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I'm asking because I was curious about if anyone else was an owner of a loco/set that is rare or made by an obscure maker. An example would be something that isn't really known to the average enthusiast, or even skilled collectors. My only one is a Bing locomotive which I just learned was rare, after stripping away the new coat of paint the previous owner had applied, revealing Great Western in big bold letters on the side, unlike the LNER, GNR, or LMS that I had always come across. More digging revealed nothing about it.

Guess I better take extra care of this little loco.

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Well, with a collector like you, something would be considered obscure if it's not in your collection!

But In all seriousness, I would say makers that aren't normally targetted for large collections. Such as makers of low quality, or ones that only produced for a short amount of years, or ones that are hard to find information on, or are completely off the radar. Maybe a prototype of some type, or an exclusive train for a special event. Custom-made for a high paying customer, or a gift to a valued employee. Anything along those lines.

-Berk

Last edited by Berkshire
sncf231e posted:

What is an obscure maker? I do not have an 0 gauge item from a manufacturer that is not on this list: http://www.binnsroad.co.uk/railways/oindex.html but I have items from some 300 makers.

Regards

Fred

Graeme's site is a wonderful reference.  I started looking through it again, and was amused to see he had posted the auction pictures of my Walker-Fenn.  This is one of the photos that shows how it looked when I bought it:

$T2eC16NHJGwE9n)ySfi-BRH+B[LOI!~~60_58

This is how it looks after doing a little bit of work to it:

26March2013WFleft

Even though Walker-Fenn is listed on the Binn's Road website, I think it is relatively obscure - especially on this side of the Atlantic.  Perhaps the postwar version - the Walker-Riemsdyk - is even more obscure.

I'll be interested to see what else is posted... 

 

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I purchased from a TCA charter member a short stripe, mint PW 746 with "matching" N&W passenger cars.  What made this set "rare" or "obscure" was that he purchased them at Madison Hardware and the passenger cars were the Canadian Pacific set with the two coaches, vista dome and observation car that MH had someone repaint in a dubious pullman green with dulux gold lettering.  Had the correct OB's and window strips for the CP set.

I have already posted in another thread about my latest rarity .... a Bing British made by Stephan Bing not long after he fled Germany to Great Britain in the period of Hitlers rise to power ( early 30's ) as identified with the help of some fine forum members here ... As far as I can research this is the only train set made under the Bing British name ( he also made wooden clockwork boats under the same name )  and apparently came in two variants this one being the L.M.S. livery and the other I have not seen a LNER scheme.

I think also rarity is very much a geographical thing and what you are used to .. here in Australia any pre-war USA made train is a "rarity" and yet common as muck where the majority of the forum resides lol

Arne and Fred would have a billion things ( lol ) in their collection that most non-europeans would think rare and I constantly drool at their postings and bow before their awesome knowledge

Rare to some might be my 1937 Mickey and Minnie hand car ... because its NOT made by Lionel , but is instead by Wells O' London in Great Britain ...

 

Rare to me is a lionel clockwork 1511 from 1937 ... there might be plenty there, but this is the only one I have ever had the chance to grab in Australia

relatively rare to me are my Maurlyn's but I am wagering the majority of collectors outside of Australia would have never seen one in the flesh ... These were made in Sydney after the war ( 1948 )

Rarity also depends on what you collect I guess .. I mean most die hard "Gunzels "  would never give cheap and cheerful sets of the 30's to 60's a look in , but I like them ...

Something like a Burnett/Chad Valley Flying Scotsman ?

or a Czech Igra set ?

Or a battery operated 4.5V Bing loco .. and yes it runs !

A Kraus Germany 20V loco ?

How about we swap scales and go to a LIVE STEAM HO Gauge ?

Someone had waaaaayyy too much talent and time to make that ... I am guessing its a one-off, do they get rarer than that?

 

And yet each and every item in my collection is a rarity to me, because they have ALL led spectacular lives , cheap, spendy, mass-produced, hand made, common as muck, never find another one,or just "toys" .... because they each have a story to tell and they have SURVIVED ... they make me smile

 

 

 

 

Last edited by Fatman

Obscure?  Yes.  Rare Maybe.  Its really hard to say that anything made in a factory setting is really "rare". Scarce is probably a more apropos term.

In the train and toy business, there are too many cottage players over the years that produced such small numbers to be anything BUT rare.  Who's to say that something rare here in the US in rare in Germany?  or England?  or Austrailia? 

We also pollute rare with desirable. We also pollute rare with "its-rare-because-i-live-in-a-small-town-and-have-never-seen-one" exposures.

I definitely have some difficult to find because they were not made in large quantities or hard to acquire pieces. I hesitate to call them rare.  

We are seeing trains now from 50-60 year collections that haven't been seen or been seen in these numbers... this is skewing the scarcity equations we collectors use to judge the trains...

What galls me is the ePlay person calling a Peacock 253 rare.

Andrew-Porter posted:

I have a number of wooden trains that I received as a child in the mid-1950s. I recently discovered these were made in kit form in the 1930s by Stromberg. Whoever had these originally did a great job of assembling, painting and decorating them.

WoodTrains3WoodTrains8

these look so familiar, i'm sure i had a few;  the time frame is right.

I think Stromberg made these kits for a while after the war.  They had some in HO and O.  I built some in the 1950s.  The kits come up on the bay a lot, as well as built ones.  Quality, particularly paint, varies greatly in the built ones.  I have bought kits of most of their train models (also made cars trucks, etc)  in the last five years and have had good luck getting all the parts in the kit (no sealed plastic bags) (YMMV).  I have built many of these over the years an they are fun kits.  Most of them are models of very early engines.

Bill

 

Hello all...rare / obscure.....  all depends on what floats your boat ...   depends on which circles you run  and how hard you've been looking ...  lots of stuff out there ..fortunately no two of us are the same ...so each sees a different view  of what is rare or obscure ...     here are two very early electrics ...one on right Ernst Plank considered the first "electric toy train"   1882 ...one of left roughly same era perhaps a bit later .. more of a scientific demonstration model .  

Cheers Carey 

 

 

 

 P_20180718_140200_vHDR_Auto

here is a link to see the Plank run 

https://www.facebook.com/Tinpl...os/1825786144150542/

 

 

IMG_9816

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if you collect railways of the 20s 30s or even older, much is very rare.

For example.

Karl Bub postal car in yellow, never seen a second.

20190112_233928

Bing, factory error, NYC and PRR on the same car.

20190112_234032

Bing Fish car as NE, never made regular, hand painted prototype

20190112_234308

Fandor Fish car, never seen a second

20190112_234404

Karl Bub Observation, very hard to find

20190112_234457

And new in the collection but need a bit repair and a new driver.

Brimtoy All Clear Loco, every few seconds the driver looks out of the window. Worldwide known at the moment 3 of them.

20190112_234729

Arne

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Arne posted:

if you collect railways of the 20s 30s or even older, much is very rare.

For example.


Karl Bub Observation, very hard to find

20190112_234457

And new in the collection but need a bit repair and a new driver.

Brimtoy All Clear Loco, every few seconds the driver looks out of the window. Worldwide known at the moment 3 of them.

20190112_234729

Arne

Was that the one on ebay I was watching recently Arne... Marvellous pickup if so ... I meant to have a go at it , but it finished at an ungodly hour here in the Australian morning and my body decided sleep would be better !

Stoopid Body!! LOL

I had never seen or heard of it before and it was on my "hair on the back of the neck standing up" meter !

Glad to see the meter was/is still calibrated !

I wonder if KBN ever did the observation in blue to match my

Berkshire posted:

Well, I might not have time to reply to all of these wonderful submissions yet, but what I can to is finally post a video of my little thing loco running. Sadly my normal camera is broken and all I have is this to work with, but it still gets the point across

Berky .. I shall see your Bing Great Western and raise it with my Bing LNER .....

LOL!

And tho not "rare" I shall throw in a slightly "uncommon " Bandai aerotrain ....

 

I am actually looking for the battery/control station for this so if anyone has a cute little tin building that takes "D" sized batteries and has  AERO STATION  emblazoned on it that they wish to be rid of, let me know

Fatman posted:

And tho not "rare" I shall throw in a slightly "uncommon " Bandai aerotrain ....

 

I am actually looking for the battery/control station for this so if anyone has a cute little tin building that takes "D" sized batteries and has  AERO STATION  emblazoned on it that they wish to be rid of, let me know

That's very cool- I'll have to keep an eye out for one of these

While I have posted a picture of this Swiss car on the Forum before, no one has yet helped me identify it. I bought it in Austria about 15 years ago without trucks. There were some strange body mounted couplers on it. It's about the same size as a Lionel 027 passenger car. I added the trucks and enjoy running it. - Any thoughts on the identification?

Lad

swiss-tinplate

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Last edited by Lad Nagurney
Fatman posted:

And tho not "rare" I shall throw in a slightly "uncommon " Bandai aerotrain ....

 

I am actually looking for the battery/control station for this so if anyone has a cute little tin building that takes "D" sized batteries and has  AERO STATION  emblazoned on it that they wish to be rid of, let me know

I believe I have several but it would take some time to pull them out of cold storage.

They used the same battery station in the Bandai Atomic train but the litho just says station. aerotrain set in blue w box

. atomic set w box atomic set w box Have better-looking engine too but I would have to test to see if it runs. 

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Jim O'C posted:

I believe I have several but it would take some time to pull them out of cold storage.

They used the same battery station in the Bandai Atomic train but the litho just says station. aerotrain set in blue w box

. atomic set w box atomic set w box Have better-looking engine too but I would have to test to see if it runs. 

Marvellous offer @Jim O'C but unless its a spare one just hanging about I certainly wouldn't bugger/break up a set for you

While I highly doubt these are rare can anyone shed some light on these? The Santa Fe and the Ebax tanker scream of Marx, the former seems like it was handmade and the later I’ve never found/seen742E295A-4234-4FE0-8DED-B79801B73B0A4080D9A8-9420-48C2-A54E-895D7F1A8783

This one below I got from my Pop as well. It’s wheels fit perfectly on HO track so definitely has that 16mm Gauge. However, in terms of scale it appears smaller than the HO I have. It has the Deutsche Reichsbahn Golden ‘dog’ Head on it, but not the Eagle logo of the time during the Weimer Republic48D4592A-E4EC-4344-BB31-6DF9B47BE37C53938C46-7A80-4824-8C16-CAAC89738868

This last one sparked my love of prewar European tin toy trains and accessories. Has the “Int. Reg. TRADE MARK” then the sideways “BW” followed by “Made in Germany” on the top of both sides. No marking/imprint underneath. 4 Brass handle doors that all open, 2 bagge doors which open. Marked 10 565. What throws me off is the roof having those(forgive my vocab) ‘knobs’ unlike other Bing products. Couplers are also different. Very possible someone switched the roof and couplers but it’s just such a nice piece.AA818C72-2767-479E-B1B4-C70331DFCF39

coupler, chassis and wheels comparison. I got it for a cheaper price than the Bing UK Market SR freight car on the right(different sellers). I think it may be the 1931 German Market Passenger version? Not sure though. image

Any and all help is appreciated. Haven’t posted in the tinplate forum before so I’ll introduce myself-  obviously don’t feel the need to read this ha: I’m 27, loved toy trains as a kid from about ages 3 to 9 so I obtained a couple back in the 1990s(mainly HO but some O gauge). My dad always collected O so that’s what I gravitated towards, when my grandfather(aka my Pop) passed 2 years ago- we’d go “junking(yardsaling)” on Saturday’s when I was a kid all the time. About 8 months ago my Grammy started talking about selling off his “stuff” if no one started taking any, I took the responsibility of going through(and still am) vast antique collection to distribute it fairly to my family. Discovered some neat train stuff which rekindled my enjoyment of toy trains, broke out a transformer, and I think you guys can assume the rest!

Sincerely and with thanks,

 

steve

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  • 742E295A-4234-4FE0-8DED-B79801B73B0A: Marx Santa Fe Homemade?
  • 4080D9A8-9420-48C2-A54E-895D7F1A8783: Ebax 6372(ethyl corporation)
  • 48D4592A-E4EC-4344-BB31-6DF9B47BE37C: Tin HO? OO? HOE ha?
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  • AA818C72-2767-479E-B1B4-C70331DFCF39: Bing Wagon
  • image: Bing Wagon Coupler Comparo

   I might have been the recipient of the largest postwar Space-race X set. I think some phone number records might clear it up and my story explains why "Automotive" is the name..it was picked up. We just didn't know who at the plant was going to grab it for us...to give to a other guy, and maybe a third or forth,....to drop it at our VFW.... cause thats how goodwilled, helpful, willing to catch your back, and just downright all-around honest folks used to be...  

 Rarer though, is an old smoker.

   I found my grandmother's Marx Commodore Vanderbilt set buried in a family carriage house's dirt floor where is sat for 25-45years. Story times it as bought in 36, somewhere between Kingsville Ont. and Detoit, so maybe a Canadian Marx?

    It had a CV oil tender, caboose & 8-10 freight cars in the set,  Some of the cars were literally rust piles some, 4 total, survived. The motor was saved but the deep rust was too aggressive progressing along the shell, and it needed an acid dip & repaint eventually.  But....

   The bulb reached perfectly to the opening under the welded headlight visor. You couldn't unscrew it, it wouldn't fit out though the hole. You had to remove the shell to remove the bulb ,.....  and if you ever notice, Marx headlamp sockets spin on thier mounts when the bulb bottoms out.... that allowed the bulb's divit to always rotate to be on top ... I thought this was all logical design; a great plan right down to the spinning socket.

 It had the  plated plated domes/ and stack; riveted tab & slot couplers; copper badging; and a "side divit" smoke bulb and "ram air" housing using the headlight opening as an air scoop.

   I ignorantly popped the hot bulb with cool smoke fluid. I never found a record of a bulb like it.   The "ductworks"  two interlocking halfs turned to rust dust on a shelf; the oil couldn't really save them. The year(s) in "mud" by the thinner metals let rust set too deep along the thin surfaces to do any good.

    I bring it up every now & then so folks will keep an eye out, there were many Marx tin, but I've never heard of another Marx with smoke bulb.

  If it was a "modification", as has been suggested. I'd guess it was done at a high end store vs a hobby store. Great Gramps wasn't afraid to pay for customizers of any type, but he was"old money"; not a hobby shop type man. It sure didn't show signs of being handcrafted. It's two halves looked die cut and press bent to me...and I've done that kind of work myself.  

 

sketch-1547529485292

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Last edited by Adriatic
Fatman posoted:

Definitely not rare ... I have several .....

 

 

 

Runs away giggling .....

Rare enough that I've posted on it numerous times here, and on a other forums, and only ever gotten the response that it was an unknown or home spun.

Is there literature you can point to?

I'd really like land another with smoke, or the parts. The loco is special to me.

If you're just lauging at a "rare" CV?...I get it, but my hopes are insisting I play straight man; Do you really have examples?  A bulb source or refernce number? A picture!<<(would be awsome) A tracing? (I had one, can't find it..no bulb either) .... admission its a joke! please... I have Asperergers and Im only seeing this as serious... I need more clues if it isnt 

The same goes for deciding rare or obscure, Ive been looking for another for a decade... not finding it, so it seems rare (to me at least). Most folk never hearing of it, so seems obscure too.

If the art or explaination needed to be better, just say so. It's two interlocking, perforated sheetmetal halves with a tube of batting .

Arne posted:

if you collect railways of the 20s 30s or even older, much is very rare.

For example.

Karl Bub postal car in yellow, never seen a second.

20190112_233928

Bing, factory error, NYC and PRR on the same car.

20190112_234032

Bing Fish car as NE, never made regular, hand painted prototype

20190112_234308

Fandor Fish car, never seen a second

20190112_234404

Karl Bub Observation, very hard to find

20190112_234457

And new in the collection but need a bit repair and a new driver.

Brimtoy All Clear Loco, every few seconds the driver looks out of the window. Worldwide known at the moment 3 of them.

20190112_234729

Arne

Arne, never say never. 😉 

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  • WP_20190115_22_27_20_Pro: Two Bing NE fish vans, lithographed, not hand painted prototypes. I know of another 3 belonging to friends
  • WP_20190115_22_27_43_Pro: Kraus fish van and milk van for the UK market
Adriatic posted:

Oh ok.  I can see it.  The thumbnail portion didn't stick around when I posted.

I loaded it again... hopefully it stays put.

Apologies @Adriatic just my terrible Aussie sense of humour

Could not resist when the " Image not found" picture was in place of your inserted one ...  I have had 1000's of them over the years lol

Walks shame-headedly to the door ....

I have four "obscure/rare" Lionel cars. Although modern and not hard to find (they're a bit uncommon but you'll find them more easily than you would a Jersey Central Trainmaster), there is a different reason all-together as to why I'd consider these items "rare/obscure".

  • Pere Marquette Gondola W/ Two Cable Reels (SKU #81661): a breakup, in my collection, from the #81028 Marquette Freight Set. I'd consider this rare/obscure because, despite Lionel making Pere Marquette items before, this is the ONLY Pere Marquette Freight car in the Traditional Scale.
  • Texas & New Orleans Tank Car (SKU #15065) and the Texas & New Orleans SP-Style Caboose (SKU #36675): two cars featured in the #30167 Southern Pacific Merger Set. These two cars are special to me because they are, currently, the ONLY T&NO items Lionel ever made, and one of the few O-Gauge T&NO Items in existence. The T&NO used to serve San Antonio, my hometown. As far as I know, K-Line has a Scale Hopper and Atlas-O made a scale Boxcar...I think. 
  • Central Pacific Stock Car (SKU #15064): Another freight car in the #30167 Southern Pacific Merger Set. This car is rare/obscure because I think it is the only item Lionel ever made with Central Pacific Markings. Lionel DID market a Scale Conventional 2-6-0 Mogul in Central Pacific markings, but I don't think it was ever made; or if it was there are no pictures of the actual product floating out there for me to use.

franktrain posted:

Here something unusual, probably late 1950's. It barely runs but its neat.

 

mac car5mac car6mac car7mac car8mac car3mac car4

I have several of these and some unused original boxes as well. GMC also made a trolley that looks quite a lot like the Lionel trolley and they are often confused without the box as proof. They only go if you give them a nudge.

GMC trolley w box GMC trolley pair w boxes

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bigmark75f posted:
Arne posted:

Bing Fish car as NE, never made regular, hand painted prototype

20190112_234308


Arne

Arne, never say never. 😉 

Yes, was a mistake. I have mixed something up. in the Bing catalog 1930 is only the LMS car. But in the Bond's handbook 1931-32 the car is stated with all 4 railway companies, whereby I do not believe that really GWR and SR cars was made.

I've been working on a list of British bing programs for quite a while now, but needs much time to finish. You can see it here.

Bing UK

 

Arne

Robert S. Butler posted:

It's not tinplate but it is somewhat obscure - a 2 rail 4-4-0 made by the Great Western Model Locomotive Company.  They issued a small catalog of engines and cars in 1948 and had vanished from the model railroad scene by 1950.

Engine_Great_Western_4_4_0

Nice Great Western   Robert ....  with tender drive pre 1950 ....in 1950 they went to mounting motor within the engine ..they did not last too much longer ... very nice piece 

Cheers Carey price list

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TheRWBYRailfan posted:

Interesting cars!

And also, you say that you like "modern forms of entertainment such as video games and anime"? Interesting, as I don't find many folks here into that kind of stuff. I myself, as well as Mitch (and I'm beginning to suspect Fatman aswell) are furries, an interesting subculture that exists along side the gaming and anime communities.

I would love to talk more about this with you, but recently my schedule has been extremely full, and I regret taking on as much stuff as I did. Terribly sorry.

I recently got one of the original 1994 MTH Premier Union Pacific 3985 Challenger PS1 engines off of eBay about 3 months ago.

Item# is 20-3002-1 and it came in better condition that I'd expect, which is awesome because the engine was one of the last listings for that specific model in a long while (I still haven't seen any listings like it).

I would love to post pics but right now my schedule is catching up. As soon as I have time I can get some to put up here.

Arne posted:
bigmark75f posted:
Arne posted:

Bing Fish car as NE, never made regular, hand painted prototype

20190112_234308


Arne

Arne, never say never. 😉 

Yes, was a mistake. I have mixed something up. in the Bing catalog 1930 is only the LMS car. But in the Bond's handbook 1931-32 the car is stated with all 4 railway companies, whereby I do not believe that really GWR and SR cars was made.

I've been working on a list of British bing programs for quite a while now, but needs much time to finish. You can see it here.

Bing UK

 

Arne

That list is a serious effort Arne, congratulations on what you have achieved so far. I am very keen on Bing, and have a number of wagons to add to your list if you are still working on it? The Bonds Handbooks certainly cause confusion, listing several items in all 4 UK liveries, when only 1 or 2 were made. I would agree there was never GWR or SR fish vans, no GWR or SR cattle vans, and no GWR or SR meat vans either, but there are both red and grey versions of the LMS meat van. No brake vans apart from the LMS one.

Cheers, Mark

Hello Mark,

yes, I´m still working on the list. But is a hard job some Bing trains confuse me. For example the open cars with tarpaulins, which of them is the matching to which car?

The passenger car will come later, there are thousends of questions too. There are so much differents, like L&NER, L.&N.E.R., L.N.E.R., LNER

And the accesories have much differents too, like station 60/61 in 4 different colours.

And, and, and.....

Greetings

Arne

Berkshire posted:
george posted:

I have a pre War Marklin tin plate set in the original box.  Never saw one before.IMG_0863

I just listed it in the For Sale section.

Very Interesting!
Is it Low Voltage or High Voltage, and have you ever run it before?

It says 20V on the side of the cab of the loco.  I tested it with a Lionel transformer, and other than needing a lube, it ran well.

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