340 Railroad Control Tower
General Information
The following information has been collected from original newspapers, catalogs, and magazines, some of which are freely available for reference below. The rest can be found in the site’s gallery. No aggregate catalogs (BrickLink, Brickset, etc.) were used.
Instructions: H-2372
Advertised Part Count(s): 74 pieces
First Year Confirmed Available: 1968(USA)
All 1967+ Model Makers are incredibly hard to track as they were not typically advertised like the larger assortments/models. However, a 1968 dealer catalog has been found with the 340.
I have no evidence the set released in Canada. It's possible, I just have no surviving mentions in Canadian sources currently.
Most Likely Retirement Date: 1970(USA)
Unless other evidence arises, the set might've continued production until 1970 as it appears in a 1970 dealer catalog, but it should be noted that the set has been omitted from the 1970-71 idea book.
Last Year Seen Available: 1970
Aliases: Railroad Control Tower
Retail Price(s): Unknown
Note: Samsonite discontinued listing RRPs for sets in 1967. As a result, prices for Model Maker sets can vary. I've theorized this to be a reason 1968+ Model Makers include a secondary number, you can read about it here.
Rarity Score(Index): 4/7
Box/Overview
So while the railroad accessory sets are technically companions for the 150, 151, 154, and 155 train track supplements, they're still marketed/labeled as Model Maker sets and thus belong more in the individual sets category than the supplements. None of the sets or parts are of Samsonite's own design—they'd already been available in other countries.
As usual, the 340 inherits its images from Europe. For 1970, sets were given a sticker to indicate imported parts were in the set. My example is missing such:
All sides of the box are the same:
Contents
While pictured with a smooth baseplate(the one available in the rest of the world), North America had a regular 16x16 baseplate.