Buy/Make Anything Cool Lately (Tinplate Version)

Have been looking for the 1st year 1938 version 2660 crane car and found an un restored original, also bought 831 and the maroon top 655 also un restored from 1933-34 .

Not shown is the 655 tuscan version 1939-1940 rubber stamped in same condition as above .

click to enlarge

@StevefromPA- Great photos and I really love the Dinner.  Neat idea to protray the Skyline tower and a "refurbished" apt house, gives more uses for a great bldg.

I looked up the platelayer's hut in my Hornby reference. It is certainly pre-war.  It was first offered in 1930 but was never returned to the line post 1941.  There were 3 versions, centered mostly around how the door was treated.  1930-33 the door was hinged and opened.  In 1934 the door was just enameled onto the front sheet by masking off and painting the space that was left blank for the opening door.  Finally from 1936 on the lithographed door regained the paneling detail of the opening door.  Therefore, I believe your hut was made between 1934 and 1936 due to the fact that its door is non-opening and just plain green.

Great accessory by the way.  It was not all that common in its day because it was quite expensive for being the smallest building in the Hornby line.

Also, some dating information can be obtained from the box.  The box "Printer's Code" is typically stamped on the end or on the flaps.  It takes the form of ..."MW-1234     5M    140"  This would indicate a batch of 5000 (5M) boxes printed in January 1940 (140).  The meaning of MW is lost to history but likely meant a given printer used by Meccano under contract.  (Note information taken from "The Hornby Companion Series, The Hornby Gauge 0 System" by Chris and Julie Graebe.)

Thanks for posting Steve.  Best Wishes

Don

I left early for York today, because I went to a Stout Auction.  They are 3 hours from home and I figured, why drive back home when I was leaving for York on Saturday.  Anyway, I went to the auction to buy a group of trains that contained an unusual American Flyer 3190 from 1931.

First, here is a photo of the common 3190

The above engine features a cast iron boiler, 2-4-0 wheel configuration, die cast side rods, and a manual reverse unit, with lever in the cab. 

The unusual engine that I was after is similar to the engine pictured below

Note that this engine uses the die cast 3300 boiler from 1931, which was American Flyer's first large die cast engine.  Although one might say that the above engine is a 3300, it is not.  The 3300, pictured below, differs in many ways

The 3300 features a 2-4-2 configuration, with the above 3190 not including any means to connect the trailing truck (ie there are no holes in the motor frame to allow the truck to be attached).

The 3300 features automatic reverse and a red cast iron cab weight, which has a red light mounted in the firebox area.  Due to the 3190 featuring a rear mounted manual reverse, there is no room for the cast iron cab weight and therefore, no light in the firebox.

Note that the 3300 has 2 pieces of copper boiler piping per side, where the 3190 only features the forward copper boiler piping.  Additionally, the brass sand dome on the 3300 is made to accept the rear piece of copper piping, but the brass sand dome on the 3190 does not include holes for the rear copper piping.

Lastly, the unusual 3190 actually has a boiler stamping stating it is a 3190.  The photo below shows the remains of the 3190 rubber stamping.

The one thing that has always puzzled me is what type of side rods came on this engine.  The 3300 engines came with these side rods

The above side rods are die cast and are typically missing from engines when you find them today.  The one thing that I noted with the 3300, is that there is a funky piece for attaching the side rods to the rear drive wheel.  The funky piece presses into the drive wheel over the rod that connects the two wheels and then the main rod screws into the funky piece.  I know that there is a bored out hole in the rear drive wheel to accept the funky piece being pressed in.

The drive wheels on my unusual 3190 are presently in poor condition, but I could tell that they were not bored out and whatever drive rods were on the engine, were screwed into the rear wheel.

One of my unusual 3190s came with homemade side rods, as shown below

The above side rods appear to closely match the die cast side rods of the 3300, but still left me wondering, until today.  Here is the unusual 3190, I picked up at the Stout Auction, with the main side rod still in place.

As you can see, the side rods are the same ones used on the 3300, but they are missing the funky piece that connects the side rods to the rear drive wheel and the side rods are screwed directly into the rear wheel.  They are also missing a few pieces, primarily the piece that goes between the two drive wheels.  However, I have those.

Eventually these side rods will be removed from this engine, cleaned up, and added to the nicer unusual 3190 that is in my collection. 

NWL

My only other purchase at the Stout Auction yesterday.

I offer a 100% original Hamiltonian diner car (has wide / big windows found on diner cars in other sets).  Well used and missing parts, but as I said 100% original.

I actually bought this on behalf of a friend, who spotted it, so it is mine until maybe Monday morning when he picks it up at York and pays me for it.

As for the red painted Hamiltonian diner car, these were not part of the Hamiltonian set that one bought at the retailer.  My friend, who I purchased for, indicated that these diner cars were some sort of special order car that one had to send in a "coupon" in order to get.  Note that there are no number plates on this car, but rather 4 American Flyer plates (2 on each side) and 2 Hamiltonian plates (1 per side).

NWL

Hi Tinplate Friends...

   Once again I noticed a lack of prewar switchers being listed here, to rectify this, I humbly am here to show my latest find, a prewar Lionel scale 701 steam switcher.

Tom

@Nation Wide Lines posted:

My only other purchase at the Stout Auction yesterday.

I offer a 100% original Hamiltonian diner car (has wide / big windows found on diner cars in other sets).  Well used and missing parts, but as I said 100% original.

I actually bought this on behalf of a friend, who spotted it, so it is mine until maybe Monday morning when he picks it up at York and pays me for it.

As for the red painted Hamiltonian diner car, these were not part of the Hamiltonian set that one bought at the retailer.  My friend, who I purchased for, indicated that these diner cars were some sort of special order car that one had to send in a "coupon" in order to get.  Note that there are no number plates on this car, but rather 4 American Flyer plates (2 on each side) and 2 Hamiltonian plates (1 per side).

NWL

An update to this.  The above car is marked "Sold as Shopworn"  It is reported that another known red diner car is also marked "Sold as Shopworn" so apparently these cars were sold out of the Factory Store.

The person who I bought this for did a careful examination of the car and noted several unusual parts that were original to the car, but not normally featured on a car like this.  My friend was very happy with the car and plans on cleaning and replacing the missing parts.

Another group of 3

  Back in May or so I posted a picture of three Modern Marx C&NW cattle cars - the prototype, the version with embossed sides, and the version with punched sides.  So now I have another set - this time it is for the Burlington - the prototype, the production version with smooth printed sides, and the production version with punched sides.

@Robert S. Butler posted:

Another group of 3

  Back in May or so I posted a picture of three Modern Marx C&NW cattle cars - the prototype, the version with embossed sides, and the version with punched sides.  So now I have another set - this time it is for the Burlington - the prototype, the production version with smooth printed sides, and the production version with punched sides.

Robert another great post. I still can’t believe the detail of the printed shading and shadows of the side punch openings.

While most all of my York purchases were modern and "steel" focused, I did make one tinplate "Iron" purchase.

Recently I was able to buy a "train set" from the original owner. It was all American Flyer equipment and most of it was from the 1930s. Much of it was still in its original boxes.  One of the items was the #91 Fast freight station from 1930-1931

This is a fairly common tinplate station.  I have several and this one came with a not commonly found box.

There are still treasures to be found.

Northwoods Flyer

Greg

Just arrived home (Australia) from our trip to Europe and, in particular, Switzerland. This is the home of my Buco O Gauge tinplate trains from the 1950's. The Swiss tradition, and company, is still alive and going strong.

Picked up these two new "Buffet" wagons from the small Buco Spur O GmbH factory in Bauma (a small town N/E of Zurich) while I was there. Bought #10 and #11 of the limited production run. Each one cost me around $240.00 Australian (about $160.00 US), so they certainly aren't cheap when compared to Lionel and MTH offerings.

However, they are full tinplate......,and I just love them!!!

Peter.......Buco Australia

@Buco Actually when you add in the "Shipping & Handling " charge they probably cost $5000+ LOL!

But wonderful "Gets " and the story that goes with them is priceless

Welcome home!

Tinplate Point of Origin

   Not too long ago I managed to get a nice example of the tinplate Marx Pacemaker Boxcar to add to my series.  This one filled in the #174592 spot.  What made the car even more interesting was the discovery of its point of origin on the underside.  As you can see it was not part of a Marx set - it started life out on a shelf in Woolworth's - with an ID of 11-4 and a take home price of 49 cents. 

Perhaps from shelves like these (the F. W. Woolworth's display at the former National Christmas Museum):

I was lucky; we had both a Woolworth's and a G. C. Murphy's in town when I was a kid.

PD

This was a Turkey Day purchase on the bay.  One should never list anything on the bay on a major holiday, but I am glad they did.  Although the windup mechanism does not work, it was priced right!  This is a c. 1914 American Flyer set.  Note the Chicago car is on the 1107-style frame.

NWL

NWL - what a great addition to a Holiday celebration!  Great find.

Best Wishes

Don

Very nice NWL!  That is the first one of the mixed version of body/frame I've seen in red. All of the others I have seen were green.

Another tinplate cookie building,  but with a twist.   Arriving from Jolly Ole England, a tinplate Halloween cookie house!

And this one comes equipped with cut outs and a tea-light included.  The bottom opens instead of the top with the tea light screwed on. 

jhz- that house will go great with your "Halloween" layout!

Don

@Robert S. Butler posted:

Very nice NWL!  That is the first one of the mixed version of body/frame I've seen in red. All of the others I have seen were green.

I have seen both the red and the green versions previously. 

Here is another installment from the "train set" .  The 2020 Water Tank (cataloged from 1922 - 1933).

I really like this box style.  Even with the water marks it still looks great.

Even though it is missing its string and weight I think it is a keeper.

Northwoods Flyer

Greg

Hey Greg, that 2033/4033 block signal pictured on the box looks remarkably similar to the Lionel 78/078. I presume they were made/sold by one and also purchased/marketed by the other. Not the first time you see this cross-pollination, especially during the Ives transition period. Water tower looks pristine; unusual given the box staining.

PD

@pd posted:

Hey Greg, that 2033/4033 block signal pictured on the box looks remarkably similar to the Lionel 78/078. I presume they were made/sold by one and also purchased/marketed by the other. Not the first time you see this cross-pollination, especially during the Ives transition period. Water tower looks pristine; unusual given the box staining.

PD

pd,

For a time during the mid to late 1920s American Flyer purchased a number of Lionel products and rebranded them as American Flyer items.  This included Standard Gauge freight cars as well as accessories, including the 2033/4033 block signal that you noted. 

NWL

There is your answer pd.  NWL do you know the dates that the pictured box was used?

Here is another Lionel rebranding

Northwoods Flyer

Greg

Greg,

As your box references "Over 5 1/2 Million Sales" that dates it to prior to 1928, when the "Over 6 Million Sales" logo was being used.  I believe the Flyer accessories from Lionel first appeared in the 1926 catalog, so it would seem the 1926-1927 era.

Here are some other Lionel accessories that Flyer sold

Note the Flyer number on the bottom

One cannot believe the panic that sets in when one cannot find some very rare items, which they know that they have...  Turns out they were in plain sight all of the time, just overlooked as I mistook them for the later reproductions.  These were sitting at the back of the layout and are now in one of the display cases.

As the previous couple of posts have been about Lionel produced items for American Flyer, here is a trio from 1926 only.

All three are stamped as follows:

Flyer showed these items in a catalog supplement in 1926 only.  Flyer also sold the larger Villa and Mansion buildings (I have seen one of them on an auction before, which sold for crazy money) and Flyer cataloged the Lionel number 92 signal tower building (John DeSantis had one of these, which I saw shortly after he bought it).

As for my three, I gave one to a very good friend and I am left with only two of them.

NWL

Hello guys, I posted this on the "other" Buy / Make Anything cool...and realized that the interest and expertise is likely here so I am going to post it to this site as well.  This was a fun acquisition for me, relatively humble as items go, but it was inexpensive so irresistible.  It was originally advertised by the seller as Marx, but review of my reference material could not turn up any signal of this sort.  However a page from the 1932 American Flyer catalog showing accessories, sent to me by (I believe) Greg J. Turinetti shows this very same crossing warning as the Model 222 although with a black base.  Mine has a red base and I don't know if that means it was manufactured for someone else.  IAW that product sheet, the 222 was made both with and without the manual rod to initiate the action.  My rod is missing so I don't know if it came that way or is just been lost over the years.  Anyway here is what I am currently calling my American Flyer Model 222 Banjo ( wig-wag) Crossing warning .  Note to Greg, NWL, & others with further expertise, if this is not AF and you know the origin I would welcome your comments.  Thank you.

Here is a short video showing the wig-wag action.

Best wishes everyone.

Don

@Don McErlean posted:

Hello guys, I posted this on the "other" Buy / Make Anything cool...and realized that the interest and expertise is likely here so I am going to post it to this site as well.  This was a fun acquisition for me, relatively humble as items go, but it was inexpensive so irresistible.  It was originally advertised by the seller as Marx, but review of my reference material could not turn up any signal of this sort.  However a page from the 1932 American Flyer catalog showing accessories, sent to me by (I believe) Greg J. Turinetti shows this very same crossing warning as the Model 222 although with a black base.  Mine has a red base and I don't know if that means it was manufactured for someone else.  IAW that product sheet, the 222 was made both with and without the manual rod to initiate the action.  My rod is missing so I don't know if it came that way or is just been lost over the years.  Anyway here is what I am currently calling my American Flyer Model 222 Banjo ( wig-wag) Crossing warning .  Note to Greg, NWL, & others with further expertise, if this is not AF and you know the origin I would welcome your comments.  Thank you.

Here is a short video showing the wig-wag action.

Best wishes everyone.

Don

Don that is the American Flyer signal.  They made it in various color combinations.  Yours is likely a later variation, which did not have the rod to move the sign.

NWL - THANK YOU for responding.  I am improving on recognizing early American Flyer but I'm still an amateur compared to you and others on this forum.   It's great to pin down the manufacturer of this item, it makes it more fun to collect.

Best wishes

Don

Thanks NWL; I didn’t realize there was that much Lionel stuff marketed by Flyer as part of their product line. Was this stuff catalogued by Flyer? I’ll have to pull a few and check it out.

For all the hyper-aggressive competitive practices back then, it’s amazing they could agree to jointly market/sell stuff. Tough times have a way of forcing folks together, I suppose.

Don,

Here are some of the other variations that NWL mentioned...

With and without rod.

Northwoods Flyer

Greg

@pd posted:

Thanks NWL; I didn’t realize there was that much Lionel stuff marketed by Flyer as part of their product line. Was this stuff catalogued by Flyer? I’ll have to pull a few and check it out.

For all the hyper-aggressive competitive practices back then, it’s amazing they could agree to jointly market/sell stuff. Tough times have a way of forcing folks together, I suppose.

In 1926 there was a catalog supplement that showed the buildings, other accessories, and wide gauge cars.  In 1927 and later, the items (accessories only) were shown in the catalogs until the early 1930s.  However, the buildings and wide gauge cars were not sold after 1926, so they never appeared in the catalogs.

NWL reminded me that I have a rebranded Lionel lamp post too.  Mine has a different style of stamping on the bottom.  I had to go digging through the photo archive.  I can't believe how blurry the photos are.  My apologies,

I actually have two of these.  One is sitting on my desk in the train office.

Northwoods Flyer

Greg

Thanks for that, Greg. I'm especially fond of orange-paint on toy trains, and those look great!

BTW, your streets look good. Are those made from bits of asphalt roofing? I recall guys back in the early days using that method.

PD

Yes PD that is exactly what they are.  When we had our previous house re-roofed I used the back side of some of the leftover shingles for my streets.  I had read an article about street material somewhere and I liked the way they looked.  I will do the same thing when I finally get to building the new layout.

Orange you say,

Any other colors you like?

Northwoods Flyer

Greg

Lol, I have lots of Flyer orange freights, Greg:

But no locos or passenger cars

PD

@Greg J. Turinetti - Thanks for showing me the other variations of my Banjo wig-wag crossing warning and then the view of your streets with some of the same signals in place!  Mine, as I said, is the last variation on the right in your first photo. Glad to confirm that its American Flyer.  

Oh @pd and Greg - here are some of my "orange" early AF.

Box Car

Automobile Car

Lexington coach and Paul Revere Observation

Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul passenger car and matching RPO

Best wishes everyone

Don

Since you guys are posting orange items, here are a couple of unusual ones.

c. 1918 - 1112 boxcar

1116 PRR gondola

later 1115 boxcar

3007 gondola

c. 1931 3016 - 6.5 inch gondola

c. 1931 - 3207

There is also a Wide Gauge orange gondola from 1931, but I don't have one.

NWL

Wow, those are great, NWL!

Did the 3013 four-wheel sand car (gondola) ever come in orange? I have a rusty one that's missing 50% of its paint...was thinking of an orange repaint.

PD

@pd posted:

Wow, those are great, NWL!

Did the 3013 sand car (gondola) ever come in orange? I have a rusty one that's missing 50% of its paint...was thinking of an orange repaint.

PD

To my knowledge they did not make a 3013, which would be a 4 wheel car like the 3016 above.  However, these orange gondolas are very rare.  I would say to check the bottom of your orange 3013, as if it is original, it should have a rubberstamped number on the bottom.  It is my understanding that the orange enameled gondolas are from 1931 only, and I know my 3016 is in a 1931 set and the 3207 has the 1930-31 type trucks on it.

Here are some orange lumber cars.

and the orange Wide Gauge sand car that NWL mentioned that was passed down through our family in the set.

Northwoods Flyer

Greg

Some O gauge orange engines

Very unusual orange 3110

Orange 1218

Orange Empire Express 1090 engine

3012

3112

NWL

Nope, I don't have an orange 3013, just a battered/rusty one in green. There's no number on the underside, instead stamped only "INSP". I was just curious if they ever made a 3013 in orange. The car I have is similar to the one on the right in this photo:

The difference being the one I have is missing a high percentage of its green paint.

PD

@pd posted:

Nope, I don't have an orange 3013, just a battered/rusty one in green. There's no number on the underside, instead stamped only "INSP". I was just curious if they ever made a 3013 in orange. The car I have is similar to the one on the right in this photo:

The difference being the one I have is missing a high percentage of its green paint.

PD

I don't think they ever made a 3013 in orange.  I have never seen or heard of one and I have observed a number of orange 3016 and 3207 gondolas over the past couple of decades.  I would have to think that if they made the 3013 in orange that at least one would have surfaced over the past couple of decades.

That is not to say that you could not have some fun on your own and create one. 

Ok, Orange it is

Ives

Fandor

Lionel

Marx

Just made new lenses for my Marx 439 semaphore

@Robert S. Butler posted:

Ok, Orange it is

Ives

Fandor

Lionel

Marx

I'm always amazed at the quality and longevity of the lithography that was applied to toys as far back as a century ago, particularly the Ives pinstripes.  The only downside is that it can't be repaired or restored - great to see such pristine examples.

@Fatman posted:

Finally - a way to not lose all the little accessories!  That's a neat little handcar

Ives Wide Gauge

Ives Narrow Gauge

Lionel Ives transition era

Northwoods Flyer

Greg

I bought this rusty station covered in sawdust from Cabin Fever Auctions for $20.00

Removed the paint by soaking the station parts in ZEP Driveway Cleaner (Lye)

Removing paint does not remove rust so I spent a lot of time using a Dremel and then I used a primer.

I matched my Blue Comet locomotive for the trim.

It's now at its new home.

Scott Smith

Really nice job on the station, Scott.

Finally picked up original jersey central passenger set. Displayed with conventional classic set and likely repro JC FM  

Also working to complete the military train sets

I just finished this today to go with my AF 4000 that I painted in NYC colors. 

This was delivered today.  I have been looking for this set for quite some time.

A maroon 3020 with matching maroon cars.

Finding the Maroon engine is not as tough as finding the set of 3 maroon cars.  I have two other maroon engines and they both came with a brown baggage, brown coach, and maroon observation car, as shown below

Both sets came with coaches that feature the porthole end lights.

As one of the mismatched color sets came in an original setbox/individual box configuration, I can only assume American Flyer was selling these sets as a creative means of getting rid of the brown cars.

NWL

NWL, NICE!  Looking for a maroon set myself!

Although I’m not a tinplate collector, I couldn’t resist rescuing this Lionel 48W Whistle Station from the local historical society’s community sale. It was the last day of the sale so it was half off, only $7.50!

I did test it out using a spare transformer a bit... the switch/tab for actuating it is no longer present, and the motor that drives the whistle unit now seems to default to “on”... not exactly sure if that’s causation or just correlation. In any case I’m not getting much sound from it, but at least the motor works. The live chassis design is just zany! Now that’s some 1940s electrical engineering...

Here are the other accessories that I got with the set,

This watchman's tower was included too.  It was packed in the box shown but it didn't come in that box.

Unfortunately the box lost its original label.

Northwoods Flyer

Greg

@Redshirt214- neat find and $7.50 is a terrific price. OBTW I checked my similar station and the mechanism for actuation of the whistle was just a flat fiber lever. Likely pretty fragile. Even if the whistle does not function it a neat looking building.

@Greg J. Turinetti -  Wow what a haul with your new set. I have been slowly accumulating the signals you showed over the last 2 years or so. They are usually relatively inexpensive and fun. I have all you pictured having just acquired the “banjo wig-wag” but I am still hunting the clock.

best wishes everyone

Don

To go along with the recent arrival of the maroon Columbia set, a green Illini set was delivered today.  I will admit that this black 3020 was already in my collection.  It matches the 3020 that came with the set that arrived today, but was in much nicer condition.

Side A

Side B

The baggage car is the worst looking car in the set due to the alligatoring of the lithography.

Side A

Side B

The coach is simply spectacular!

Side A

Side B

The tail car, which has the 2 porthole lights, is slightly lower condition than the coach due to a couple of scratches on Side B, but is still stunning.

Side A

Side B

The set dates to 1922, as evidenced by the round bar track trip reverse on the motor.

NWL

@Don McErlean posted:

@Redshirt214- neat find and $7.50 is a terrific price. OBTW I checked my similar station and the mechanism for actuation of the whistle was just a flat fiber lever. Likely pretty fragile. Even if the whistle does not function it a neat looking building.

@Greg J. Turinetti -  Wow what a haul with your new set. I have been slowly accumulating the signals you showed over the last 2 years or so. They are usually relatively inexpensive and fun. I have all you pictured having just acquired the “banjo wig-wag” but I am still hunting the clock.

best wishes everyone

Don

Thanks Don! Yes for that price it was irresistible: the lithography is really nice even with the play wear it’s picked up over the years. Any idea where one might find repro levers? I think I might tinker with it a little more, I should be able to clean it up a bit and get some better pictures.

@Redshirt214_ - I don't have any immediate source for replacement lever's in mind, but the forum has a number of "parts" vendors you might try.  You know as I think about it, the fiber is likely used to insulate the lever from the electric components, perhaps it could be replaced with a simple flat piece of wood.  I was thinking, what about a Popsicle stick?  Anyway its a great building whistle or not.

Happy Holidays

Don

@NationWideLines -  WOW two classic sets in two days, amazing.  They are really super sets thanks for posting.

Don

Have a bunch to show, but this first one deserves its own post!

Got this Bing crossing-warden house with semaphore & working bell from someone selling her father’s collection. It’s in AMAZING shape, and came with a surprise..

front

Rear

Side

If you were wondering where the logo is, it’s actually embossed on the base

as for the surprise, I opened the front door to find this piece of paper

turned out to be the original directions in 6 different languages(not in order but from memory there’s German, English, French, Italian, Spanish & Portuguese)

more to come!

The above Bing crossing with shack is 10/621, I believe. For reference.

now some New locos & structures:

Probably My favorite new building- Bing Crossing Warden House(for my layout, it’s just a house). Cleaned it up quite a bit so it looks nice

Front view from right after I got it


Side view from right after I got it

LOVE this one! Marx 2980 Union Station with red awning and battery powered whistle:

Two Flyer 1096 boxcabs. Love me some boxcabs ha. Marx yard tower is new too!

The one with the bell & pantograph has the original motor, wheels & gears. The one with 2 pantographs has new wheels. Both run pretty nicely!

Sorry, can’t recall if I shared these yet- picked up these Marx 70 ton switchers. Both run great in Forward & Reverse

Marx yard tower

Moskovitch garage:

Unknown Maker- part of a station platform:

Bing(I think)- crossing with guard house. Not in the best shape but I got it for about $20. Missing a figure & a semaphore

Aerial view

Candle Holder:

The bottom just says “Made in Germany”. If this is the Bing crossing I think it is, then it’s circa 1915

Marklin Gauge-Adjustable Grade-level crossing. For gauges 0, 1 and 2

with gauge 2 Basset-Lowke G&N goods wagon

With Marklin o-gauge PRR coaches

@StevefromPA- WOW that is quite a haul.  Beautiful tinplate structures and locomotives.  I have the Marx station, tower, and the two GE 70 tonners but little else.  Fantastic.  This morning I "won" (I think I was the only bidder ) what was advertised as a " German U.S. zone wind up train"  The loco motor was in bad shape but the loco shell, tender, and passenger car looked OK.  The price was $.99 that's right 99 cents so who could resist.  I will post it when it arrives but here is the advertising picture.

Happy holidays...Best Wishes

Don

Thanks @Don McErlean ! Granted those pick-ups stretch back to late October but all acquired in a relatively short span(got really lucky!) and I haven’t even posted my rolling stock yet! I too love the little Marx station- was debating between that version & two of its variations but I’m very pleased with the one I chose.

Under a buck for that loco was a great price! I’m 99% sure that’s by Heinrich Wimmer of Nuremberg(HWN). I’m that sure because I’m pretty sure I have the same loco!

man’s I assume the picture below is of the passenger car?

It actually doubles as a wood flat and has an alternate Santa Fe stock car body

@StevefromPA- Wow Steve THANK YOU - You are correct it appears my 99 cent toy train is HWN as the loco, passenger car , and tender are an exact match to your pictures.  However, I did not know about the multi-use of the passenger car platform.  I will be sure to check that out when it arrives.  Thanks again for posting.

Don

@StevefromPA posted:

Thanks @Don McErlean ! Granted those pick-ups stretch back to late October but all acquired in a relatively short span(got really lucky!) and I haven’t even posted my rolling stock yet! I too love the little Marx station- was debating between that version & two of its variations but I’m very pleased with the one I chose.

Under a buck for that loco was a great price! I’m 99% sure that’s by Heinrich Wimmer of Nuremberg(HWN). I’m that sure because I’m pretty sure I have the same loco!

man’s I assume the picture below is of the passenger car?

It actually doubles as a wood flat and has an alternate Santa Fe stock car body

Dang, I love lithograph!

Thanks for sharing these beautiful examples

@StevefromPA posted:

The above Bing crossing with shack is 10/621, I believe. For reference.

now some New locos & structures:

Bing(I think)- crossing with guard house. Not in the best shape but I got it for about $20. Missing a figure & a semaphore

Aerial view

Candle Holder:

The bottom just says “Made in Germany”. If this is the Bing crossing I think it is, then it’s circa 1915

It´s not Bing, made by Karl Bub, model 772 made 1924-1928

Arne

@StevefromPA posted:

Unknown Maker- part of a station platform:

Homemade, the fence was a railing from a bing footbridge from around 1900  and the bench was made by Kraus Fandor around 1920

Arne

Here's one you don't see very often.  At York in October I picked up a brass Roberts Lines trolley from the TCA sales table.

After cleaning and lubrication, it runs acceptably.  It has some broken solder joints, the roof doesn't fit particularly well, and it would benefit from new pickup rollers.  Based on discussions with a couple of the MESG and SGMA guys, it sounds like Roberts Lines items were not known for their overall quality.  I'd call the condition at least Very Good (maybe Excellent since the flaws possibly came that way from the manufacturer?).

I'm considering painting it, and have started another thread asking for opinions - https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...lley-opinions-wanted

An update on my Whistle Station! Last weekend, I took the time to completely disassemble and clean the station, and it's motor. I used some De-ox-it on it, which helped improve electrical connection. I also finally figured out what was up with the wiring: so whenever the old switch on the station itself broke off or was removed, the previous owner soldered a new wire to the chassis, which means that the station is now controlled by a separate button on a control panel. Which I was thinking of doing anyways as a repair, so that's one less thing to do! Now I just need to wire up a button between it and an accessory transformer.

I used some vice grips to reseat the rivets that seal up the plate on the one side of the whistle assembly, and that seems to gave gotten the seal on the gasket back to factory specs. I think I may have been a little too conservative with the power I was giving it earlier, because with it turned up to 3/4 power vs 1/2 power on the transformer, the whistle now sounds loud and clear! It really, really wants a full 12 volts, and excepts no substitutes!

I was nervous about bending the tinplate tabs, so this time I didn't bend them all the way back flat when I put the body back on. Hopefully that will make it easier to service later on. For the moment, I've placed it on the long back 8' as a kind of country whistle stop... let me know what you think of how it looks!

Ultimately, very happy with my first tinplate tune-up project. Somewhere I have a tinplate tunnel I need to fish out, so that hopefully you guys can take a look at it. I *think* it's a Lionel 118, but can't identify it and it has no external markings. It's been around for a while but sitting in storage.

@Redshirt214 -- If you can post a video, when you have time, we can get a sense of the beautiful "Tinplate Music" (i just thought of that phrase) coming out of your Whistle Station.

Looks like you picked a nice location for it.

Yes, be careful of the tabs!

Tom

@Redshirt214 posted:

An update on my Whistle Station! Last weekend, I took the time to completely disassemble and clean the station, and it's motor. I used some De-ox-it on it, which helped improve electrical connection. I also finally figured out what was up with the wiring: so whenever the old switch on the station itself broke off or was removed, the previous owner soldered a new wire to the chassis, which means that the station is now controlled by a separate button on a control panel. Which I was thinking of doing anyways as a repair, so that's one less thing to do! Now I just need to wire up a button between it and an accessory transformer.

I used some vice grips to reseat the rivets that seal up the plate on the one side of the whistle assembly, and that seems to gave gotten the seal on the gasket back to factory specs. I think I may have been a little too conservative with the power I was giving it earlier, because with it turned up to 3/4 power vs 1/2 power on the transformer, the whistle now sounds loud and clear! It really, really wants a full 12 volts, and excepts no substitutes!

I was nervous about bending the tinplate tabs, so this time I didn't bend them all the way back flat when I put the body back on. Hopefully that will make it easier to service later on. For the moment, I've placed it on the long back 8' as a kind of country whistle stop... let me know what you think of how it looks!

Ultimately, very happy with my first tinplate tune-up project. Somewhere I have a tinplate tunnel I need to fish out, so that hopefully you guys can take a look at it. I *think* it's a Lionel 118, but can't identify it and it has no external markings. It's been around for a while but sitting in storage.

I just picked up this same shack, but the motor is so loud, it almost drowns out whistle.  Is you motor very loud?

Yes, the motor is super loud! The somewhat anemic whistle sound seems to be a common issue... I suspect the reason Lionel adopted a different type of whistle system later on is related to that issue. I sort of smooshed the rivets back together because previous threads have said sometimes the gasket between the plate & body of the whistle unit gets leaky, so you might try that. I just assumed loud motors come with the territory in tinplate?

I was just happy to get a something other that whirring out of it! I’ll gladly post a video,for some reason during testing last week I completely forgot that was a thing I really ought to do.

The VintageHubby has at last been moving forward with the creating HIS Standard Gauge/Wide Gauge layout on the floor in the large basement room. USA Track large(st) curves (84? 87? not certain) were bought many months ago. This layout will be a two track rounded off rectangle. One of the engines and tenders will be the original AF Wide Gauge 1931 engine and 1931-1932 tender I bought from Dave Corbett, in October 2020. Just placed the straights track order from USA Track yesterday. This layout will feature some of T VH's large collection of original Barclay WWI soldiers and accessories. These will be the peeps for the layout. I may create some watercolor landscape paintings to use as free-standing backdrops in a couple of the corners.

@Carey TeaRose posted:

The VintageHubby has at last been moving forward with the creating HIS Standard Gauge/Wide Gauge layout on the floor in the large basement room. USA Track large(st) curves (84? 87? not certain) were bought many months ago. This layout will be a two track rounded off rectangle. One of the engines and tenders will be the original AF Wide Gauge 1931 engine and 1931-1932 tender I bought from Dave Corbett, in October 2020. Just placed the straights track order from USA Track yesterday. This layout will feature some of T VH's large collection of original Barclay WWI soldiers and accessories. These will be the peeps for the layout. I may create some watercolor landscape paintings to use as free-standing backdrops in a couple of the corners.

Carey,

Nice to see that you are finally making some progress on that layout. 

Make sure you put some insulation or something to deaden the sound, down between the plywood and track.

NWL

I bought a nice original Lionel Standard Gauge 402E passenger set from Toystrainsandotherstuff LLC at their auction last Saturday. I have wanted one of these sets for awhile. It's my Christmas present!                                                                                                                                       

I have been running stuff!! Old prewar trains and original track. The top photo shows 390 steam  engine freight set and with a 380 passenger set. The bottom shows a 384 steam engine with passenger cars and  8 passenger set. Great original trains and great fun!

This is my current project, a new std gauge layout.  Working on the track plan now.

@Sean's Train Depot  that's a great looking table!

The most recent project! We are building yet another SG layout in our home, an on-the-floor layout in the large area room of the Basement. This one is The VintageHubby's, though I've been helping with Procurement and Detailing, and as a helper of staining of plywood.

@Carey TeaRose--am I correct that you were watching the great movie, The Train on your TV? if yes, that is one of my favorites.  One of the best scenes (IMO) is when the allied bombers skip bombing the "Art Train" because of the white paint.

For anyone who has not seen it or not seen it lately (free on YouTube with commercials):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awt082F62rs

Good luck on the new layout!

Tom

Sniped this last night on the evilBay. Original Ives 116 station.  A great piece for The VintageHubby's new Basement Wide Gauge/Standard Gauge Basement Layout.

@PRR8976 posted:

@Carey TeaRose--am I correct that you were watching the great movie, The Train on your TV? if yes, that is one of my favorites.  One of the best scenes (IMO) is when the allied bombers skip bombing the "Art Train" because of the white paint.

For anyone who has not seen it or not seen it lately (free on YouTube with commercials):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awt082F62rs

Good luck on the new layout!

Tom

Yes! A very favorite film of ours. It’s not a TV actually- we have a fire stick projector thing wired to a dvd and vhs player. It projects 9 ft across on a blank white wall.

Found specifically for The VintageHubby's new, in-progress Wide Gauge/Standard Gauge Basement Layout. An original Dorfan Wide Gauge Boxcar!

From National Wide Lines; three original American Flyer litho stations, and five more of these great blue lights, all with white round bulbs.

An optical illusion of sorts.  Here are two nearly identical sets of cars that I recently added to the collection.

These two cars arrived in December

These two cars arrived today

The two sets together

Personally, I think the two with the green roofs look better.  The fact that they are labeled for The Northwestern Line is also a bit nicer than the American Flyer Line cars.

NWL

Sadly, pictured here is a PRETTY PROP. Unfortunately, this loco & tender are going to have to be sent back for a full refund. Too many problems and negatives to mention here. I am deeply disappointed and frustrated. These were to be my very first ORIGINAL Lionel SG loco and tender. However, I did at least manage to take a few pics of it in situ. Shown on the STD42 curve loop on the upper platform of The VintageHubby's new in-progress Wide Gauge/Standard Gauge Basement Layout. A repainted original Lionel Standard Gauge 1835E with its 1835W tender. Seen here with the reproduction Lionel blue & silver 309, 311, and 312 cars that I have had for a number of years. Hoping another of these can be found that will run on a layout.

@Carey TeaRose posted:

Sadly, pictured here is a PRETTY PROP. Unfortunately, this loco & tender are going to have to be sent back for a full refund. Too many problems and negatives to mention here.

Carey that’s unfortunate, the 1835E is a great engine. It’s one of my go to engines and it easily pulls ten 500 series freight cars without hesitation. Good luck on your search for another.

@Nation Wide Lines posted:

An optical illusion of sorts.  Here are two nearly identical sets of cars that I recently added to the collection.

These two cars arrived in December

These two cars arrived today

The two sets together

Personally, I think the two with the green roofs look better.  The fact that they are labeled for The Northwestern Line is also a bit nicer than the American Flyer Line cars.

NWL

These are fabulous!!! Maybe I need a dark yellow set too...

Arrival Day PART 1! The original BOUCHER 2222 locomotive and its matching original BOUCHER Pennsylvania tender + 3 original Dorfan Wide Gauge freights cars are here- the Pennsy hopper, the tank car, and the caboose. Thank yous go out to Dave Corbett.

Arrival Day PART 2! Three original American Flyer wide Gauge red decal passenger cars are here. Perfect for my original AF Wide gauge 1931 Brass Piper bell ringer locomotive and its original AF Wide Gauge 1931-1932 tender. Thank yous go out to Dave Corbett.

YES! Just esniped this original Wide Gauge DORFAN #800 gondola. For The VintageHubby’s new WIDE GAUGE/STANDARD GAUGE on-the-floor Basement Layout. Color me happy…

I purchased some trees for the layout from Target during the holiday season. I have been busy removing the snow on them After removing the trees from the metal base I thought I could find a use for the metal base as well.

I used primer on the base and then I glued them together. I then painted them to use as a gondola load.

Scott Smith

Received recently. Two Pride Lines Passenger Sheds with no litho bases. These are for The VintageHubby’s new Wide Gauge/Standard Gauge Basement Layout.

Picked this up at Michael's during the post-holiday sales a few years back:

With a base measuring 6-1/2" x 15", it's a very unusual tin building, perfect for a prewar display. Sawmill? Foundry? Not sure. Headed to the paint booth soon.

PD

Today:

The VintageHubby is cutting plywood, sanding, drilling holes, and spray painting bases pieces for two Pride Lines Passenger Sheds for his new Layout. One goes on the floor trackline, one for the upper platform loop.

I'm checking track distances, for creating a non-working siding/half loop sort-of-thing  that will go on the lower platform next to the AF litho Freight Station with crane.

The other day or so; bought a AF Wide Gauge bell ringer lighted Crossing Signal. And four Lionel engine prewar clear globe bulbs, to put one on the repro Dorfan Crocodile electric engine that had broken, plus have a couple of spares.

Finally Finished Big Red.  Load is a couple of old Keurig heating tanks.

For Wide Gauge/Standard Gauge new Basement Layout: the latest project. Bases have been cut, sanded, holes drilled, and all sides painted. For two Pride Lines SG Passenger Sheds. Hoping to have these assembled and ready to put on the Layout by the end of the evening.

Both of the Pride Lines Passenger Sheds are finished completely, and in their proper places on the Basement Layout.

PLATFORMS PART 1:

After seeing pics and video of a terrific SG double decker Xmas layout, and my talking with its creator, we decided to add a similar idea to the new WG/SG Basement Layout. Located at the room's back wall, the Layout's Center Front. A lower {bottom} platform extension centered under the "Cinema Wall" space in front of the tracks had already been previously determined for the AF stations. Adding a large upper platform approximately 10-3/4"-11" above that was implemented. The width of each platform is 67-1/2" . The depth of the upper platform is 48", to accommodate a small 42STD loop. These platforms would create a dynamic "Showcase" area on an otherwise "basic" Layout, adding much space for detailing and highlighting certain pieces. Each were stained to blend and match with the existing plywood track lines.

PLATFORMS PART 2:

With moving a Movie Poster 'standee' from the floor up onto the wall, another space became available for yet another platform that could be specially detailed on the WG/SG Basement Layout. This is from the far edge of the Fireplace to the back wall along the left wall. Perfect for the field hospital scene, an original Ives 116 litho Station, and a Pride Lines Passenger Shed. More at the far left corner was added very recently.

PLATFORMS PART 3:

With the removal of a a pair of large antiquated speakers (Hallelujah!), and at last the shifting of the piano keyboard and bench (another Hallelujah), even more floor space got freed up at the back area of the WG/SG Basement Layout. Two more plywood platforms have been set down, but as yet they are not stained- as the usage and design detailing has not been completely worked out.

@Carey TeaRose posted:

PLATFORMS PART 2:

With moving a Movie Poster 'standee' from the floor up onto the wall, another space became available for yet another platform that could be specially detailed on the WG/SG Basement Layout. This is from the far edge of the Fireplace to the back wall along the left wall. Perfect for the field hospital scene, an original Ives 116 litho Station, and a Pride Lines Passenger Shed. More at the far left corner was added very recently.

UPDATE! The latest incarnation:

looks great !

Paid for and on its way. Adding an original Wide Gauge American Flyer Salt Lake Bridge with approaches.

Hubby suggested an extension of the upper platform. Trying to sort out possibilities. Two original Lionel 280 Bridges? A paper mache’ mountain? Another loop of track?

Snagged this today. An original American Flyer Wide Gauge 102 Central Station. For the new Basement Layout. This one isn’t the prettiest on the block, but it’s okay. All the lights are working.

@Carey TeaRose posted:

Hubby suggested an extension of the upper platform. Trying to sort out possibilities. Two original Lionel 280 Bridges? A paper mache’ mountain? Another loop of track?

Or all of the above ?  Here are a few photos of 101 bridges that I got at an auction.  Auctioneer said there were enough bridges to cross the Delaware River. Lol .  

@Carey TeaRose posted:

...

Seeing that catalog picture made me chuckle.  We frequently discuss how the price of Lionel items has changed over the years (I'm NOT looking to restart that discussion ).  Yesterday, I purchased one of those for only 50 cents more than it cost in that catalog.  Mind you, it wasn't quite in mint condition and it didn't include a piece of track...

"ANTICIPATION..." a package has arrived in our town. as of yesterday. Expecting it to be "out for delivery" tomorrow, Monday 1/30/2023.

I got my 553 loco tender combination working and bought a donor engine for linkages that were missing. This combo is part of the 4003 set with a whistling tender added. Here is link to a video with the whistling baggage car in action.

https://youtube.com/shorts/whrsVsV-JIg?feature=share https://www.youtube.com/shorts/zZxHM2RLeE4

Nice 553, not the easiest to find in such good shape. Equally nice consist in the video.

PD

@pd posted:

Nice 553, not the easiest to find in such good shape. Equally nice consist in the video.

PD

Thanks, it took two locos to get one nice one.

Arrived today. The two big original American Flyer double lamps up in place on the upper platform of the new Basement Layout. New XL frosted globe bulbs already ordered.  

Still playing original trains on the floor! A # 10 engine with a # 1835E locomotive, both with early 500 series freight. Looking for some mid\late 1930s freight cars for this 1835E. Great old trains and still running on original tracks. Great fun!!!

The Bat-Train is under construction!  I started this project in 2014, after visiting a friend, who took me to the Sirus collection.  My friend had recently made one of these engines and I purchased some parts from George Sirus' daughter to make this engine.  Unfortunately, they did not have all of the parts and it took me several years to find the hand rails for the pony trucks and also nice cow catchers.  The cow catchers are actually chromed plated MTH Mayflower parts and the hand rails were random parts that popped up on ebay.  After getting all of the parts, I realized I did not have the skills or knowledge to assemble it, so a friend is completing the project for me.  I specified gloss black paint, hence the "Bat Train" moniker.

The engine cab is an American Flyer St. Paul (4635 / 4685 ilk) on a Presidential Special frame.  Special mounting brackets had to be made to attach the engine shell to the frame, as the St. Paul cabs connect at the 4 corners and the President Special cabs connect at the center on each side.

Although the cow catchers look very red in this photo, they look better once assembled.

NWL

I love it. Very ingenuous the way you created it out of existing parts.  I love original trains, but I also love creative projects like yours.  A true orginal

Prewar American Flyer 4-4-2 432 & 433A passenger tender from 1939. I got this engine\tender combo recently and replaced the trailing truck and bracket assembly. She runs pretty good but you can see a sliver of light on top of the boiler when she's running.

Really nice looking locomotive.

PD

Walking through a local small antique store with my son and see a couple of prewar Marx tinplate cars and a postwar plastic crane.  I noticed on car was an 8 wheel one way coupler gondola so I grabbed that real quick at $6 and then noticed the little colorful car behind and lifted it up for a gander.... Turned out to be this Hoge 750 circus Lion car.  It's not perfect but it is real nice for me and the cranks are still present and connected to the axles. Took this pic standing in the store with it lol.  While I am keenly aware of Hoge in general, I was not aware of the Circus set, but of course knew the instant I layed eyes on it that it was coming home with me! My son thought it was funny as my only comment was This is worth a few bucks lol and I'm not sitting it back down lmao. If only the rest of the cars and loco had been sitting there at the same prices lol Oh well, you take what you can get when it presents its self!

So this item was billed as having come from a company in Pennsylvania that made cast iron toys.  The seller claims to have purchased a box of stencils that came from this company.  I recall reading that American Flyer had a company in Pennsylvania make their cast iron boilers/parts for them.  If so, they certainly would have needed this.

NWL

Can it be true? Looks like we’ve got too many trains and cars for the Wide Gauge/Standard Gauge Basement Layout. Thinking about creating a small rail yard in an unused space near the center platforms.

Lionel 226E from a local estate sale:

Filthy, top-to-bottom, a thorough cleaning planned. A few cosmetic issues to repair (broken marker light, missing whistle casting), and a previous owner put postwar trucks/coupler on the tender (plan to restore to original prewar configuration).

PD