Did you know that at one point the Playskool Super Express Locomotive was going to be used to create a train for Hasbro’s G.I. Joe line? It’s true, in fact that’s how I got interested in Playskool Express. I’ve been an avid G.I. Joe collector and customizer my entire life. I didn’t even know that Playskool Express existed until I started studying the G.I. Joe Prototype train. The Joe train was first mentioned to the public as part of the 30th anniversary salute trading card set produced by Comic Images in 1994. Here is a scan of that card:

1994 G.I. Joe 30th Trading Card #67

The text on the back of the card read:

Inspired by Lionel’s and American Flyer’s military toy trains of the 1950s and 1960s, the GI Joe military train was created to offer a new play pattern for kids to play with GI Joe. They scale of the train was approximately LCG size, allowing realistic interation with other GI Joe figures and accessories. Although the track, motor, and chassis components were intended to utilize Playskool molds to help defray costs, the expense was still prohibitive enough to derail the train’s production in 1991.

After that 1994 trading card set was released very little information trickled out about the G.I. Joe train until 2009 when Greg Berndtson who designed the Joe train was a special Guest at that years Official G.I. Joe Collectors Convention in Kansas City, Missouri. I was lucky enough to attend this convention and learned much of what I know about the Joe train their. Mr. Berndtson was a designer of some of the most important G.I. Joe vehicles produced in the 80s and 90s including the Mauler Tank, Tomahawk Helicopter, and the grandaddy of all G.I. Joe items the U.S.S. Flagg Aircraft Carrier Playset (Still the largest playset of any toy line ever). Mr. Berndtson presented a panel at the convention that weekend called G.I. Joe Real American Hero – Things you have never seen or heard. As part of this presentation he showed pre-production items including art an mock-up for lots of classic G.I. Joe items. One of these items was the mock-up Joe train seen in the 94′ trading card set, with an extra previously unknown tanker car!

Later on during the show the train (and other pre-pro items) we’re on display for attendees to see and Mr. Berndtson was on hand to answer question about the items. Not only was there the train mock up, but he also had a set of drawings for the train that would have been used for cost analysis. These drawings showed a rough sketch of each individual component that went into creating each car. This showed a number of differences from the mock-up prototype that he had created, but that was not uncommon in the pre production process. I took as many pictures as I could at this convention and started to work on identifying the parts that would be needed to create my own. The mock-up uses the Playskool Super Express/ Accessory Locomotive tooling, 1992 Playskool Express track, lots and lots of detail pieces from a dozen + G.I. Joe vehicles and the the wheel trucks from a New Bright brand train set.

In 2010 on the same weekend as the Official G.I. Joe Convention in Providence, Road Island, Mr. Berndtson sold the train mock-up and drawings on eBay along with other items that had been featured at the previous convention. After the auction the train went to a private collector and has not been seen again publicly again after that.

Since I first saw the train in 2009 I’ve been working diligently to try and re-create the prototype for my own collection. In this pursuit I’ve learned a good deal about the Playskool Express line and I was surprised that there was nowhere on the internet where the information that was available was gathered together. And that’s how this website came to be. I’m going to post all the info I can find on Playskool Express here, and if you have any information that I’m missing please contact me and let me know so I can add it to the site!