The drought at Musée de Fatbloke came to an end recently which also signalled a new beginning for me ... In my hunt for all things wonderful to me I have always drawn the line at "No Plastic" ( lol ) but in order to finally get my hands on a Marx setup I have always liked, that unwritten rule had to be bent ... although Marx etc is very common to you fellows in the States , outside the U.S.A. its actually hard to find sometimes , but luckily I came across the following set at a very FatFellow friendly pricing along with local shipping to boot ...
A sight familiar to almost everyone here I would think ...
But inside lurked a set I have wanted for a long time ( loco-wise anyway)
And yes ( shudder...) Plastic 8-wheel wagons ... but look at that glorious Monon A & B !!!
Hasnt seen a lot of track time either by the looks ..
So while its a very common piece over in the USA , I am pretty stoked to have found it here in such good nick ( even with the plastic 
)
But....
I realise it just wouldn't be me if I didn't post something hopefully exotic lol ... Sooooo in other news this week , I also managed to pick up a little bit of French history in the form of a rather sun faded , but otherwise nice condition Martinan & Larnaude ML180 toy locomotive ... A quick bit of research so far shows me only one other example in an auction listing grouped with several other trains on a European catawiki sale, Apparently Martinan & Larnaude started C1920 and produced until the mid to late 30's , Mainly cars trucks and planes , but obviously also at least one locomotive .. they were interrupted by the war then at some point resurfaced ( possibly in name only? ) to produce many tinplate toys in the 50's-60's on ?
Apart from that one auction reference I can find no other info ( yet) about this well made floor train, it looks to have wheels similar to those types found on cars of the time which ran on litho tracks , so maybe there was also a circle or oval supplied ( all that is pure conjecture tho)
( Might need some intervention from @FRENCHTRAINS here?)
