CIRCUS TIME: Lionel Set #71-1770-250 Sears Circus Set (1989)

Still got 'circus' flowing through the veins! LOL While I don't have a lot of circus train sets it might be nice to go go over the couple I do have. As I was hot-&-heavy into running circus trains earlier in the year you can guess that there were a lot of photos taken - however, it got so busy here on the blog posting wagons, and tents, and other miscellany that the train sets were virtually ignored. Okay, fine, let's do that thing now :-) 

The first set we'll cover is one that gave me a bit of frustration because I couldn't find it out in The Cave and I had wanted to run it so bad. All the while I was looking for a brightly decorated box with colorful graphics, I had totally forgotten that this box was a plain brown affair! DOH! This was apparently a special set made for Sears by Lionel and may have been mail-order only. Sets sold in stores would have had the colorful boxes I was so busy looking for. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Lionel Set #71-1770-250 Sears Circus Set in plain cardboard shipping box

Slide out the tray and the set reveals itself

Lots of lionel guys claim the Hudson is Lionel's workhorse. I respectfully disagree. The 4-4-2 Atlantic was found in more sets and was more widely available than the Hudson - mostly because, as a smaller engine, it would have been more affordable and withing reach of more people's budgets.

The set is very basic including gondola with canisters, and operating stockcar, and caboose

The horses heads bob in-&-out as the train rolls down the track - no actuator required

Here's a short video showing the train on my WIP layout