Buy/Make Anything Cool Lately (Tinplate Version)

Nice !!!!

So, I first saw one of these in an old issue of Model Builder and just recently no one else bid on this one that made from the article.  I think it may have come from Clem's collection, but I need to verify. Nothing cooler than finding something that was made from a magazine article more than 80 years ago..

Excellent, and nice work finding that article. I bought the standard gauge one he had (reminiscent of a Lionel armored train), need to find some suitable gun barrels for it.

Well here is my latest purchase, Standard gauge 408E and 418, 419, 431, & 490 all in apple green

@rtraincollector posted:

Well here is my latest purchase, Standard gauge 408E and 418, 419, 431, & 490 all in apple green

Really nice! Enjoy it

Joe Gozzo

@rtraincollector posted:

Well here is my latest purchase, Standard gauge 408E and 418, 419, 431, & 490 all in apple green

VERY Purdy! Let me know if they want to come over and play!

George

@GeoPeg posted:

VERY Purdy! Let me know if they want to come over and play!

George

You don't have the correct track

There are times in this hobby I really wish our toys could talk ....

Found this today , gathered by a picker in a very small rural town a 140 k's from me ... when I saw his listing my jaw dropped ... no idea of what it was , just "clockwork rabbit toy "

What , where ... HOW????

( Remember I am in Australia , and a very rural part of it )

No wagons .. but hey I'll take it !!! Came from a deceased farm property clear out apparently

Great find, FM; those are tough in any condition.

PD

Fatman,

really a rare find, the rabbit-loco from Marx Bunny-Express.

Arne

@Fatman- You have "found" one of the most rare items in the toy train world (at least from the perspective of U.S. manufacturers).  That rabbit is the "bunny loco" from the Marx Animal Express.  In the 1930's this train resulted from a marketing error (one of very few I might add) on the part of Louis Marx while trying to expand toy train sales from Christmas into Easter.  This level of marketing error would be on a par with Lionel's disaster with the "Girls Train" in 1957.   This loco, iaw my 12 year old Marx collectors guide would sell for somewhere around $1500 (USD) today and the full set with 3 "bunny carts" in the box for I guess near $5000 (USD).  I have seen the bunny carts on E-bay for near $800 each, I have never seen a bunny loco.

What a find!!!

Best Wishes

Don

@Fatman posted:

There are times in this hobby I really wish our toys could talk ....

Found this today , gathered by a picker in a very small rural town a 140 k's from me ... when I saw his listing my jaw dropped ... no idea of what it was , just "clockwork rabbit toy "

What , where ... HOW????

( Remember I am in Australia , and a very rural part of it )

No wagons .. but hey I'll take it !!! Came from a deceased farm property clear out apparently

They came in red eye, blue eye and apparently, no eye.

Tonight I am playing  1929 Lionel Standard Gauge on my floor with two original 1929 sets- 390E freight set and 402 passenger set!     

LOL @Jim O'C  Over here we would say it had "Mixo" .. short for myxomatosis, a virus introduced here to control the wild rabbit population ( rabbits are not native to Australia , and now number in the millions , all from 13 rabbits imported near Geelong in the late 1800's) Mixo kills them , but it makes them blind first .. poor bunnies !

I know you should never brag about such finds but I "think" you fellows will hate me now , because I have paid a total of $80AUD ( about $50US/EU) for it .... including postage ! ... But as the trains/toys I collect are not for financial resale or gain for me other than in the acquiring , its neither here nor there

I am still shaking my head today wondering how the heck it got here , and even more how did I spot it ? It was one of those true moments when I knew exactly what it was , and yet STILL thought "Nah ... it cant be ! " ... google google .. bloody h-e-double hockey sticks!

Thanks for the extra info @Don McErlean, and that certainly gels with what I have learnt about it ...

Now to really push my luck and find those wagons which must be here somewhere ( lol) !!! ( kidding .. but you never know!)

A Chein ToyTown station found recently in a lot from an estate sale:

Here is set number 409E. GZ your set is know as set #403 if the cars have 4 wheel trucks they are 1923/24, if they have 6 wheel trucks they are 1925 - 1927

The cars were actually made 1923 - 1932 but the 402 was built 1923 - 1927

The cars have the 6 wheel trucks. Thanks for the information.

@pd- I have the same Chien station (Toy Town) but have no information as to when it was made.  Its well done with a quality lithograph multi-color design.  I am guessing sometime in the 1930's as that would be the golden years for items of this sort but I have no way to back up that impression.  Do you have any data?

OBTW - I have another station by Chien, obviously made by the same tooling as Toy Town  but with a considerably more plain and simple lithography design.  See below:

Best wishes

Don

@rtraincollector posted:

You don't have the correct track

Hey, I have a straight piece and a half curve! I could play with one of the coaches!

@Don McErlean posted:

@pd- I have the same Chien station (Toy Town) but have no information as to when it was made.  Its well done with a quality lithograph multi-color design.  I am guessing sometime in the 1930's as that would be the golden years for items of this sort but I have no way to back up that impression.  Do you have any data?

OBTW - I have another station by Chien, obviously made by the same tooling as Toy Town  but with a considerably more plain and simple lithography design.  See below:

Best wishes

Don

three other versions identical to this one other than the station name.

@Jim O'C- Hey Jim any chance of a posting showing the other variants or at least a text telling us what the other names are?

Thanks

Don

@GeoPeg posted:

VERY Purdy! Let me know if they want to come over and play!

George

Yes and move it about 1" then back 1"

Waiting for me when I got home this evening. A short De Hanes Santa Fe baggage car to go with my my other 4 cars. By short, I mean 26”. Thanks Jim Waterman.

Steve

@Don McErlean posted:

@Jim O'C- Hey Jim any chance of a posting showing the other variants or at least a text telling us what the other names are?

Thanks

Don

Glendale, Glenwood, Grove and oakland were the other station names that I know of. Several in the Chein section of the Binns Road site.

Thanks Jim!

Don

New to me 260e…

Finished graphics antoaint on reproduction sidewalk d154 dealer display. Waiting for a couple of things to get it wired up now

I got an original Lionel Standard Gauge 400E locomotive at the Toystrainsandotherstuff auction last weekend. It is a nice, old piece. Now I need to get the three original Blue Comet passenger cars in copper\brass trim to match!                                                                                           

@GZ A beautiful piece for certain and very rare and normally pretty expensive.  I expect I am telling you something you already know, but be careful when you purchase the Blue Comet cars, there have been some excellent reproductions in recent years (MTH for example) so you need to look at the cars carefully.  However, from an operational point of view, these cars are excellent and have a perfect appearance, so may be satisfactory as long as you don't pay "original " prices.

Best wishes and good hunting

Don

Yes, it is expensive (relative) and is definitely original (with the exception of the main wheels). It has some paint wear to it, but is OK for me. I have been in and out of the original standard gauge collecting for about 40 years. I don't like reproductions, so I'll just wait until I find a set of original cars.  It might take some time to come up with more money! Thanks for your information.

@Jagrick posted:

Finished graphics antoaint on reproduction sidewalk d154 dealer display. Waiting for a couple of things to get it wired up now

Very nice!!  I also like the E-type in the background.

@GZ posted:

I got an original Lionel Standard Gauge 400E locomotive at the Toystrainsandotherstuff auction last weekend. It is a nice, old piece. Now I need to get the three original Blue Comet passenger cars in copper\brass trim to match!                                                                                           

Gorgeous Survivor piece!  Congrats on your new acquisition

@Mr Fixit posted:

Very nice!!  I also like the E-type in the background.

Good eye!! 1968 series 1.5 OTS I am doing a restoration on also a 1962 FHC e type lurking in the shop

Display in operation

Next project Lionel no 10 kodachrome display. Original base and reproducing the shelves. Luckily have the original color transparencies for the top

Great Lionel displays! I like them. I also like the E Type too!

Decided to make some new buildings for the annual Christmas display. Here's the first one, a "four-square" from the 1920-1940 timeframe, loosely modeled after a neighbor's home:

@pd posted:

Decided to make some new buildings for the annual Christmas display. Here's the first one, a "four-square" from the 1920-1940 timeframe, loosely modeled after a neighbor's home:

Beautiful work - will fit in nicely with a Christmas display of tinplate or postwar trains.  Nice use of (I assume) scrubbing pads for the shrubbery.  Would enjoy seeing some details regarding materials and finishing techniques.

This came in a collection I bought recently (there are 6 of them).  I've never seen these before.  They are all metal and Standard or G Gauge but there are no markings on them.  Does anyone have an idea as to the manufacturer?  The cross posts are crimped to the metal pole.  They seem to be very nicely done.