Hot Wheels Freight Yard from 1984 Montgomery Wards Catalog

 

For today's post, I want to take a look at the listing from the 1984 Montgomery Ward catalog for the Hot Wheels Freight Yard playset. It is a toy from the ’80s that I have drooled over for years.

The Hot Wheels Freight Yard was one of the several Sto and Go playsets that were so popular in the ’80s. It was also the largest of the bunch as it not only opened up vertically into a playest but had train tracks that folded out horizontally as well.

And unlike Hot Wheel’s other Sto and Go sets, the Freight Yard came with vehicles in the form of a locomotive, 2 freight cars, and a caboose. Item B pictured in the shot with the Freight Yard was an additional Freight Master Train Set that could be added to your Freight Yard fun.

Notice that the ad states that no electricity or batteries are needed. Since this was 1984, electric train sets were still sort of en vogue, and no one wanted market confusion with this playset.

The 1984 price tag of $34.99 on this Freight Yard translates to $94.68 in 2022 dollars, making it quite an expensive playset. Other Sto and Go playsets of the time retailed for $23.99, or $64.92 in today’s dollars. Back when I had a couple of Sto and Go playsets in the mid-’80s, I never knew how expensive of a toy I was playing with.