Why do you like Tinplate?

I like old engineering and manufacturing-simple, rugged and a product of the brain not a computer. Some of the best engineering and design was the old stuff.  I look for old engineering books in antique stores to buy. Better than TV. I do use some modern items-love digital cameras. Instant gratification.  You can work on the old tin plate  but I do like the looks of some of the new engines but don't own any.

Within a constraint, I like the old tinplate Marx 3/16th that I received as a kid just

after the end of WWII, because at the time I thought it was more realistic than my

cousin's pre-war Lionel, which did not look like the trains that rolled by several times

a day down at the end of Depot Lane.   While the Marx was simple, lithographed "tin",

it did was not as truncated, or have rounded ends as did Marx "six inch", the bright

colors of Gilbert O gauge, nor plated trim of other brands.  To my young eyes then, the Marx looked more like the dirty, weathered box cars that blew past the station.  Many of the other Marx "series" do not appear realistic to me and are not cherished. That is a distinct and separate category from what I model today, which is knuckle-coupler compatible "high-rail" realistic.  Since it is churned out in quantity, I consider the modern stuff expendible and run it, and even modify it.  The Marx is an artwork of

a time past.

All I've ever known is tinplate. Almost all belonged to my grandfather. Willed to me when he past. Vintage tinplate trains are a part of history. I'm glad that I was able to enjoy the magical world. Each of my children now own the set of their choice that belonged to their great-grandfather. I know that they will never sell their cherished gifts. 

Enjoy vintage tinplate if you can. If you prefer the modern pieces. that's your choice.

I have some pictures of Dad's Prewar Lionel's under my Grandparent's Christmas tree. Now I have those trains on my layout. I've always liked the metal feel, the look of the litho work. The detail of the printing. I work in a litho plant(we make jar caps...Gerber's Baby Food, different salsa, etc) so I see what goes into the litho work.

For me, it was a rather unusual adaption.  When I was younger and many of you here will remember, the ads in the train magazines had tinplate/standard gauge advertised along with all of the other lionel offerings, then MTH offerings and Williams and so on.  I would go into hobby shops and they would usually have some tinplate/standard gauge sitting on the shelves looking for new homes.  I can remember thinking and even asking from time to time, "who would want/buy this crap".  Years passed by and eventually the tin plate/standard gauge did to.  One day I was sitting in a buddies train shop shooting the proverbial doo doo when a man came in with a box of trains that were his fathers.  Not much in the box.  Just a Lionel Mohave 408, some track and 3 of the 400 series passenger cars.  The 408 was in pretty good condition considering its age and that the man was saying he and his father had played with the trains a lot when he was younger.  Of course, my first thought was who would want this *#%£.  They negotiated a price and my buddy bought the little box of junk.  as I sat ther still shooting the doo doo, I kept looking over at the 408.  It took a couple of hours but I'll be darned if that little wench did not win me over.  I do not have a large collection of tinplate/standard gauge but what I do have just makes glow.  I don't know if it is the idea of a simpler time and the history that could be associated with the trains.  Or as previously stated, that these trains are truly a mechanical marvel.  Maybe the bright and not so bright colors along with the brass and nickel trimmings.  The sounds and I am not referring to the electronic sound systems.  The bells, lights and oh my!  I also have the new trains of today and have enormous fun with them but the old heart does not pitter patter the same way.  Now I need to go downstairs and look at some train porn! 400E with two tone green State cars.

Colorful. Some of the colors they use are outstanding. I have a lot of respect for the older engineering and manufacturing of the older trains, but I prefer the new remakes for purchasing and running. I like the modern electronics and shiny new paint. I don't currently have any, but hope to someday. If they are still available by then, the recent boy's and girl's sets would be fun to start with. I think the way they did the colors on those are especially nice and really colorful.

A lot of great answers here… but for me, it's simply that tin toys from the 10s/30s have such toy-like esthetics. Most didn't go for realism, they achieved playfulness thru their colors, proportions and room for imagination to build off on. 

How I must have loved to have been a kid in Jazz era 1920s with all these toys..

 

Somewhat easy to repair. Charm, Nostalgia, Ruggedness, not fragile, realistic clickety clack over switches and 90 deg crossings (nothing beats tinplate in this area). T-O-Y train not scale... Paint schemes and vivid colors. What is not to like

It's colorful. It squeeks and is toylike. It rattles and it's shiny. It is metal and it is heavy. In the case with standard gauge it is big!  It is HUGE. Most of all it makes people smile.

A favorite...

 

Tinplate is history in your hands.  Made in another day, for a different audience.  To think that some little child, who may be 80 or more years old or gone now, held this and got joy from playing with it.  And due to its rugged, honest construction it is still here 60, 80, 100 years later for me to enjoy.

there is something about holding something that is older then your self and knowing that before it was yours it brought happy times to other people.  also I find most new things to be lacking.  not lacking in anything that I can see or touch or hear but in something that just is.  to me old tinplate almost has a soul then again most old things seem to have a soul to me.  to me there is nothing better then seeing old toy trains run. 

Timplate - no matter the age -always feels like it is built to last.

Your comment made me think about the values or philosophy behind things made to last versus things made not to last. My mom, a child of the depression said waste not, want not. How many toys made today will be handed down generation to generation, let alone work?

Great video, Electroliner! 

Never seen such a beautiful antique toy video, with such variety of toys AND from a childs p.o.v. 

Everyone on her, honestly, have great points on the love of tinplate. 

 

Check out this guy. I've never seen so many trains in my whole life.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-vCCRd29Pg

What a great video. Mind boggling.

Tom M, is there a way to view this video on Youtube? I dont know why countries pre-select who and who can't view videos online nowadays. I thought this was the "world wide web"

All of the above, plus tinplate is just downright cool

 

While most, if not all the replies refer to old tinplate, I, on the other hand, have only new, reproduction trains.  And, I love them!  Some years ago, I thought I would buy and run only tinplate.  So, I sold all my traditional stuff, and bought only tinplate. It was all new, and most was operating on Proto 2.0.  then, I started to have trouble running Proto 2.0.  Constant problems with starting and stopping for no apparent reason.  So, I got tired of it, and sold off all the tinplate.   Now, I again have the tinplate bug, and have two new sets, both running Proto 3.0.  Only, I operate strictly conventional, no more DCS.

 

But, this doesn't answer your question as to why I like it.  As others have said, they look like toys, and that's what they are.  I love the outrageous colors.  And the shine!  And the feel.  And the heft.  Although I have no standard gauge, the tinplate O gauge has a good feel, and substantial-ness to it.

 

I think, soon, I will find and purchase some old tinplate for nostalgia, even though I never actually had any while growing up, I know I need some in my life.

 

This is why I like tinplate.  Thanks for posting this question.

There is nothing else like it. My children fell in love with my Std Gauge. For them it was knowing that it was past down to me from my grandfather. I know that they will not abuse it or sell it to the highest bidder.

 

traindork, I believe what you're looking for is..."Cougar"

 

God Bless,

"Pappy"

I love tinplate, all the bright colors & flashy polished metal (at least on my layout) is all very beautiful, all the bells & whistles and fast trains satisfy my ADD

Gotta Love "TIN PLATE", colorful, simple and built to last.

Like finding old prewar o gauge electric locos that were repainted and almost ready for the big layout in the sky.

Then bring them back to life doing a complete restoration (painting, hunting for parts and researching the information)

Imagining that some kid got the train probably for a Christmas or Birthday present 80 to 100 years ago.

This is what keeps me going with "TIN PLATE".

For me, Lionel standard gauge: SIZE, color, heft and the sheer caricatureness of the designs!

Andy,

   I could write a book with all the reasons I like Tin Plate trains, however the very short answer is our Christmas family traditions, and the memories that go along with them.  When I was a little boy in the late 40's early 50's we had very little money, however I never even knew it because my favorite Christmas present was always a big 263E Tin Plate Work Train with a giant Crane Car that ran around our Christmas tree.

I was the richest little boy on earth, when my Grandfather and I ran my 263E Tin Plate Train together.

PCRR/Dave

 

My Grandfather & me, running our Lionel Tin Plate 263E Work Train Christmas time 1952.

 

I've been a toy train enthusiast since I was a little tyke about three years of age but didn't become a tinplate fan until about five years ago when I suddenly became smitten with the stuff.  I like both O and Standard Gauge and enjoy both original tinplate as well as the new shiny engines and rolling stock from MTH Tinplate Traditions and LCT.  It really is unbelievable how the old pre-war Lionel, American Flyer, Ives and others have stood the test of time.  Their continued existence is a monument to American craftsmanship and production technique.  

My wife loves tinplate.  She likes the colors and thinks they are cute.  She enjoyed running my brother's tinplate because it was more fun and easier than running my command controlled high-rail trains. She would be really happy if I'd rip out all my trains and Wi-Fi controller DCS/Legacy and replace it with transformer controlled Tinplate. If she ever threatens to leave me, I will do that to keep her here.

CAPPILOT,

  Ron, I have seen that insig on the Air Craft in your Avatar a few times myself.  Been married almost 40 years now myself, my wife is like yours, she likes the Conventional Tin Plate Trains, especially in the formal living room at Christmas time. 

PCRR/Dave

 

Dave,

 

I guess my wife and I have been together over 37 years if you count from when I first started staying over in her BOQ room in Iceland (something about a woman in uniform).

 

She has liked Tinplate way before I got into trains; probably had to do with her father's early toy trains.  This topic has me thinking of getting her a Tinplate train for Christmas.  I think she would prefer standard gauge, but she would not be able to run it on my layout.  I think I'll drive down to Side Track Hobbies to see what they have.

 

The aircraft in my avatar is a Marine UC-35.  It is brand new in the picture.  As the Navy Program Manager, I just signed the contract for delivery.

Ron,

   Get her an O gauge Tin Plate 263E train, she will love it in conventional. 

I own the original Lionel work train from back in the early 1900's, and the MTH Repro P2 also.  I like the standard gauge stuff also but have no room to put one up. Knew a special guy one time who owned the American Flyer Silver Presidential train it ran under the biggest indoor Christmas Tree I ever saw, in a very important American building.

Yes sir I am very fond of the ladies in Military uniforms, all of them, know a great deal about them, being a retired CID Special Agent. 

 

Have fun with your new Aircraft!  Glad I am retired.

 

PCRR/Dave 

 

 

Ron,

I second Dave's recommendation. My wife and children love the vintage large Lionel. My sons now own my sixteen boxed Std Gauge sets. My daughters are asking for O-Gauge electric profile work trains. It's a tall order, however, I'll do my best to deliver while I can. Yes, anything for the ladies.

God Bless,

"Pappy"

Dave and Pappy,

 

Looked at the O gauge Tin Plate 263E work train and I agree with you, it would be a great set for her.  Thanks!

I like the whimsical nature of tinplate. Not being real lets the imagination take over. It has this sort of steampunk aura to it. It's just plain fun.

 

I also have a collection of ETS and Merkur tinplate from the Czech Republic. I like that for the beautiful litho on the cars (especially the beer cars!) and the unusual European prototypes. I've got a Garratt, which you can't get anywhere else, and the small version of the Crocodile, and a lot of really odd-looking European rolling stock. 

 

That said, I got into tinplate with what is probably the most realistic Standard Gauge train ever produced in any quantity, the Lionel Hiawatha. I got a deal on one and put it on the mantel because it looked cool and I didn't have a layout at the time. A few years later I got a deal I couldn't refuse on a near-mint 390E and some cars, and since then I've picked up a few more Standard Gauge trains and learned how to work on them. I still run mainly scale-type 0 three-rail, but I've got a loop of Standard Gauge around what is otherwise an 0 gauge layout. 

I like to restore the beat up ones you find in the boxes under the table at the train shows. There is so much you can do to repair and repaint to make them look great. All the parts are still around and they are easy to repair. My first train was my father's Lionel 261, I have a picture of it around the family tree in 1934. Here are some pictures of my restored Lionel 259E engines, a tender I converted into a Hood Milk car,  passenger cars and a 610 passenger car I made into a Lionel Diner.

Very nice Gene.  Thanks for posting the great pictures.

Hello Gene,your 259E loco's look great!

Like the passenger cars and box.

Bringing old Lionel's back to life for another 75 years if not more.

Enjoy.

 

RonH