Canadian Tri-ang Railways - 1959 Special Set
Simpsons-Sears RLX SPECIAL 5-unit Double Diesel Freighter Set
Cat. No. 049N 9972L
The set was comprised of the R.55 silver and red Diesel Locomotive, R.57 Non-powered silver and red Dummy Diesel Locomotive, R.114 Box Car, R.116 Gondola Car, R.115 Caboose, large oval of Standard Track (R.97 Power Connecting and Uncoupling Track, R.107 Television Interference Suppressor Track, 4x R.96 Straight, and 12x R.106 Large Radius Curve), R.42 Speed Control Unit plus a P.1C Transformer-Rectifier Unit.
The Transformer-Rectifier Unit was supplied separately to the set box.
The standard combined price for the set was originally $39.98 Canadian. However, the set is advertised in the Simpsons-Sears 1959 Christmas Catalogue at the significantly reduced price of $26.98 - almost one-third off the recommended retail price.
There may be several reasons for this very large price reduction. One reason may have been that Simpsons-Sears had a large surfeit of these particular sets and simply wanted to rapidly off-load them. However, the fact that this is a Standard Track set and it is being advertised for sale at Christmas 1959 (when Tri-ang were now issuing sets with the newer Series 3 Track) suggests an alternative theory - It seems more likely that Tri-ang, themselves, had a large surplus of RLX sets in their Canadian warehouse and offered a special deal to Simpsons-Sears with a very large discount in order to clear unwanted surplus stocks. In addition, at this date, the P.1C Transformer-Rectifier Unit had also been replaced by more modern power controllers: so that was further stock that needed to be cleared.
The Transformer-Rectifier Unit was supplied separately to the set box.
The standard combined price for the set was originally $39.98 Canadian. However, the set is advertised in the Simpsons-Sears 1959 Christmas Catalogue at the significantly reduced price of $26.98 - almost one-third off the recommended retail price.
There may be several reasons for this very large price reduction. One reason may have been that Simpsons-Sears had a large surfeit of these particular sets and simply wanted to rapidly off-load them. However, the fact that this is a Standard Track set and it is being advertised for sale at Christmas 1959 (when Tri-ang were now issuing sets with the newer Series 3 Track) suggests an alternative theory - It seems more likely that Tri-ang, themselves, had a large surplus of RLX sets in their Canadian warehouse and offered a special deal to Simpsons-Sears with a very large discount in order to clear unwanted surplus stocks. In addition, at this date, the P.1C Transformer-Rectifier Unit had also been replaced by more modern power controllers: so that was further stock that needed to be cleared.