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the Marx #308 tunnel is described in Greenberg Vol II as... "Two-piece lithographed metal, mottled red and green patches on yellow, similar to army tanks."  because of this comment and perhaps their inclusion in some army sets (? ... citation needed), i have always heard collectors refer to this accessory as a the Marx "camouflage" tunnel...

Marx camo tunnel

but recently i was thinking about Louis Marx who lived in the Northeast, and what he may actually have had in mind...

maxresdefault

whatcha think?

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  • Marx camo tunnel
  • maxresdefault
Last edited by overlandflyer
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jhz563 posted:

Makes wonder where this scene is from.  I am pretty sure this is a Marx tunnel, but there is no labeling on it.

25C5A3BA-B096-409F-999A-86D2A937CCE8

Marx made three of these two-piece metal tunnels, that is one, here is the 3rd...

Marx tunnel - farm

if mine weren't sitting on a shelf about 10' high, i'd grab one and check, but i thought there was a round Mar-X logo on these.  might be on the order of finding Waldo.

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  • Marx tunnel - farm
Last edited by overlandflyer
overlandflyer posted:
jhz563 posted:

Makes wonder where this scene is from.  I am pretty sure this is a Marx tunnel, but there is no labeling on it.

25C5A3BA-B096-409F-999A-86D2A937CCE8

Marx made three of these two-piece metal tunnels, that is one, here is the 3rd...

Marx tunnel - farm

if mine weren't sitting on a shelf about 10' high, i'd grab one and check, but i thought there was a round Mar-X logo on these.  might be on the order of finding Waldo.

The upper picture is a 392 and is post war. The farm scene 391 tunnel is prewar and early postwar. All camo ones are prewar.

Steve

Last edited by Steve "Papa" Eastman
overlandflyer posted:

here is a Marx tunnel that was in a boxed Army set i have,  the double decker box is constructed in a way that i have no doubt the tunnel was original to the set...

Marx paper tunnel

is it small ... 9" long. 8" wide at the base and 6" tall.  seems to be made from some sort of paper covered with a textured paint.  quite fragile.

Interesting.  I have a similar constructed tunnel with a boxed American Flyer set.  The artwork for the set shows the odd fragile tunnel and is visibly different from artwork for other Flyer tunnels.

The set below is a Nation Wide Lines version of a Skylark set.  The one difference I see between the two tunnels is the paint job. 

 

I will say that I have researched Flyer tunnels and from what I have read, Flyer did not make its own tunnels.  In my research of Flyer tunnels I have noted at least 3 different manufacturers of tunnels for Flyer and note at least 4 different tunnel designs of Flyer tunnels.  

NWL

overlandflyer posted:

the Marx #308 tunnel is described in Greenberg Vol II as... "Two-piece lithographed metal, mottled red and green patches on yellow, similar to army tanks."  because of this comment and perhaps their inclusion in some army sets (? ... citation needed), i have always heard collectors refer to this accessory as a the Marx "camouflage" tunnel...

Marx camo tunnel

but recently i was thinking about Louis Marx who lived in the Northeast, and what he may actually have had in mind...

maxresdefault

whatcha think?

It does look a lot like Swiss army Alpenflage.

Alpenflage

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  • Alpenflage

I know Marx, Flyer & Hafner had the paper/cardboard tunnels, but I don't recall ever seeing them with any ID on them. Wonder if they all bought from a similar outside supplier.  There was an interesting article I can no longer find that named a few postwar companies that made the pressed paper type tunnels. During WWII they made helmet liners then switched to tunnels to keep the employees going a little longer.

Steve

 

Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

I know Marx, Flyer & Hafner had the paper/cardboard tunnels, but I don't recall ever seeing them with any ID on them. Wonder if they all bought from a similar outside supplier.  There was an interesting article I can no longer find that named a few postwar companies that made the pressed paper type tunnels. During WWII they made helmet liners then switched to tunnels to keep the employees going a little longer.

Steve

 

Ives also had paper/cardboard tunnels.  Many of their tunnels are noted to have holes in the sides of the tunnels to allow viewing of the train as it goes through the tunnel.

I seem to recall reading through the old "Collector" magazines and finding a couple of names of the suppliers, but don't recall them at the moment.  I have a partially written article on American Flyer tunnels and a crazy amount of examples of Flyer tunnels.  Need to finish that someday.

NWL

Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:

I know Marx, Flyer & Hafner had the paper/cardboard tunnels, but I don't recall ever seeing them with any ID on them. Wonder if they all bought from a similar outside supplier.

in that same mil set was the flag/ pole i posted under "Flag Day"... no logo, not mentioned as a Marx accessory either.  i would think another part from an outside supplier... why reinvent the wheel when you can make a deal...?

colorado hirailer posted:

How rare is that "camouflage" Marx tunnel?  I waded through decades of shows and Yorks looking for Marx 3/16th, and have seen dozens of the other two, but have never before above seen that third tunnel, or heard of it.  Six inch inclusion only?  I guess l have "tunnel vision" for 3/16ths.

there is no doubt the Tipple and Farm scene tunnels seem to be the most prevalent.  i would credit the timing as those two were postwar production.  it was years before i was aware of the "Autumn-in-New-England" tunnel...

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