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The girder bridge came in 5 colors, black, silver, red, blue and yellow, plus some shade variations in the colors, especially blue. I want to create a category for the variations, can you think of any I have missed. There were also variations in the decals, some large some small etc, but I would not give them a separate type.

Type I Plain 
Type II Center Logo
Type III 2 End Logo's
Type IV 2 End Logo's, Center Name
Type V 2 End Logo's,Center Name, Rubber Stamped

 

thanks

 

Steve

 

SAMPLES;

 

1305 NYC Girder Bridge, 2 Decals, Yellow

1305 NYC Girder Bridge, Center Logo Only

1305 PRR Girder Bridge, Center Name, Black, Red Logo

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  • 1305 NYC Girder Bridge, 2 Decals, Yellow
  • 1305 NYC Girder Bridge, Center Logo Only
  • 1305 PRR Girder Bridge, Center Name, Black, Red Logo
Last edited by Steve "Papa" Eastman
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The only two variations I know of are ones you have pictured already. I can't recall if my Black PRR one has a decalled or rubber stamped name though.

 

I never cared for the blue bridges. I would guess that most bridges on toy train layouts go over water and a blue bridge would blend in too well. Yellow on the other hand:

 

 

This will be an interesting thread I hope.

 

J White

 

I think you have it covered Steve, at least from my experience.  That's how I have them inventoried also, with the exception of your type I.  By 'plain' do you mean no herald or lettering at all?  Did they come from the factory like that?  

 

I always thought it was funny they didn't make it in green, an otherwise popular bridge color.

 

How many heralds are there? I know of 6, am I missing any?

 

Great Northern

Rock Island

Illinois Central

New York Central

Pennsylvania

Wabash

 

And then the question is, did all the heralds come in all the colors?  I've never seen a blue Wabash.

 

 

Black and red Wabash is all I have, too.  But my "collection" of these is far less comprehensive than you guys'.  Good grief, Arno, that's a heap of bridges!

 

I have seen that silver one with no heralds and assumed it had been repainted.  It shows to go you never can tell.

 

 

So Steve, it looks like all this confirms your taxonomy: 5 logo types, of 6 different heralds, in 5 bridge colors.  That's theoretically 150 different bridges, but with the potential that not all possible variations were made.

 

Like Ives with their herald box cars, a brilliant marketing technique.  Collect the whole set!

 

 

All those bridges were the work of my dear friend, the late Dick MacNary. these were the ones he had stuffed up in the rafters of his basement workshop. Dick was one of the top Marx collector and contributed to many of the toy and train books. I'm sure Dick and John Fox had a bit of a competition with these bridges!

 

Now for another wrench.... one of the red bridges I had (which Steve has now) was made from much thinner metal. So does that make a Type VI?

 

ARNO

 

 

As you know I already had one made of the extra thin material. Kinda odd they are both versions of the Great Northern.
 
Steve
 
 
Originally Posted by moderneraSG:

All those bridges were the work of my dear friend, the late Dick MacNary. these were the ones he had stuffed up in the rafters of his basement workshop. Dick was one of the top Marx collector and contributed to many of the toy and train books. I'm sure Dick and John Fox had a bit of a competition with these bridges!

 

Now for another wrench.... one of the red bridges I had (which Steve has now) was made from much thinner metal. So does that make a Type VI?

 

ARNO

 

 

 

Originally Posted by handyandy:

I have one of the silver ones that says L-I-O-N-E-L on the sides. That's probably one of the more rare Marx bridges.   LOL

 

Andy, the Lionel #314 is actually quite a different bridge:

 

314a

 

The Lionel bridge has die-cast sides with a plate steel bottom riveted on.  The Marx bridges are all of pressed tinplate.  The Lionel 314 measures 4-1/2" wide by 10" long, while the Marx bridge is larger at 5-1/4" wide by 12" long.  The Marx 1305 is actually large enough to use with Standard Gauge if you wish.

 

david

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  • 314a

PCRR Dave,

 

There's about a 1/2" clearance on each side when placing a piece of Fastrack on a Marx girder bridge. Here's a very quick shot of two pieces of Fastrack laid on top of the Marx track on my bridge:

 

 

Too lazy to take the existing track up, and haven't a clue where the other bridge is.

 

J White

 

Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:
Dave
So far, the only Wabash I have confirmed are the black and the red. The red I have with a rectangular decal and one with the flag decal. Never seen blue, silver or yellow...............yet. If you have any of those, I would love a photo for my file.
 
Steve
 
Originally Posted by hojack:

I still don't see a blue Wabash.

 

 

 

Old post, but to confirm Dave's question. A blue Wabash bridge just arrived. I now have 44 variations.

Steve

Blue Wabash 1305

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  • Blue Wabash 1305

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