QUOTE (adecoaches26point4 @ 10 Jun 2007, 20:15)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Bryan,
The golden arrow set you have is worth a small fortune.I saw one some time ago on Ebay.
Have all the coaches in the set got different numbers?
The white coach you have, I think? only ran in Egypt,as the rail connection from Istanbul to Cairo was never completed.
The coaches make a superb and striking train
David
Thanks for your reply David.
The set has four coaches of different numbers and the ref book gives manufacture date of 1989,18 years old!
They have NEM pockets and have close couple mechanism.Not as close as I'd like but better than the old ones which aren't equiped NEM and CC mechanism. They are'85 and earlier.The corridor connections have little protruding grab handles which would bind in reverse curves.I would not want to remove them.
A rake of them is great to see.
The loco came with the Flesche d'Or logo and coaches came with coach desination boards.These coaches are preserved in the Mulhouse museum apparently reading from the lavishly huge '83 catalogue with the Orient Express picture on the cover.
The set was new and I was lucky to get it in the good old days of eBay.
I can't find any history regards the prototype Egypt version except for your comments.I did not know about that.
By the way and this is not a boast the last time I saw the Egypt car it went for US$300+.The seller was Vahs and he has some very choice minty items on from time to time.
Again I was very lucky to get my "Egypt sample" plus about ten other various types and liveries blue,blue white and chocolate and cream over the years.
Now they reach out of sight prices quite out of my range.
The new Hornby ones seem cheap in comparison.I'd like to see how they match up to the old ones.
It seems a lot of Italian collectors are very interested in the old Rivarossi items these days going by the winning bidders.
Regards,
Bryan.