. I expected it to be like the old Lionel where it ran at mach 3 around the track. The caboose has a better interior than some other models do.
Will you be interested in taking a look at the 奥乐仿真火车模型 Chinese range of toy trains? They have quite an extensive selection including some typical Chinese trains and a Bavarian steam loco with a smoke generator. Maybe it can rival Plarail on the tier list?
I didn't know ERTL made this set, or that it even existed at all, until seeing this video. The main train toys I know of ERTL making are their Thomas & Friends merchandise. Also, you know what toy train line I really think you should take a look at? Power Trains and Power Trains 2.0 by Jakks Pacific!
When I look it up about the (Real) 4403 on RR Picture Archives, what’s really confuses they were a few of the Ex-SOO Line Engines were on the same number. I don’t know if it’s currently operational it says they now active on service on Canadian Pacific? (I guess)💧
Really interesting set. I had the Ertl farm set when I was a kid but never knew about this set. Not a complaint, but I think it's odd that Ertl had the rights to make so many 1:64 scale tractors and they chose to make... those... plastic tractors to put on the flat car?? So weird.
ERTL also made HO Scale products. They made 1910's era box cars, flat cars, gondolas, and loads you could haul. Their quality was quite poor and flimsy though. They also made buildings like a station, barn, warehouse, farm house, mill, and farm vehicles for HO too. Don't know their quality as I never used them but I would trust them over their rolling stock.
I have mine buried in storage. Mine was like the box and had the White boxcar blue roof. My Building was also blue with a white roof. Every Thing else is the same as yours.
Have you placed the Ertl buildings side by side with Plasticville buildings and see if they look close in scale? What opinion of yours and Seymour Salvage would you guys have of using the set as part of a Christmas tree layout? I wonder if they considered making a weight-activated mechanism for the semaphores like the one that Lionel offered in the early 1970s? You could always kit-bash the "freight station" to make it more prototypical.
@@cobramerciless - The Plasticville buildings were sized larger than S gauge but small than O gauge, so they could be used with either. I remember seeing the box for the barn back in the 1970s that had near the top "O-S scale".
Very interesting that this exists, as Ertl had purchased model car kit company AMT 11 years prior. I actually have 2 AMT/Ertl kits: A 1977 Ford Cruising Van and a Supernatural branded 1967 Chevy Impala.
Being a big fan of the Soo Line , i'd LOVE to have this set ! It's "toy-like" features make it even More endearing, in my eyes 👍 i've got an old Burger King "Anastasia" promo-set that's almost Perfect TT Scale ... sometimes these TOY sets can be super Cool 👌
Thanks for this video! I didn’t know where this came from, but I got the locomotive and crossing together at Goodwill for a while back, and decided since it was like two dollars, I’d grab it for a small display piece. The locomotive still works, but the one of the crossing guards are gone, and the other had its gate missing. They also seem to be colored gray in this video, whereas mine are painted black. Mine also didn’t have stickers applied.
Great video, man! Keep up the good work. It's a shame we didn't get more stuff in "hot wheels" scale. I had the Hot Wheels Power Express set growing up. I've been looking for a replacement on Ebay, but haven't found one where the condition and price match up with what I'm comfortable paying.
It wasnt made for model railroaders actually was made for toy farmers .....alot of people make farm layouts as well as 1-64th scale trucking of the ertle line up....
@@MilwaukeeF40C a lot of toy farmers never really cared...my uncle and his friends would have meets like model train clubs, I never really understood it ...he had like 15 foot by 8 foot table but they did mix scales, as long as it was close....it's a different breed than model railroaders
@strasburgrailfan90 They did. They made a set of die-cast train cars based on Looney Tunes in 1989. They were different from the Thomas toys, as they were bigger and had the character figures protrude from the train cars, but they still used a hook-and-eye system, though it was different from Thomas' as well. The train cars consisted of Bugs Bunny in the engine, Foghorn Leghorn in the tender, Daffy Duck in the passenger coach, Elmer Fudd in the box car, Yosemite Sam in the oil tanker, and Sylvester and Tweety in the caboose. ERTL would later recycle the basis of these train cars for ones based on Lamb Chop (as Lamb Chop's Play-Along aired alongside Shining Time Station on PBS in the 90's) and McDonald's.
You forgot to mention that ERTL also made Thomas the Tank Engine diecast trains from 1984 until 2004 when the range got discontinued and replaced by Take Along. The trains are some of the most sought-after pieces of Thomas merch and are probably collectible nowadays.
As an avid farm toy collector growing up I wanted this set so bad when I was a kid... but looking at this, it's pretty much trash compared to all of their other sets. It looked way cooler in the catalogue
If you’re pissed I didn’t mention the thomas toys, it might be time to find a new train channel
Keep your good work up love the work!
Ps: best channel
wAaAhHH wHeRe'S tHe tHOmAS ToYs!!!
Waaaaaah why didn't he mention the Tugs toys? 🥲
I’m just pissed it’s another photostory/wiki reading session channel the algorithms throw at me
To be fair, if you talk about ertl without talking about the thomas stuff, you ain't said enough. There's a reason they're still saught after even though they're 30+ year old children's toys.
For those asking "why didn't he mention Ertl Thomas?"
He says at 6:29, "this set was the only time that Ertl would release anything train related *in this line* " He is referring to Ertl Farm Country. Ertl Farm Country and Thomas and Friends are two seperate things. Stop complaining.
Growing up as a kid in rural towns, this was one of the coolest things a train kid could have...or one of Athearn's John Deere train sets. Fun fact: Ertl also sold HO scale rolling stock with novel removable loads (as in the whole floor/deck could be unscrewed and swapped with one that has a load).
I have a athearn john deere set
This kinda reminds me of a toy train set my grandma got me (bless her credit card-indebted soul) from Toys-R-Us back in, like, 2004. I totally forget what the line was called, but I think it also had similar expandability issues. It might also just be a hazy childhood memory, because I cannot recall many details about it.
Was it goldlok or New Bright???
@@FortheloveofThomas84 It might've been. I'll need to look into that and see if anything rings a bell.
If you're 10 years old and this arrives into your possession happy days quite like it nice matchbox and hotwheels models 👍
It would have been fantastic if they included a grain hopper or livestock car in this set, you could put cows in the livestock car and if you had the grain elevator you could unload you grain hopper. Or track packs and maybe a small town station. would have been great.
Since this set is compatible with American Flyer S gauge trains, you could use an American Flyer S gauge operating cattle car. The AF cattle car & stockyard used a vibrator mechanism (with directional fibers under the bases the cows feet were on) to enable loading & unloading the cattle into the stockyard or loading back into the car.
American Flyer also made an operating passenger car & commuter station using the same mechanism (with similar bases under the passenger's feet). If you wanted some real hilarity, you could have the passengers troop into the cattle car, or the cows unload onto the passenger platform! 🤣
I will say, there is a distinct lack of “farm” in this “farm country” set
They could have also had like a track expansion pack and maybe some additional Rolling Stock you can assemble and add to the train but sadly they never happened but it would have been cool though
@@cobramerciless my point, Like I said, if they included a grain car or cattle/livestock car it would have been outstanding.
You got my attention when you mentioned the set was built to 1/64 scale,& confirmed it when you showed it running on an American Flyer layouy next to the beautiful AF Missouri Pacific streamlined passenger train. 😊
I still have most of that set, including the still running engine! Almost 30 years ago...
okay okay hey. I HAD THIS AS A KID!! and I LOVED it because to me it was the most realistic toy train i had had to date. i still think about it from time to time, then i see this in my feed! wow
I saw that train set for sale in a flea market I didn't know ertl made these types of
I remember that train set from an Ertl catalog with Thomas & Theodore Tugboat.
I would've thought ERTL was best known for their die cast Thomas & Friends toys.
True
Yeah which makes me even more confused as to why the tracks aren't reversible considering they had a flawless system when the Thomas line was released
@@BIG_RED_PRODUCTIONS_official I'd hardly call ERTL's Thomas line "flawless"; it had its share of issues; durability, proportions, and a coupling system where engines could pull rolling stock but not other engines (though this was somewhat rectified at the tail end of its lifespan).
@@FlyingDuckMan360I like the Ertl Thomas line, the big issue is scaling
Ertl has been making farm machinery toys since the 50s. I have thousands of pieces lol
I found the caboose from this set at the TCA meet in York, PA, for a quarter. Missing trucks, but interior parts were inside. I bought it, and used the interior pieces to interior detail a friend's American Flyer Reading caboose. Turned out nice.
Strange that they went with the Soo Line out of all railroads for this set. I guess it makes sense since the Soo was a very agricultural-focused railroad? The red scheme never gets enough love.
Soo Line was sort of the local road for Ertl, being based out of Dyersville, IA.
the Soo Line rocks 👉 🪨🪨🪨
The nearest soo line served would have been in dubuque. In the 1994 time frame, dyersville would have been served by the chicago central & pacific, and later Candian National. At least they did a midwestern road though.@@modelrailpreservation
@@andrewebensberger235 True. I grew up in Davenport, IA, which was Soo Line territory (That and the Iowa Interstate, and, at the time the DRI LIne), I would have been 10 years old in '94. Dad took me to Dubuque after report cards came from school. Two rides on the Fenelon Place Elevator for every A, one ride for every B. Plus a stopover in Dyersville for some inexpensive Ertl toys. Usually we could get ones that the box was damaged, and as a kid back then, I didn't care if the box was torn! Soo Line stands out in my memory far more than the Chicago Central, though I do remember seeing some of their locos.
I had this train set when I was 4 years old. Naturally, I lost it piece by piece over the years.
I had no idea Ertl done this train set. I know they did offer a small line of HO fright cars that had pretty good details.
Strange as I always associated ERTL specifically for trains through their 90's Thomas range
This set looks so fun! It would be so cool to be able to run something along my grand dads trains!
I just wanna know why they didn’t do this again.
This set immediately has my money for it’s amazing signals and points
7:12 I’m curious what that thing in poo tier is. Makes me somewhat think of those large Baldwin diesels
The Baldwin Centipedes?
Yeah, similar too that with how the cab is laid out. Mostly curious about what toy line that thing is from
Carerra Tempo
@@cobramerciless researched it, and it looks like someone stretched a bachmann starter set in photoshop.
They should have considered molding the boxcar in brown plastic since Soo Line had brown boxcars with white lettering. Or included stickers for Conrail!
For an authentic Soo Line color scheme on the caboose, you could paint the main roof, cupola roof, and end platforms black and the cupola walls red.
6:29 What about ERTL's Thomas the Tank Engine range?
What about it?
He is referring to the Ertl Farm Country line. Ertl didn't make any of trains for the Ertl Farm Country line. You are thinking of Thomad and Friends. Two seperate Ertl ranges
@@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory Ah. I thought that he forgot to mention the other times ERTL went into the trains (including the TTTE range)
Huh, somehow I missed this set. Despite it being battery, and the other issues you pointed out, it actually seems to run at a reasonable speed. I expected it to be like the old Lionel where it ran at mach 3 around the track. The caboose has a better interior than some other models do.
Will you be interested in taking a look at the 奥乐仿真火车模型 Chinese range of toy trains? They have quite an extensive selection including some typical Chinese trains and a Bavarian steam loco with a smoke generator. Maybe it can rival Plarail on the tier list?
Can you please translate that Chinese into English
Looked it up. Thanks for putting that on my radar!
I don't think they have an official English name...
I think the brand they are is LDC X I believe
I didn't know ertl mafr american train stuff
I have that set, I do wish they had done more of these trains, maybe even have Thomas ones....
The shed is actually realistic, doors are put on like that
I actually have the loco I got it at a thrift store it’s a cool piece of toy train history
I'd love to pick up one of these I could make that a fully working crossing.
I didn't know ERTL made this set, or that it even existed at all, until seeing this video. The main train toys I know of ERTL making are their Thomas & Friends merchandise.
Also, you know what toy train line I really think you should take a look at? Power Trains and Power Trains 2.0 by Jakks Pacific!
When I look it up about the (Real) 4403 on RR Picture Archives, what’s really confuses they were a few of the Ex-SOO Line Engines were on the same number. I don’t know if it’s currently operational it says they now active on service on Canadian Pacific? (I guess)💧
CP kept most of the 38s, slowly selling them off.
Really interesting set. I had the Ertl farm set when I was a kid but never knew about this set. Not a complaint, but I think it's odd that Ertl had the rights to make so many 1:64 scale tractors and they chose to make... those... plastic tractors to put on the flat car?? So weird.
ERTL also made HO Scale products. They made 1910's era box cars, flat cars, gondolas, and loads you could haul. Their quality was quite poor and flimsy though.
They also made buildings like a station, barn, warehouse, farm house, mill, and farm vehicles for HO too. Don't know their quality as I never used them but I would trust them over their rolling stock.
I was going to mention them, but I ended up cutting it for time. Definitely an interesting spot in their history
I have mine buried in storage. Mine was like the box and had the White boxcar blue roof. My Building was also blue with a white roof. Every Thing else is the same as yours.
Is the GP35 loco DCC ready
😂
bruh
Looks like it’s the same quality as the Tyco trains lol
Plastic feels a bit tougher, but yeah I totally agree
Have you considered doing a video about the ertl Thomas the tank engine and Friends sets engines and cars and rolling stock
I can remember having one of these as a little kid, ran the wheels off it.
6:30 no, actually, they made ho scale rolling stock in the late 90s. I owned one of the flats.
funny part is that i almost got that set. i was big into ertle back in the 90's and 2000's. glad to know i dodged a bullet honestly
Same here lol. It looked so much cooler in the catalogue when I was 10
Crazy I was just on eBay attempting to buy this just to do my own review. Back to the drawing board lol
Have you placed the Ertl buildings side by side with Plasticville buildings and see if they look close in scale? What opinion of yours and Seymour Salvage would you guys have of using the set as part of a Christmas tree layout? I wonder if they considered making a weight-activated mechanism for the semaphores like the one that Lionel offered in the early 1970s? You could always kit-bash the "freight station" to make it more prototypical.
I have not. I don’t believe plasticville makes any S gauge buildings?
@@cobramerciless - The Plasticville buildings were sized larger than S gauge but small than O gauge, so they could be used with either. I remember seeing the box for the barn back in the 1970s that had near the top "O-S scale".
That could be a perfect toy train easier to play with than model railroad layouts.
That train line towards the end of the Video in the D tier looks so familar. I swear I had that years ago
Very interesting that this exists, as Ertl had purchased model car kit company AMT 11 years prior. I actually have 2 AMT/Ertl kits: A 1977 Ford Cruising Van and a Supernatural branded 1967 Chevy Impala.
they went to the effort to devlop a train system but only made one set?
h e a r
t h a t
s o u n d
J o h n n y
P o p p e r
Whats the one in f teir
Carerra tempo
Ok what are the other sets
POV: playing the Home Depot theme over building the train
Being a big fan of the Soo Line , i'd LOVE to have this set ! It's "toy-like" features make it even More endearing, in my eyes 👍
i've got an old Burger King "Anastasia" promo-set that's almost Perfect TT Scale ... sometimes these TOY sets can be super Cool 👌
Thanks for this video! I didn’t know where this came from, but I got the locomotive and crossing together at Goodwill for a while back, and decided since it was like two dollars, I’d grab it for a small display piece. The locomotive still works, but the one of the crossing guards are gone, and the other had its gate missing. They also seem to be colored gray in this video, whereas mine are painted black. Mine also didn’t have stickers applied.
even tho im not a small ass kid anymore, i want this
docyou think that the track is s gauge or o gauge?
He said "S gauge" a few times....you're listening and comprehension skills need some work.
@@haywoodyoudome thanks i already knew that
By the way, is the track compatible with the Thomas & Friends ertl range
Make me want to get s gauge trains like American flyer
ertl always did do well with trains just look at the thomas toys
Thank you for bringing back this wonderful childhood memory for me. I had this set and absolutely loved it
Love the cars!
Where did you get it
eBay
Great video, man! Keep up the good work. It's a shame we didn't get more stuff in "hot wheels" scale. I had the Hot Wheels Power Express set growing up. I've been looking for a replacement on Ebay, but haven't found one where the condition and price match up with what I'm comfortable paying.
It wasnt made for model railroaders actually was made for toy farmers .....alot of people make farm layouts as well as 1-64th scale trucking of the ertle line up....
If Ertl made everything 1/87 or 1/48 that would have been great.
@@MilwaukeeF40C a lot of toy farmers never really cared...my uncle and his friends would have meets like model train clubs, I never really understood it ...he had like 15 foot by 8 foot table but they did mix scales, as long as it was close....it's a different breed than model railroaders
When can I hand the engine for like $20? (Maybe)
???
@@cobramerciless that means I want that engine
@@amtrakp4242it’s not for sale.
@@cobramerciless I meant on eBay
Can the train fit on HO track?
It does not. It’s 1/64 scale and is fully compatible with S gauge however.
@@cobramerciless aw I’m not big on S scale unfortunately
That was a GP15t
Wish they made more trains that weren’t Thomas related
@strasburgrailfan90 They did. They made a set of die-cast train cars based on Looney Tunes in 1989. They were different from the Thomas toys, as they were bigger and had the character figures protrude from the train cars, but they still used a hook-and-eye system, though it was different from Thomas' as well. The train cars consisted of Bugs Bunny in the engine, Foghorn Leghorn in the tender, Daffy Duck in the passenger coach, Elmer Fudd in the box car, Yosemite Sam in the oil tanker, and Sylvester and Tweety in the caboose. ERTL would later recycle the basis of these train cars for ones based on Lamb Chop (as Lamb Chop's Play-Along aired alongside Shining Time Station on PBS in the 90's) and McDonald's.
I Have catched this train for first time made by ertl
I Have The SOO Line Engine, But It's Dead :|
What do you mean it's boring, I want it right now!!!!!
Very cool
my boxcar was white
Raymond - Soo Line did have boxcars that where white on the side walls, with red doors, a black roof, and black end walls.
deep flanges
I want one!!
You forgot to mention that ERTL also made Thomas the Tank Engine diecast trains from 1984 until 2004 when the range got discontinued and replaced by Take Along. The trains are some of the most sought-after pieces of Thomas merch and are probably collectible nowadays.
He didn't need to. This was a discussion of Ertl *Farm County* not Ertl as a whole
4403 Was Actually a
Thank you, i always wanted this but never got it. Happy i didn’t.
I don’t regret my purchase, but it’s definitely the one I’m least satisfied with. It’s a perfect fit for my weird train collection
@@cobramerciless I probably went to KB Toys and grabbed a cheap Bachman n scale chief set instead.
Lotsa reverb on your voice over man, might need a proper microphone, would sound a lot cleaner
I’m working on it lol
When the one train was Thomas engineering tanks for mogloben Hefner times then doesn’t it? Christian
Nice
The scale of the train set makes Ertls Thomas trains look like actual toy trains
As an avid farm toy collector growing up I wanted this set so bad when I was a kid... but looking at this, it's pretty much trash compared to all of their other sets. It looked way cooler in the catalogue
Cool
Such shame ertl can’t make correct scale for Thomas Bandai tec model did better in someway
A very interesting cheesy, boxy, plastic train set! But for budget I understand!
Oh boy I hate to tell you that it costs more than some proper sets…
Guests that’s what happens when it’s desired by farm and train collectors
@@cobramerciless Oh god, never in my life would I buy that hunk of plastic LOL!!
EMD GP40
Typical cheap pole barn sliding doors. Many DO just hang from the top and can be pushed off the end especially if the stoppers fall off.
GP15M
Its a toy !
Ertl Thomas and In French
Bro pretended the Ertl thomas line didn’t exist💀
Bro, Ertl is a farm toy company first
"Only time Ertl would release anything train related *in this line* " Ertl Farm Country and Thomas are two seperate things.