Soviet era Moskabel "Iosif Stalin 1951" locomotive, O Scale, made of Zamac, very heavy, has a huge AC motor, bidirectional light, 3 rail AC, c8, This is the much rarer version dating from 1951 when Stalin was still alive.These train sets are very scarce, especially in high quality.Their existence was initially known to very few people both inside and outside of the Soviet Union.Today they are referred to as the Moskabel trains because they were produced at the Moskabel (Moscow Cable Company) factory.The trains were made under the auspices of the Ministry of Electrotechnical Industries.The initials MEP, which are Cyrillic for this ministry, were cast into the locomotive body along with those of the then leader of the USSR, Joseph Stalin, and the number 51.Some individuals believe that the current Russian government now regards these trains as national treasures and this has made it more difficult to get them out of the country and increased their price.Stories have been told about aggressive customs officials seizing these trains and either denying their export or requiring a significant sum of money in the form of bribes to allow the trains to be removed.The Soviet trains were made for 19 years and production ceased in 1969.The first sets made during the 1950's were hand crafted and hand finished.Some were specially painted and detailed to reflect the position, occasion, or person who would receive it.Very few of these sets were produced.It wasn't until 1956 that the production was escalated and the Moskabel manufacturing facility began to be utilized.The locomotive still had Joseph Stalin's initials, the letters MEP and the number 51 painted on the cab sides.All of the sets produced in the 1950's are referred to today as the 'Stalin-era' made trains.The sets produced later on in the 1960's included a modified engine without Stalin's initials, the MEP designation or the number 51 on the cab.Instead a raised blank plate was substituted on the cab sides, and these sets are referred to as the 'Khrushchev-era' sets.A locomotive was included with every train set produced by the Soviet Union in the 1950's and 1960's.


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