This set has become known as The Blue Comet set. A Blue Comet it is not. To the best of my knowledge Marx never referred to this
as a Blue Comet so I don't either. Personally, I wouldn't hamper this set with a common name like Blue Comet. Lionel made Blue
Comet Sets and anytime you want one all you have to do is go to York with enough money. They are not rare. This Marx blue Mercury set,
on the other hand, is much more difficult to find. Having the money won't necessarily buy you one. You still have to find one for
sale!
There are two versions of this set with the difference being the tender. This one has the more common band litho tender and is
probably from 1951 or 52. The 1950 catalog shows the set with a blue rivet tender which I have seen but don't own.
To me, these sets would have been prettier had Marx stayed with the black frames. Interestingly, in the post 1953 era Marx did offer
these coaches on black frames with plastic
knuckle couplers (PKC). Unfortunately they did not offer them in a set.
Blue Mercury sets show their playwear badly. Because the blue was litho'd over the white every little scratch and nick shows up.
This set has virtually no playwear but the few scratches it does have are noticable.
Postwar box art suffered. This set box which has become known as the "timetable box" is not much to look at. It's bold and eye
catching, and probably was designed to "jump out" on the store shelf, but forgive me for being sentimental, I love the prewar box
art.
This box is much like other Marx clockwork set boxes except the trains are upright rather than on their sides. The box is a little
deeper than most. I don't quite know why this was done.