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This is a page in which to share information, to help the collector understand some of the differences in the Schuco Disneyland Monorail products, and perhaps to raise a few questions here and there. New entries are usually toward the bottom. Any contribution you can give to this page would be greatly appreciated. Please email me: Trainfool@aol.com
Updated February 6, 2009--See entry #38 Updated March 13, 2009--Picture added to entry #2 and #20 Updated September 5, 2009--See entry #4 Updated December 4, 2009--See entry #9 Updated December 4, 2009--More information added about the #150 transformer in entry #13 Updated March 16, 2010--See entry #9 #10, #21, #23 and #39 Updated May 19, 2010--See entry #40 and #41 Updated June 14, 2010--Entry #39 Updated August 25, 2010--Entries #3 and 7 Updated November 10, 2010--Entry #18
1. Some 6333/99 Accessory Packs did not come with a picture on the lid. The lids are a plain brown cardboard. Labels are usually on the top and/or on the side indictating a #6333/99. We have seen the Accessory Packs with the pictures with a 6333/99 label glued on top of the picture, and some sets without this label. Some accessory packs also have a label glued on the side of the box. I have one set with an ink stamped number on the side. confirmed by collectors from Canada and Colorado 2. Some silver monorails have their bolsters painted red like their noses. I have had one in a set. Does anyone know anything else about this variation? The red on these is always a deeper, cherry red. Since this original posting back in the 90's, I have seen two of these in four car versions, one loose and one in a S set. The plastic connecting bolster remained gray, so the four car looks rather odd with two red bolsters and a gray one in the middle. There must not have been many of this style made. Also see #24. UPDATE--A collector in North Carolina has a MINT set that contains a silver monorail with red bolsters. Click here for a picture. confirmed by collectors from Massachusetts,Colorado, Texas, and Germany 3. There are two basic types of railings for the track, blackened steel and brass. However, there are several types of plastic moldings to hold the railings. The two most obvious are the ones with only three holes underneath and ones with five holes and a more hollowed out look underneath. Less obvious is the different mold markings including ten circles on one side of the track and none at all on some others. Other variances include a top rail that sinks more into the track while others stick up higher. There are also many different kinds of tubes: silver (probably steel) with indentations, straight silver tubes, straight brass tubes, and black tubes for the blackened rails. Here is a timeline of the styles of track from oldest to latest produced: 1) Black rails with black connecting tubes. Connecting tubes have a crimp in the middle. Plastic has only three holes underneath for pylons. All rails and tubes are blackened steel and will become silver if polished or rubbed enough. Top rail is sunken into the plastic. 2) Brass rails with silver steel connecting tubes. The top brass rail is sunken into the plasitc. Connecting tubes have a crump in the middle. Plastic now has five holes and slots underneath. ALL the slots have a straight end. During this period you will find a mix of black rails with 5 holed plastic and brass rails with three holed plastic. Schuco put together whatever was on hand. 4) Brass rails with steel connecting tubes. The connecting tubes no longer have the crimp in the middle. The top rail is still sunk into the plastic and the end of the slots underneath are still straight. The question is whether there was only one mold of track and the rails determined whether it was a straight or curve, OR if there were actually two different molds. My experience is that if you take out all the rails, the plastic track will either go straight or curve. This seems to prove that there were two different molds. However, I have taken many straight rails out of their molds and the mold goes to a curve form, but very seldom do I take curved rails out and the molds go straight. Does this mean that all molds were curved originally and just some oddball molds stay straight because of the years gone by? Please let me know if you know the answer! 5) Brass rails with steel connecting tubes with no crimp. The top rail is now above the plastic molding. The slot underneath now has a straight end if the track is a #1, and a rounded end if it is a #2. If you take all the rails out, the plastic will now either be straight if it is a #1 or curve if it is a #2. 6) Same as above, but now the connecting tubes are made of brass. extensive research from a Texas collector and myself 4. On newer and majority of half tracks (#3 and #4), the numbers are molded onto the sides of the plastic, so you cannot confuse which track is which. The first half tracks did NOT have a number molded on them. The rails and connecting tubes follow the history of the full tracks, though I do not believe there were ever black railed half tracks produced by Schuco. generic observations UPDATE: 7-24-2008. The plastic moldings for #3 and #4 half tracks have a distinct difference on the bottom. The slot on the straights are straight on the end, and the slots on the curves are rounded! This is also true on #1 and #2 tracks that have the raised rail. I believe that this style was the last that Schuco produced. With this new observation, you can always tell what the original track was manufactured as. Thanks to a German collector for this information!!! Observation by a German collector UPDATE 9-5-2009. I have received a G set where every track was brittle. As soon as you flexed it a little, the plastic crumbled like a baked cookie. I believe this track was exposed to extreme heat for a long period of time. Perhaps it was stored in an attic? I have cleaned hundreds of pieces of track, probably thousands, and have never come across this until now. However, an expert in Canada has experienced this. 5. Schuco used 6333/3 half straight tracks, bent them, and put them in S and H Sets for 6333/4 curved track. I have only ever seen this combination. I have never seen #4 curves put in as half straights. confirmed by original purchasers of these sets in Germany, Australia, and Florida 6. Schuco put in right hand switches in some H sets even though the picture on the lid shows a left. There is a possibility this was switched by the store, but probably unlikely. I have seen several H sets with right hand switches, so I am pretty sure Schuco just put in whatever was on hand. confirmed by an original owner of an H set in Florida 7. Over the years the gray plastic in some of the pylons, pylon tips (cones), and switches turns yellow, sometimes even a brownish color. Is this from natural aging of the plastic used by Schuco or ultraviolet light? The answer is actually oxidation. I've seen sets where the side facing up is yellow and the side down is gray. I have had boxed pylons which saw very little light, but yet still turned yellow. Several toy collectors have confirmed that plastic turns color with age. Also, some of the windows in the monorails turned yellow. Apparently, the bottom line of the yellowing is oxidation. The oxidation of the plastic is a physical change of the material itself, and therefore, can never be restored. To slow down the oxidation process, it is suggested to keep the plastic out of UV llight, in a cool place, and low humidity. general observation and research from several toy historians 8. There are two completely different shades of blue (and a lot of shades in between) on the monorails. There is a bright sky blue and a dull darker blue often referred to by collectors as the "Turquoise" monorail. Schuco sometimes mismatched these in sets. The red color of the monorails can vary also. One of the big differences is a sometimes deep cherry red used on the noses of the silver monorails. There is also a deeper red monorail with a silver nose. I have been told that the blue paint used in the 60's often changed colors. Marklin had a similar problem. This would explain why there are so many shades of blue and why even the same trains have different shades. general observation and contact with a Schuco employee NOTE: There are no yellow or "gold" monorails from the Schuco factory. Some collectors, including myself, have painted some beat up models yellow. Schuco only painted red, blue, and silver monorails, though there are several shade variations. 9. Though the majority of some of the smaller accessory controllers are made from green plastic, some are molded in yellow. Examples I have are the 6333/41 switch controller, the 6333/42 two terminal connector, the 6333/43 six terminal connector, and the 6333/46 pole reverser. Have you seen any other items or colors? YES, a collector in California has these items in a marble blue and a marble pink plastic. UPDATE 12-4-2009: I have just purchased a 6333/43 in a marble maroon or purplish plastic. UPDATE 3-16-2010: I have AC to DC converters, #47, in four color variations: The normal greenish color that most items are in, a very bright blue, a solid yellow, and one with a black top and yellow bottom. 10. Straight track (6333/1) came in boxes of 10 or 5, but 10 is the more common. UPDATE 3-21-2010: I have just acquired 3 boxes of straight track that have 14 pieces in each box. The #1 factory label is pasted on a #2 box. The "10x" is crossed off and a "14" is in its place. 11. An original Schuco bolster that came with the four car monorail in the S set and the 6333/0/2b was made out of gray plastic and was not painted. Reproduction bolsters are usually painted silver and molded out of light brown plastic. 12. Schuco listed a 6333/21 L and R manual switch. Have you ever seen one? UPDATE--I have acquired left and right hand manual switches in their boxes!! One box is plain cardboard with the end label description and the other is in the checkered box with the end label. 13. The 6333/150 Schuco transformer puts out around 30 volts DC on the variable terminals, 27 volts on the DC fixed terminal, and 14 volts on the fixed AC terminal. All of these measurements are with no load. confirmed by collectors in Florida, Canada, and Colorado There were two different tranformers produced when concerning the input voltage: 110 volts and 220 volts. These are clearly marked on the transformer itself, and on the boxes. I do have a 110 volt transformer with a Europeon plug. UPDATE 1/26/07: The F.A.O. Schwarz 1962 Christmas catalog lists the transformer at 10 watts. This seems rather low to me, expecially when compared to Lionel transformers made at the time. Small Lionel transformers were 45 watts. Any info or help in understanding this would be greatly appreciated. Can someone with electrical knowledge inform us if you can plug a 220 transformer into a 110 outlet and have it work, or must you buy a 110 to 220 step up converter? ANSWER: According to 2 replies from electrical engineers, it would not hurt to plug in a 220 transformer into a 110 outlet; however, the transformer would not work correctly. Both said it would be wise to buy the converter. My experience has been to buy a step up/step down converter from an electrical supply house. The converters I have seen there work both ways and seem well built. 14. The length of the pylons is measured from the bottom to the top lip of the large cylindrical part of the pylon where the cone sits. Therefore, a 80mm pylon is indeed 80mm using this method; however, there is an additional 13mm beyond this point where the track sits (bottom of the pin). So the bottom of a track sitting on top of a 80mm pylon is really around 93mm away from the surface below. 15. Some monorails have two Santa Fe decals on the front and rear cars while others only have one. The total of four Santa Fe decals seems to be the rarer. I have seen the four decal version on both red and blue monorails, but never on the silver. Have you? UPDATE: I have just received a MINT set from Spain with one decal on the front and two on the back of a red monorail. Apparently Schuco paid no attention to this and simply slapped the decals on. 16. There is an interesting variation of the monorail body (shell) itself. Some front and rear cars have a small lip that go over the bulb area. This is only around 1/16 of an inch, but is definitely different than most monorails. I have only seen this variation on the silver monorails with the red noses. Please let me know if you have seen this on other colors. 17. A California collector informs me that there is a variation in the monorail weights, and he is absolutely right! Some weights have slots to allow the side pickup arms to swing more freely while the other weights are solid. He was having problems with his monorail shorting out when the side pickups hit the side weight plate, thus probably the reason Schuco put in the slots. 18. It is assumed that the color manuals were printed in the same languages that were used on some of the smaller instruction sheets such as the switches, block signals, etc. These languages are German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, and Swedish. I have the German, English, and French complete. I have just the cover of the Italian. Does anyone have the others or a complete Italian color manual? UPDATE: Though I have not yet found a color manual in anything but German, French, and English, I have found a translation sheet for the 24 page German manual in Spanish. UPDATE 1/26/07: I have seen a translation sheet for the 16 page German manual in French. UPDATE 11/10/10 Here are some more details on the color manuals. A 16 paged color manual was included with the 1st generation G set. On the cover you will find a red monorail as it appeared in that set, NO tail fins. This is an easy way to detect with a quick glance which color manual you are looking at without having to look at the page numbers. Also, the back covers of each manual are completely different. There are several other differences inside, of course. To see a picture of the manual and other papers that came with the 1st Generation set, click here. The 2nd generation set came with a 24 page color manual. A red monorail WITH tail fins is pictured on the cover. Sometimes with the 2nd generation set you will find a small white piece of paper with the a picture of the set and a listing of the parts. To see a picture of this manual and the other papers which came with the 2nd Generation set, click here. It has been my experience that many of the 2nd generation sets came with the 16 page color manual. This is true with the American Set and the S set. My guess is that these sets were the early versions and Schuco wanted to deplete their stock of the 16 page manual. Later 2nd Generation sets and S sets would have the 24 page German manual in them. Later American sets had the English manual in them. The last 2nd Generation sets to be produced and shipped to the USA were also lucky enough to find an English 24 page color manual in them! Of course, manuals can be easily swapped around over 50 years of time, but it would be proper to say that the 16 page manual belongs in the 1st Generation set because it is the one listed in that manual. The 24 page manual lists the 2nd Generation set and the S set, thus it would only be logical that these manuals belong in those sets. The American set is not listed in either manual, but I have only ever seen a 16 page German manual or the English manual in the sets. The English manual seems more fitting in the American set since that set was made specifically for the North American market. Please share your experience with this! Also, I would like to hear from other countries such as Spain, France, and Italy as to what language manual was found there. Has anyone ever seen a complete Italian manual? 19. If someone cut the bottom part of a pylon, you cannot stack that pylon on top of another anymore. 20. There was cellophane wrapped around the bottom of at least the 6333/G circle sets. This cellophane should not be confused with shrink-wrap as we know today. The cellophane became brittle like the little bags which contain pins, rubber feet, etc. The cellophane may yellow also. The cellophane was wrapped around only the styrofoam portion of the set, not the cardboard box. The manuals and paper work were put on top of the the cellophaned sets and then shipped to stores, thus the manuals could have easily slipped out. Click here for a picture. confirmed by collectors from Maryland, two from California and an auction on Ebay in 2009 UPDATE: I have received a MINT set from Spain which only had tape across the tracks and parts to hold them in, no cellophane wrap. 21. I just realized it might be helpful to list how many pieces came in original Schuco Boxes: 6333/0 One 3 car monorail came in a box Note--The monorail checkered blue box held the three individual boxes, 6333/01, 6333/0/2, and 6333/0/3. I have only ever seen this box with the picture of the red monorail on the front and believe this is the only color that was printed. The color of the monorail inside the box was indicated by a colored dot stuck on one of the end flaps. The red papered monorail box only held the monorail, no individual boxes. 6333/0/1 One motor driven front cab came in a box 6333/0/2 One center car came in a box 6333/0/2b One center car with a bolster to make a 4 or more car unit came in a box 6333/0/3 One rear car came in a box 6333/1 Straight track had 5 or 10 or 14, the normal was 10. 6333/2 Curved track had 10 per box 6333/3 Straight half track had 10 per box 6333/4 Curved half track had 10 per box 6333/5 Balancer track had 10 per box 6333/8 End of track bumper had 5 per box 6333/15 Insulated curve had 5 per box 6333/16 Insulated straight track had 5 per box. Have a box with 10 and labeled as such. 6333/17 Rail connectors had 10 bags of 5 per bag or a total of 50 per box 6333/18 Rail connectors to go around the terminals had 10 bags of 2 per bag or a total of 20 terminals per box 6333/19 Pins had 10 bags of 10 per bag or a total of 100 per box. Note 12/5/07: The red box has 20 bags of 10 or 200 per box. I'm not sure if this is true for all red boxes, but the one I have has the information stamped on the side and definitely has the 20 bags. 6333/20 Electric switches had one switch per box. The number of pins that came with each switch seems to vary from zero to 6. 6333/21 Manual switches. One per box with a bag of pins (around 5) and instructions. 6333/26 Automatic switches came one per box. UPDATE: A Canadian collector has a box with 2 6333/26's in it, and the box is marked as such. 6333/26/2 special pylons for above came with 10 per box. UPDATE September 2007: There are actually two different shapes of boxes, both have 10 pylons in them. 6333/26/3 special wire and plug for above came in a bag. There was one plug per bag. 6333/27 Block Signal. There was one per box. 6333/27/3 Extension cable for above. One per box--shape of box varied. 6333/28 Manual block control switch. One per box. 6333/41 Control panel for electric switches. One per box. 6333/42 2 way distributor. Five per box 6333/43 6 way distributor. Two per box. 6333/44 Single terminal. Five or maybe 10 per box. (I need this box--PLEASE HELP) 6333/45 Double terminal. Updated 2/13/08: I finally have acquired 2 of these boxes on Ebay. The label has a 1x on it, but in faint ink there is a 5x stamped on the label. If the 5x means five bags, and thus 10 total #45, I do not believe they would fit. Five individual #45's fit rather nicely, but does not explain that there are 2 #45's packaged in a bag (see note below). This may remain a mystery for a long time. UPDATE: A Canadian collector has 2 terminals sealed in a cellophane bag, and I have also purchased 2 #44's sealed in a cellophane bag. Thus, Schuco may have labeled that there were 5 bags in the #44 and #45 box, or a total of 10 units. This would be similar to markings on the #17's, 18's, 19's, 69's, and 70's where the number of bags is indicated, not the total number of units in the box. 6333/46 Reversing switch for AC transformer usage. One per box. 6333/47 Converter for AC transformers to DC. One per box. 6333/48 1 meter of red wire. I have never seen a box for these. I would guess that they would come in bags, if anything. I have purchased loose wires. Please notify me if you have any information on this. UPDATE September 2007: Several of these wires just appeared for sale on Ebay. They did indeed come in a envelope similar to the #26/3. UPDATE March 2010: I have purchased a boxed collection that contains 3 boxes of #48 wires. These wires are wrapped like those in sets. There are NO printed and pictured labels on these boxes, only hand written on a white label. Therefore, the authenicity of these boxes can be questioned. There are 10 wires in each box. The box is similar to a #27 box. 6333/49 1 meter of black wire. I have never seen a box for these. I would guess that they would come in bags, if anything. I have purchased loose wires. Please notify me if you have any information on this. Update September 2007: Several of these wires just appeared for sale on Ebay. They did indeed come in a envelope similar to the #26/3. UPDATE March 2010: I have purchased a boxed collection that contains 3 boxes of #49 wires. These wires are wrapped like those in sets. There are NO printed and pictured labels on these boxes, only hand written on a white label. Therefore, the authenticity of these boxes can be questioned. There are 10 wires in each box. The box is similar to a #27 box. 6333/61 through 6333/68 Pillars or Pylons. All came 10 to a box. UPDATE 3/14/07: I have just purchased an unusual red box of #61's in where there is a "20" stamped on the box, and there are indeed 20 pylons. These pylons are the 8mm variety. See #36 UPDATE: A Canadian collector has boxes of 6333/66's with a "6" marked on it. UPDATE: There was a box of #66's on Ebay in 2006 that had 12 in the box. Unfortunately I did not win the box. Obviously, the box would have to be bigger than the normal one that held 10. 6333/69 Rubber feet had 10 bags with 10 feet per bag or a total of 100 per box. 6333/70 Pillar tips or Pylon caps had 10 bags with 5 per bag or a total of 50 per box. 6333/71 Dual rail supports had 5 per box. 6333/72 Bases had 10 per box. I am not aware of any other parts that came in boxes. Please share if you do. 22. Early Schuco boxes were covered with red paper and the number of the item was simply stamped on it. Later boxes were white and blue checkered. Usually a small label was attached to the box to say and show what was inside. 23. Look on the bottom of your 6333/27 signals. Some have the number marked on them, and some do not. UPDATE March 2010: I have always wondered why there are usually melt marks on the #27 block signals. These are one of the most fragile pieces Schuco made, mainly because the wires are so small in this unit. They are actually melted into the plastic where the bulbs are. Because of this, I believed that the melt marks were from soldering irons used by the factory workers. However, this is not the case. The melt marks are caused from a chemical reaction from the plastic insulation around the wires and the the plastic that the item is made of. This has occured in similar situations with other toys, the Lionel #65 handcar for one example, where the rubber figures melted away the rest of the hand car over time. I have received several mint #27's in the box where the insulation has melted away the stem of the block signal. This also explains why these melt marks are sometimes seen on switches (#20 points). The wire from the #27 sits on them and eventually leaves a melt mark. I have seen this melt mark on a monorail! Also, you see it a lot on the plastic inserts of the S set and the H set--right where the block signals are stored! Be careful how you store your #27's! The chemical reaction, however, seems to only occur during the first few years of the item's life. All of my units, now stored for almost 15 years, don't seem to be having a problem. They are in a cool basement and heat may help activate this reaction. You can tone down these marks with a very fine file or even using a track eraser/cleaner. Some are so deep that you can never totally save the appearance of the unit, but some can be corrected to where you would never notice the defect. 24. The Silver monorails with the red bolsters have gray wheel gears! I have only seen this color in this monorail color variation. The wheels are the ones with the square holes. To this date I have only had 2 complete silver monorails with the red bolster. Both had the gray wheel gears. confirmed by another collector 25. Get out your 6333/45 double terminals and take a look at them! Some have red metal sides and some have silver metal sides with red plates behind the terminals! ALSO--the 6333/44's are different. Some have black metal sides and some have silver metal sides. The terminals with the colored metal sides seem to be rarer. Also, some of the terminals have the number printed on them and some do not. 26. There are three styles of wheel units. All of these are easy to take apart, but you can crack or break the plastic caps. Carefully wedge a small flat blade screwdriver or pocket knife blade inbetwen the plastic or tin cover and rubber wheel, and gently pry it up. You must do this to both sides. You will then have 2 end caps, 2 rubber wheels, and a middle gear section. Here are the 3 types of wheels: TYPE A--Thin rubber wheels sandwiched between a black gear and a tin cap. The rubber wheels have a small round hole drilled in the middle. TYPE B--Fat rubber wheels sandwiched between a black gear and usually a black cap. I have seen one made in white. The rubber wheels have a BIG hole in the center and look much like a rubber washer. These wheels slip on their housing and are bad news once they start slipping. I have tried gluing them, but the results are poor. The best solution is to simply replace them with either Type A or Type C wheel units. Fortunately, not many of these were made. TYPE C--Fat rubber wheels sandwiched between a black gear and usually a white cap. See #24. The rubber wheels have a square hole in the center. This was Schuco's final solution to help the monorails run better. All they really needed to do was to go to a softer rubber with the TYPE A wheels, though the Type C units work very well with reproduction wheels. 27. There are at least 3 variations of the motor housing body. The first one in the oldest monorails is very light made of a black metal. The slot in the bottom where the wheels fit can only hold the TYPE A units. You cannot swap a TYPE B or C into this housing as the wheels are too fat and will not fit. Later, the same black metal base was used, but the slot for the wheels was made wider and will hold any type of wheel unit. The bodies which were molded in the late 60's were made of silver metal and much heavier. These bodies will hold any style of wheel unit. The wiring and direction switch levers changed throughout the years also. Early switch levers do not always make good contact. Also, in the early and middle aged models a metal strip was used to conduct electricity from the back to the front of the housing. When you put on the plastic monorail top, it often pressed this metal strip against the motor, thus shorting out the whole unit! A quick fix is to simply put a piece of electrical tape between the motor and the metal strip. The later models have a wire, usually green, taking the place of the metal strip. UPDATE: The heavy, later models have different wiring! All of the early motor bases relied on the center pickup to ground against the body. The heaviest motor base, and probably the last one produced, has an added electrical tube for the center pickup, similar to the side electrical tubes on all the monorails. A wire runs from the center pickup tube to the left motor brush. In older versions, the left motor brush simply gets its power by being grounded to the base. In the new version, it is still grounded, but also has the 2 wires running to it from the center pickup electrical tubes. This would obviously make a better electrical connection to the motor. It also made the complete gray unit weaker, and thus you find a lot of these cracked down the middle. 28. Schuco made a black box for the S set! I have just received one from Germany and there has been a second one on Ebay since I purchased mine. The paper is just like the red paper as far as texture. The plastic insert is much thicker and mine is a deeper yellow. The plastic is much stronger. I will put a picture of this variation under SETS/S Set. 29. Some #17 track clips have a flattened look in the middle of the bracket. 30. Does anyone know if there is a screwdriver for the triangular screws? Surely the Schuco factory workers used them to put the skirts on the monorails. Please inform us if you have any information on this. UPDATE 1/27/07: A Massachusetts collector has found a bit that fits most of the triangular screws. My experience in using it is that the screw slot needs to be flawless in order for the bit to work. There are some screws where the bit just doesn't seem to work. I guess this could mean that there are actually different variations of the triangular sloted screw that Schuco used. The triangular bit needs to be around 1.80 millimeters. I would still like to find an original Schuco triangular screwdriver, if they exist. Please help! 31. Some of the monorails have the "Disneyland Alweg Monorail System" decal placed under the switch on the motor units. I have now seen this on both red and blue monorails, but not silver. This probably was a bad idea as the decals would soon wear off from the operator moving the switch back and forth. 32. On page 10 of the 16 page German Schuco manual, the transformer pictured and captioned as the 6333/150 is actually a Fleischmann #712 transformer. It is a good transformer to run the monorails and is rated at 14 volts DC at a one amp load. However, it does not have a fixed DC voltage output for the switches. The AC output is also rated at 14 volts with a 1 amp load. On mine, the variable DC side puts out 20.2 volts with no load which is great! The AC side registers at 17.75 volts, which may be little high for one block signal, but you would probably be okay with 2 or more on the layout. Does anyone have any history as to why Schuco pictured this transformer as the #6333/150? 33. On page 6 of the 16 page German Schuco manual, the #6333/20 switch more resembles the manual switch, #21, than the electric #20's. 34. NEW FIND. A collector has sent me a picture of the American Set which he purchased in 1973 with a cardboard insert. This insert is identical to the plastic one, but made of cardboard! It has the Schuco logo stamped on it. To see a picture, go to "Sets" then click on the H set or click here. 35. The first Schuco monorails had no tail fins whereas the first Disneyland monorails did. These were in the first 6333G sets or "Oval Sets," and only the red and blue monorails came this way. In 1962, the tail fins were added on the Schuco models. The ironic part of this is that around the same time, the original Disneyland monorails were losing the tail lights on the tail fins. This was because there was a problem of them breaking when backing up the monorail. The Disneyland monorails still obtained that tail fin look, however. Tail finned Schuco monorails always included weights on the front car from the factory. You could purchase and add the weights to the non tail finned monorails. My experience is that you have to file off some of the sides of the tabs on the weights to get them to fit into the older style monorails. It is a tight fit, and you definitely do not need the special wheel/gear bracket that came with the newer monorails. This bracket has a side tab that allowed one to screw the weight plate into it making it more secure. 36. I always assumed that Schuco never gave you a center pin (#633/19) with a piece of track. There is a label on the boxes of track telling you to buy the center pin. However, in October of 2007, I purchase 3 mint boxes of track, two straights and one curve. These were supposedly left over stock from an old toy store in Germany. None of the boxes have the warning label on them and all 30 tracks have a pin in them. These are the newer style of track with the raised center rail and the brass tubing. I am beginning to believe that Schuco finally realized their blunder by not including at least one center rail pin with each piece of track. Confirmed again when buying another boxed collection in 2010. 37. I have never talked about the cardboard inserts that came inside some of the accessory boxes. Usually there was a cardboard insert with all track boxes (#1,2,3,4,15, & 16) and one with the #150 transformer. These are the only inserts that I am aware. The track inserts are usually a brownish/yellow cardboard that is very brittle. I have seen inserts with one end tab and some with two. It is possible that the inserts with one end tab have simply lost the other end, but usually that end shows a rip or tear in the cardboard. I have seen ones that look very clean, like no end tab ever existed. I do admit that it would not make sense to put on just one end tab as the pins from the track would just poke through the box on the other end without the protective tab. Also, I have seen one insert that is made of a gray cardboard. I believe this to be original. I would like to hear from other collectors on this subject. Update 2/13/2008 I am reminded by a Candian collector that there were cardboard inserts on the 0/1, 0/2, 0/2b, and 0/3 boxed units. A piece of cardboard is wrapped around the cars, and there is a square of cardboard on each end. 38. There are two different styles of connectors in the 6333/0/2 middle cars. The first generation monorails had only the copper metal strips that clip onto the front and rear cars. Later, a plastic black bracket was added. It appears that the purpose of this addition is to strengthen the springiness of the copper metal strip. In other words, it forces the metal strip to stay up, thus causing it to clamp more on the front and rear cars. I have checked all of my first generation sets and in every one the middle car only has the copper metal plate. Of course, throughout the years, middle cars could be swapped around. confirmed with collector in North Carolina 39. UPDATE 3/16/2010: I am sure I have this discussed somewhere, but did not see it listed here. Some motor units run the opposite way of "normal" motors. I have come across at least five of these. I've probably have worked on at least 100 monorails, so the percentage of this phenomenon is low. They are almost always in a silver monorail and many times in the one that has the red bolsters. They are wired identical to all other monorails, yet run the opposite direction. This is not a problem unless you plan on running two monorails on the same track with one transformer. Otherwise,you can simply reverse the wiring to the track that is running this monorail. To my knowledge, the only way you can correct this in the power unit is to switch the wiring to the brushes of the motor. That means unhooking the ground brush which is soldered indirectly to the body. It is an easy fix and simply a matter of running a short wire to opposite brushes. My only guess as to why this reversal occurs is that the wire wrappings on the motor itself are opposite of all the other normal motors. This is only a guess, and I would greatly appreciate any expert analysis on this issue. I have taken advantage of this reversal by putting it on the rear of a monorail train. I simply took off the weights, put on tail fin skirts, and replaced the white bulb with a red. This unit, now with two power units, runs very well! It can be run at much lower voltages than other monorails. The fact that you are getting power pickups from both units help smooth out the operation of the trains. I am sure you can now run several middle cars inbetween, and you don't have to worry about the red bulb blinking since it draws its own power from the rear unit. UPDATE June 2010: An electrical engineer has verified that the direction of the wire wrappings would indeed influence the direction that the unit runs. 40. UPDATE 5/19/2010: I have failed to mention two aspects about the packaging of the monorails and the sets. One is the presence of a colored dot or rectangle on the set lids and individual monorail unit boxes. The other is mentioned in #41 below referring to the color of the Schuco logo on the styrofoam inserts. I will cover the "dots" here. On most of the lids that have the picture graphic on it, there is a dot or rectangle on one side. This indicates the color of the monorail inside. For some reason lately, I have seen many red dots with silver monorails inside. However, there are definitely silver dots. Monorails could have been easily swapped around at hobby shops. There has always been confusion as to calling a silver monorail "red" since it does have a red nose. The dots were also put on the ends of the three car monorail boxes. This would have been helpful since all of the pictures on the outside were always of the red monorail. I imagine there was some confusion with the purchaser seeing a red pictured monorail and believing that was the color of the unit inside. The dot at least was an attempt by Schuco to help the buyer understand what color was inside. These dots also appear on some of the individual monorail units such as the 6333/0/1 front car, 6333/0/2 middle car, etc. Dots seem to come in two sizes, small and large. I have only ever seen one size of the rectangular indicator. The dots do not seem to appear as often on American or S sets, but I have seen them on those lids also. 41. UPDATE 5/19/2010: This is something that I have noticed on styrofoam inserts, but have never given it much thought, and that is the color of the "Schuco" logo. Some collectors insist that a red painted logo means that a red monorail occupies the insert. A silver logo would have a silver monorail. However, I have never seen a blue painted logo on a styrofoam insert. Now that this has been brought to my attention, I have noticed that right now, most of the blue monorails are in a styrofoam insert with a silver painted logo. I will try to gather more information on this as I see more sets, and wish I would have kept track of all the many sets I have seen over the past two decades. I also question whether the paint is silver or gold or maybe there is both? Your opinions on this would be greatly appreciated. Some styrofoam inserts have painted stripes on the side. I have not noticed any connection with the stripe and the monorail inside and just considered them design changes. Again, if you have any observations on this, please share them. 42. UPDATE 3/14/07 There are three sizes of the 6333/61 pylons. In the 16 page German manual they are listed as 8mm. Later the 6333/61 is listed as a 15mm pylon. There are two versions of the 8mm pylon. Both of the cylindrical parts are 8mm, but the cone part of one is only about 1mm and the other is 3mm. The later 15mm pylon is 15mm if you measure the cylindrical and cone parts together! confirmed by a collector from Canada and Germany |
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